Structural Design and Material Selection for Outdoor Lighting Poles

Outdoor street lamp poles are key infrastructure that supports street lamp fixtures. Their performance and applicability are jointly determined by their material, structure, anti-corrosion treatment, and intelligent applications. The following is a detailed introduction from five aspects: material, structure, anti-corrosion treatment, application scenarios, and development trends:

I. Material Selection

Iron Street Lamp Poles

Material: Made of high-quality Q235 steel by rolling, with high strength and low cost.

Anti-corrosion Treatment: Hot-dip galvanizing followed by spray coating, which can resist rust for 30 years, but the surface spray coating has a relatively short service life, about 3-5 years.

Application: Widely used in road lighting in China, suitable for scenarios that are cost-sensitive and have low requirements for durability.

Stainless Steel Street Lamp Poles

Material: Has excellent resistance to chemical corrosion and electrochemical corrosion, second only to titanium alloy.

Anti-corrosion Treatment: Hot-dip galvanizing surface treatment, and products that meet international standards can have a service life of up to 15 years.

Application: Mostly used in courtyards, residential areas, parks and other places with high requirements for aesthetics and corrosion resistance.

Aluminum Alloy Street Lamp Poles

Material: Made of high-strength aluminum alloy, with high strength, and can have corrosion resistance for more than 50 years without special treatment.

Features: Beautiful and high-grade appearance, easy to process, wide application range, and good decorative effect.

Application: Most of the aluminum alloy lamp poles in China are exported abroad, and their domestic market share is gradually increasing.

Glass Fiber Street Lamp Poles

Material: Inorganic non-metallic material with good insulation, strong heat resistance, good corrosion resistance, and high mechanical strength.

Disadvantages: Brittle and poor wear resistance, with less market application.

II. Structural Design

Shape and Size

Shape: Mostly steel conical poles, with cross-sectional shapes including circular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc. Special-shaped cross-sections (such as unequal-sided octagonal poles) can improve structural stability.

Size: The height and wall thickness of the lamp pole are customized according to road types and lighting needs. For example, the height of road lamp poles is usually 6-12 meters, with a wall thickness of 2.5-6 millimeters; the height of courtyard lamp poles is mostly 3-5 meters.

Welding and Fixing

Welding: Automatic sub-arc welding is adopted, and ultrasonic flaw detection is performed to meet the requirements of welding standard GBl1345 Level II.

Fixing: The lamp pole socketing method uses through nails and set screws for fixing to ensure structural stability.

III. Anti-corrosion Treatment

Hot-dip Galvanizing Treatment

Process: Immerse the lamp pole in molten zinc liquid to form a zinc layer with a thickness of not less than 75 microns.

Effect: No peeling or flaking after the hammer test, and the galvanizing life is not less than 20 years.

Spray Coating Treatment

Material: High-quality outdoor pure polyester powder is used, and the color can be customized.

Effect: The surface is flat and smooth, the plastic layer quality is stable, no fading or falling off, strong adhesion, UV resistance, and the service life is not less than 20 years.

IV. Application Scenarios

Road Lighting

Function: Provide lighting for pedestrians and vehicles to ensure traffic safety.

Configuration: Double-arm road street lamps are double-cantilever single-light lamps. The lamps for motor vehicle lanes are 11.5 meters above the ground, the lamps for sidewalks are 8.5 meters above the ground, arranged in bilateral cross, with a spacing of 50 meters.

Landscape Lighting

Function: In public places such as parks, squares, and scenic spots, support landscape lamps, floodlights and other lighting equipment to create a unique night scene effect.

Features: The design of lamp poles needs to coordinate with the landscape style, focusing on aesthetics.

Traffic Signs

Function: Support traffic signs to provide important traffic information for drivers.

Requirements: The poles need to have high corrosion resistance and stability to ensure the reliability of long-term use.

Monitoring Equipment

Function: In the security field, support monitoring cameras and other equipment to realize real-time monitoring and safety management of public places.

Features: The lamp pole needs to have sufficient strength and stability to bear the weight of the equipment and wind load.

V. Development Trends

Intelligent Upgrading

Function: Integrate shunt electric energy metering devices, 5G base stations, cameras, environmental monitoring sensors and other equipment to realize wireless intelligent interaction of data.

Application: For example, the smart street lamps in Haidian Park, Beijing, can monitor indicators such as PM2.5 in real time, release emergency information, and provide the public with the latest dynamics of the park.

Green Environmental Protection

Material: Use environmentally friendly materials such as recycled steel and aluminum alloy to reduce carbon emissions.

Process: Optimize processes such as hot-dip galvanizing and spray coating to reduce environmental pollution.

Modular Design

Features: Develop splicable lamp poles to adapt to the needs of different scenarios, improving installation efficiency by 50%.

Advantages: Facilitate maintenance and upgrading, and reduce the whole life cycle cost.