The present application is a filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 as the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/SG2019/050412, filed Aug. 20, 2019, entitled “POLE,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
This invention relates to a pole for supporting devices.
Poles are traditionally used to raise lighting fixtures for illuminating roads and walkways. In smart city infrastructure with Internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity, poles used for lighting may also conveniently be used as supports or attachment points for IoT and/or other electrical or electronic devices such as cameras, sensors, communication nodes and so on that may be used to implement various functions of the smart city and inter-networking of physical devices. Currently, providing devices as part of smart city infrastructure is performed on an ad-hoc basis where each device is mounted onto an existing light pole or street sign pole and connected individually, resulting in an untidy and aesthetically unpleasant finish as well as being labour intensive and time consuming to perform.
According to a first aspect, there is provided a pole for supporting at least one device thereon, the pole comprising: a post to support weight of the pole and to attach the at least one device thereto; and at least one cover at least partially covering at least one side of the post, the post and the at least one cover together defining at least part of a longitudinal channel in the pole to house the at least one device attached to the post; wherein an edge of the cover is in pivotable engagement with the post to allow access to the post in the longitudinal channel.
The pivotable engagement may comprise at least one hinge having a first hinge portion integral with the post and a second hinge portion integral with the cover such that the cover directly and pivotably engages the post without anything in between.
The first hinge portion and the second hinge portion may each comprise detachably mating structures that rotatably engage each other over a predetermined angle of rotation between a closed position of the cover and a widest possible open position of the cover relative to the post.
The pivotable engagement may comprise a plurality of hinges spaced apart from each so other by intervals greater than a length of one hinge.
The post may comprise a number of ribs and the at least one cover may comprise a number of covers corresponding to the number of ribs, the pole comprising a number of longitudinal channels corresponding to the number of covers, wherein each of the number of longitudinal channels is defined by one cover and two adjacent ribs.
The at least one cover may comprise a number of vertically arranged covers.
The at least one cover may be at least partially curved and/or angled about a longitudinal axis.
The post may be at least partially curved and/or angled about a longitudinal axis.
The at least one cover may be readily assembled with and detached from the post by hand without requiring use of tools.
Total height of the at least one cover may span at least most of a full length of the post.
In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily put into practical effect there shall now be described by way of non-limitative example only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the description being with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.
Exemplary embodiments of a pole 100 configured to support devices will be described below with reference to
In general, as shown in
An edge of each cover 20 is in pivotable engagement 40 with the post 10 to allow access to the post 10 in the longitudinal channel 30 by swinging the cover 20 open relative to the post 10. The at least one cover 20 may be made of any desired material that is preferably weather resistant. In an exemplary embodiment, the at least one cover 20 may comprise a rectangle that is curved about a longitudinal axis so that a cross-sectional shape of the cover 20 comprises an arc (as shown in
Depending on the length of the pole 100, the at least one cover 20 may have a total height spanning at least most of a full length of the post 10. For example, as shown in
The at least one cover 20 of the pole 100 is configured to allow any part of the post 10 along the full length of the post 100 to be accessed, while also serving as an aesthetically pleasing exterior finish for the pole 100. Having full and ready access to any part of the post 10 is advantageous in allowing IoT or other devices 50 to be attached to the post 10 at any height along the pole 100. Providing one or more longitudinal channels 30 within the pole 100 also allows attached devices 50 to be concealed within the pole 100 in the one or more longitudinal channels 30, thereby providing a clean and aesthetically pleasing appearance to the pole 100. The at least one cover 20 allowing easy access to the attached devices 50 in the longitudinal channel 30 is also advantageous in allowing servicing, upgrades, replacements or any other desired activity to be carried out on the attached devices 50. Importantly, opening or even total removal of the at least one cover 20 does not compromise structural integrity of the pole 100 as the at least one cover 20 is not load bearing and all structural loads on the pole 100 are borne by the post 10.
In some embodiments, as shown in
As can be seen in
As shown in
As can be seen in
To secure the pole 100 to the ground or floor, as shown in
To assemble the pole 100, the base 60 may first be installed on the ground or floor, followed by securing the post 10 to the base 60, followed by attaching covers 20 to the post 10.
The above described pole 100 thus provides an aesthetically pleasing streamlined structure that allows IoT and other devices 50 to be easily attached to and concealed within the pole 100 at any desired height. One or more covers 20 preferably directly and pivotably engage the post 10, thereby minimizing the number of parts required to assemble the pole 100. The pole 100 is thus easily assembled and also easily customized as the covers 20 can be removed and replaced by hand without requiring the use of tools and without requiring the post 10 to be taken down.
Whilst there has been described in the foregoing description exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the technology concerned that many variations and combination in details of design, construction and/or operation may be made without departing from the present invention. For example, features that may be described for some embodiments may be incorporated into other embodiments and the different features described for the different embodiments may be combined in different ways to form yet other embodiments of the pole.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/SG2019/050412 | 8/20/2019 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2021/034263 | 2/25/2021 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
D22432 | Schoen | May 1893 | S |
3196990 | Handley | Jul 1965 | A |
3276182 | Handley | Oct 1966 | A |
3959946 | Holmes | Jun 1976 | A |
4216632 | Mack | Aug 1980 | A |
4551792 | Hoke | Nov 1985 | A |
6357196 | McCombs | Mar 2002 | B1 |
7827762 | Griffiths | Nov 2010 | B2 |
9016023 | Timko | Apr 2015 | B2 |
9121194 | Chan | Sep 2015 | B2 |
20150089901 | Chan | Apr 2015 | A1 |
20210116088 | Bijl | Apr 2021 | A1 |
20210320393 | Williams | Oct 2021 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2017279669 | Jan 2019 | AU |
2654184 | May 1991 | FR |
2654184 | May 1991 | FR |
2692929 | Dec 1993 | FR |
101042293 | Jun 2011 | KR |
20110131978 | Dec 2011 | KR |
WO-2017072452 | May 2017 | WO |
WO-2017072455 | May 2017 | WO |
WO-2018119502 | Jul 2018 | WO |
WO-2018231146 | Dec 2018 | WO |
2021034263 | Feb 2021 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Translation of WO 2018/119502. (Year: 2018). |
Translation of WO 2017/072452. (Year: 2017). |
Translation of KR 20110131978 A. (Year: 2011). |
Foreign Communication from a Related Counterpart Application, International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Oct. 15, 2019, International Application No. PCT/SG2019/050412 filed on Aug. 20, 2019. |
Foreign Communication from a Related Counterpart Application, GCC Examination Report dated Sep. 19, 2021, International Application No. GC 2020-40146 filed on Jul. 22, 2020. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20210246680 A1 | Aug 2021 | US |