Duitse hoogspanningsmasten

[Toliman]

The northern tower of the eastern ferry cable of Rumpenheim Main river ferry ( this ferry uses two cables, each installed on a separate pair of poles, from which one stands at the northern and one at the southern bank of Main river) carries a better relict of the former overhead wire. It is an used insulator and a short piece of wire.

[Toliman]

As I wrote in earlier postings, a branch from the 380 kV-powerline Philippsburg-Pulverdingen to Birkenfeld north of Pforzheim is under construction. On the evening on August 23rd, 2023 I was again at the site: while in some sections of the line already conductors are installed on the pylons, the construction of the pylons on other sections has not started. On the following picture one can see the situation in the northnorteastern area of Pforzheim. The pylon in the background from which only two crossbars are visible is the first tower of the section to Birkenfeld substation, which was already built in 1980 and used until 2022 as 110 kV/10 kV-powerline (with a 10 kV-circuit on the crossbars, which will soon carry the 380 kV-circuits). When completed, there will be a sequence of 8 strainers in the background!

[Toliman]

Tower 17 (right in the foreground) and Tower 18 (next pylon of the line) situated northnortheast of Pforheim. As one can see the conductors are already installed, but the spacers for the 380 kV-bundles are still missing. The picture shows also an interesting contrast in line construction - on the right a line for 380 kV and on the left - on wooden poles - a line for 380 V.

[Toliman]

Tower 18, the next tower of the line. It is as tower 17 a suspension tower. In the background, you can see Tower 19, a strainer, at which the conductors end when the picture was taken and the tubular tower 20, which is still under construction.

[Toliman]

On August 23rd, 2023, when the picture was taken, the conductors end at the strainer carrying the number 19. It is temporarily anchored in eastern direction with multiple guys, obviously in order to avoid too large horizontal forces on its structure and its base.

[Toliman]

The next tower of the line is still under construction, but it is from special interest, as it is a tubular steel structure and not a lattice structure. When completed, it will be as the previous tower be capable of carrying two 380 kV and two 110 kV-circuits.

[Toliman]

The next towers of the line were not realized on August 23rd, 2023. Interestingly Tower 30, which is a tubular steel tower north of Pforzheim-Eutingen, is completed. It has as the unfinished Tower 20 crossbars and ground conductor pinnacles implemented as lattice steel elements. The tower has some similarity with the strainer in front of Reuter-West Power Station in Berlin ( download/file.php?id=42939 ) with the only difference that Tower 30 is a steel tube object while the tower in front of Reuter-West Power Station consists of concrete.
Although Tower 30 has a ladder on its outside, it has also a door, which allows entering the inside of its structure.

[Tom]

That is for sure a very impressive tubular tower! It seems to be too large to transport as one cylindrical section and must have been built up out of four segments. The bolted connections are also impressive and there must have been no strict rules against hiding them as there were with Wintrack towers in the Netherlands. The lattice cross arms don't seem to feel unnatural to me.

Do you know if those pylons with the asymmetrical V-insulators were designed for lower voltage earlier?

[Toliman]

I have no information, if these pylons were originally designed for lower voltages. I also do not know, why the distance between the lowest and the medium crossbar is larger than that between the medium and the topmost crossbar. In my opinion the old design for pylons of lines carrying two 380 kV-circuits and two 110 kV-circuits, which can be seen on viewtopic.php?t=36&start=530 looks better.

[Hans]

Is it known what reason made them decide to construct these hybrid towers instead of lattice?
It will look like an inconsistent mess if lattice and tubualar structures are used in the same line and considering the remaining lattice arms, the reason for a tubular structure appears not to be aesthetic.