Aerial lift pylon

A cable car tower is a tower- like structure for tracking and supporting the ropes of a cable car in order to ensure a defined distance of the trains running on the ropes vehicles on the premises.

• 2.1 keeping of current ropes
• 2.2 Two -and multi -piece tracks
• 2.3 High -and low- holder

Method of construction

Can cable car supports a steel truss structure, but also as a steel tube or sheet metal box construction, rarer than reinforced concrete structure [ eg 1 ] can be carried out. Sometimes a closed steel body is chosen for reasons of design instead of actually economical steel lattice tower. [ Eg 2] timber columns occur only in small cableways. During the Second World War began near Mittersill with the construction of a cable car, which had a 80 meter high wooden column. However, this plant never went into operation and was destroyed in 1955.

Cableway supports consist of foundation, the column base, the actual mast ( or center portion ) and the so-called cross-head, the cantilever arms are, at the outer ends of the cable supporting and guiding components (see function ) are mounted. But you can also, especially for smaller cable cars and ski lifts are executed as a portal supports in which the rope -supporting and guiding components are mounted within the structure of a crossbar, which is worn on both sides of the portal supports.

Especially with large cable cars cable car supports must withstand high dynamic loads. Sometimes cable car supports are not listed as vertical, but as a diagonal structure in order to transmit the forces occurring better in the subsoil can. Meet the cabins a cableway directly to the post, it must be executed reinforced because of the resulting increased wind loads.

The level of support depends on the permissible minimum and maximum heights of the respective cable car construction on the site of the terrain profile and requirements. It can happen in the mountains, that instead of a small prop, but which would be on poor surfaces or at a hard to reach place would have to be built elsewhere a much higher support is built. [ Eg 3] cable car supports have regular ladders for maintenance personnel, some very high structures also have a maintenance elevator. Often there is the possibility that the maintenance personnel has from the gondolas or special, moving the rope maintenance vehicles from access to serviceable components of the supports.

Sometimes can cable car supports represent very complex designs, especially if they simultaneously also host a stopover for entry and exit. This can be, for example for the winter sport of importance. The famous cable car tower Torre Jaume I of the harbor cable car Barcelona has on its top an intermediate station that is accessible by means of an elevator.

Examples:

Special designs

For light gondolas, chairlifts and drag lifts on glaciers there are special glacier towers.

A cable car pylon unusual design in the form of a " hanging " or " Floating Support" ( Pylône suspendu ) has the small gondola Vallee Blanche in the Mont Blanc massif. Between two rocks, the great and the small Flambeau, to the direction of three 315 meter long ropes are tensioned diagonally, which take over the function of the support structure, since the construction of a conventional support on the glacier was not possible. There are two steel scaffolding on which in turn are each fastened the rope supporting shoes and sheave of each lane at the three cross parts.

Operation

Keeping of current ropes

For vertical and horizontal guide of running ropes ( train and hoist ropes ) coved pulleys are used, the tread is provided as a rule with a rubber or plastic insert, the role of food. In that the actual rope groove is worked, in which the cable runs. Increased roller rims to prevent lateral jumping ( derailment ) of the rope.

Are a plurality of rollers behind the other, to reduce the deflection and the bending angle of the cable to the individual rollers, these rollers are in pairs one behind the other mounted in a roll weighing or roller rockers, to ensure a uniform roll load distribution according to the principle of the balance beam. Several arranged behind one another in a steel frame roller weighing are a part battery, this role batteries are in turn rotatably mounted on the ends of the crossheads of the support in the track width of the plant attached.

The stronger the required deflection of the rope is, for example, to achieve a smooth transition from one slope part to a horizontal station entrance a gondola or chairlift, the longer and more complex the role of batteries should be performed on the station supports. If such extensive role batteries combined with a large slope change in a single, connected structural, one speaks of a dome structure.

Two -and multi -piece tracks

For more urgent tracks with separate train and suspension cable, eg aerial tramways, not just the current tension cables, but also the static load devices must be supported in a manner that allows a crossing by the drives of the vehicles. The support cables are to on metal rope support shoes, these are rail-like components with a groove-shaped groove on the top, in which the supporting cables are and can slide back and forth to balance the migratory weight of vehicles and different clamping load in the direction of travel. In older designs, especially in Loren cable cars, this support shoes are arranged around a pin rotatable to adjust to the various Seilablenkwinkeln occurring during operation. In modern, larger and faster moving equipment, the supporting shoes and are longer fixedly mounted on the cross heads in the form of a stationary, upwardly curved arc segment. The length of the suspension rope shoe and its radius of curvature are such that under all possible operating Seilablenkwinkeln of the incoming and outgoing cable routes no excessive cable bending occurs and a smooth crossing of the vehicles is possible. With cable cars with on-board brakes ( this includes most of aerial tramways ) the supporting cable shoes in sectional profile are shaped so that the brake shoes of the safety brake can act on the supporting cable during the pillars crossing, to the rope usually is only in the lower third of its circumference in the groove on.

The tension cables run over sheave usually directly below the supporting rope shoes, on trains with two supporting cables between the cable shoes. In older plants and material ropeways, there is the deep Zugseilablage where the pull rope is attached to pulleys, which are mounted on additional cantilevers below the level of the vehicles. These roles are provided with rope referring physicians, a curved structure that leave the rope is lifted on passing of each vehicle, back to the caster. (Examples ropeway glues - Nussloch, Brauneck cable car ).

High -and low- holder

While cable car supports the ropes always carry more deleterious cable car systems and run over to on the top, there are at monocable and ski lifts to comply with the ground clearance depending on the terrain requirements, but particularly in the valley also supports that are traversed by the ropes on the bottom. These columns are referred to as a hold -down device or supports.

Supports, where the rope is carried out simultaneously between a top and bottom lying role battery, called alternating load supports. This construction may be necessary if little rope deflection and thus little tracking force positive or negative load cases may occur at the post on the reels. Before the introduction of alternating load supports a combination of a slightly lower hold-down bracket and a higher high holder support was placed at a short distance to each other in such places, thus a sufficient rope deflection was achieved. Such a combination is called a knight's move.

Gallery of building types

Haute -Nendaz, Valais Canton

Genting Highlands, Malaysia

Funitel in Val Thorens, France

Chairlift Chalmazel, France

The last one does not support the demolished former gondola Bad Durkheim

Support the single-track tramway in Chiatura, Georgia

Supporting the Vinpearl Cable Car in the sea

Mainstay of the aerial tramway Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees

Mainstay of the aerial ropeway in Nussloch

Hanging pillar of lift that Vallée Blanche

Support the Emirates Air Line in London

High cable car supports worldwide

The highest cable car pylon in the world ( 113.7 meters ) has the third section of the Kaprun glacier railway 1 ( Kitzsteinhornseilbahn ). In Switzerland you can find the highest cable car pylon with 94 meters height at the cable car Gant Hohtälli near Zermatt, in Germany at the Eibseeseilbahn near Garmisch -Partenkirchen (height: 85 meters).