Seamless Pole Line and Robotic Cell

The seamless lighting pole line

POLYGONAL offers a line that makes seamless lighting poles by hot rolling with a high-precision roller. The blanks are standard seamless cylindrical pipes. Software sets the shape of the pole and a CNC system carries it out, so one line can turn out different poles. It is easy to operate and maintain.

For plants making several types of poles, the line suits both city street and road lighting and decorative lighting for parks and squares. It can also make tapered (axially symmetric) poles and contact-line poles with high mechanical strength.

The main feature is that the pole has no visible weld. After hot rolling the wall thickness stays uniform and equal to the initial one along the whole rolled length (it can be reduced slightly if required). One operator runs the process and sets the hot rolling parameters.

Technical data:

• input pipes are standard: diameter 76–245 mm, wall thickness 2.9–6.3 mm;
• pole diameter 76–245 mm at the bottom, at least 60 mm at the top;
• pole length: 3500 to 15 000 mm;
• speed at the maximum diameter up to 1.5 m/min; heating temperature up to 850 °C; heating unit power 350 kW;
• tolerances (provided the input pipes meet the line manufacturer’s requirements): outside diameter 1% (at least 1 mm), ovality 2% of the diameter, overall length 0.5%, thickness 0.3%, straightness 3%;
• one operator for the whole work cycle.

Robotic cutting and welding cell

The cell finishes multi-sided lighting poles: it cuts oval holes and hatches with high accuracy and welds on base flanges and other elements. It is best suited to plants making lighting poles, floodlight masts and power line poles to demanding quality requirements. Finishing is automatic, the results are repeatable from pole to pole, and the cell is simple to run. The poles come out ready for hot-dip galvanising.

The cell includes: roller tables and conveyors; a marking system for poles and hatches; a robotic plasma cutting system; a hatch gripping system; a manual welding and a manual base calibration section; a semi-automatic base-plate loading station; a robotic station for internal and external welding of the base plate; a robotic welding station for reinforcing the base plate; a station for drilling holes in the pole; a station for welding fixings to the pole.

Poles the cell handles: diameter 100 to 650 mm, thickness 3–8 mm, length 4000–16000 mm; tapered, multi-sided and welded. The largest hatch it can cut out is 660 × 350 mm. The base calibration station works with poles up to 650 mm in diameter and carries various tools; a lifting device with a magnet handles the base plate, and a rotation system turns the pole. The whole process can be automated with no manual handling and a minimum of staff.

Seamless pole or pole made from sheet

A seamless pole and a pole from sheet are two different routes, and the choice depends on your product range. On the seamless route, a standard seamless pipe is hot-rolled into a tapered pole. On the sheet route, blanks are prepared on the cutting line, bent on the press and welded on the welding lines. We offer the equipment for both routes.

Parameters are as given in the documentation of the equipment we offer.

Checklist: how to choose a line

• product range: round tapered poles without a visible weld and with a base up to 245 mm suit the seamless pole line, while multi-sided poles and bases above 245 mm call for the sheet route;
• pipe: the line’s tolerances hold only for pipes that meet the line manufacturer’s requirements for input pipes, so plan incoming inspection;
• length: according to its documentation, the equipment we offer makes poles up to 15,000 mm long; if such poles are to be galvanised in our hot-dip galvanising bath (13,000 × 1,600 × 3,200 mm), poles longer than the bath are galvanised in sections, so each section must fit the bath.

Common mistakes

• assuming the line can give any wall thickness: after rolling it stays the same as in the pipe (it can only be reduced slightly), so the wall is chosen together with the pipe;
• choosing the seamless pole line for multi-sided poles or for bases above 245 mm: such poles need the sheet route.

The composition of a whole pole production line is covered in the article on launching production.