Poly-Ground
Poly-Ground in Houston, TX
POLY-GROUND® offers a highly conductive select backfill system that incorporates setting and grounding poles in one easy-to-use application. Located in Houston, TX, Utility Structural Systems sets your poles quickly with the grounding enhanced polyurethane backfill system.
How Does POLY-GROUND Do This?
POLY-GROUND® increases the surface area of the connection multiple times from that of a conventional ground rod, thus, assuring the best connection to the earth's crust.
POLY-GROUND Advantages
What Benefits Does POLY-GROUND Offer?
- Improves the conductive characteristics of the soil immediately adjacent to the ground rod and can reduce the overall earth electrode resistance of the ground rod
- Increases the area in which electrical energy can use the earth's crust, so the electrical system operates more efficiently and with less maintenance
- Supplies you with a proven water-insensitive, conductive backfill system
- Provides a structurally superior backfill solution where water or freezing temperatures are present.
- Reduces labor requirements to set or straighten poles compared to conventional backfills
- Enhances pole life by preventing the preservatives from leaching into the soil below the groundline
- Offers the best rate of return on your foundation investment by ensuring the reliability and longevity of your utility poles
- Enhances the Safety of Workers:
- Having better-grounded equipment means a safer working environment.
- Increases the Reliability of Your System By:
- Increases your electrical system’s efficiency and effectiveness of your relays
- Transformers, arresters, cut-outs, and switchgear will operate faster and safer
- Improves your protection from lightning
- Your fault protection will improve, as well as your CFO (Critical Fault Overload)
- Enhances Customer Satisfaction:
- Decreases harmful effects of harmonics in your system
- POLY-GROUND® helps maintain the 60-cycle circuit so that electronics will perform better
- Computer charges and discharges are curtailed, and periodic interruptions will occur less frequently
POLY-GROUND and Lightning
Depending upon the geographical location of the power lines, lightning strikes between 59 and 237 structures per 100 miles of electric power lines each year. The average lightning discharge through grounded structures can exceed 50,000 amps and 100,000 to 500,000 volts in about 30 microseconds. This discharge must be dissipated through a series of grounds.
Because of the immense energy that is discharged, a number of individual ground connections must be available in order to dissipate the energy to the earth’s crust. Normally, the strike is discharged through 10 to 20 individual structure grounds.
Our investigations show that properly installed POLY-GROUND® backfill should maintain both structural strength and electrical properties under lightning conditions.
We theorize POLY-GROUND® has several advantages. One advantage is that lightning strikes create permanent electrical pathways through the POLY-GROUND® backfill. The greater the intensity of the lightning strike, the more pathways are created and multiplied. The more electrical pathways created, the more electrically conductive the POLY-GROUND® backfill becomes.
Another theory is that structural integrity is maintained, although some scorching appears on the foam-metal interface. Our investigation indicates that the POLY-GROUND® should not burn because of the limited oxygen present in the soil and in the foam material when at least ten (10) structures are grounded. Most applications will have more grounds connected (10+) together.
Also, the lower resistance of the backfill should allow the energy to radiate the strike to the interface of the POLY-GROUND® soil and will reduce the high voltage shock dramatically. Our conclusions are based on testing and theoretical analysis.
The test samples were four feet long, six inches in diameter, filled with POLY-GROUND® with a 5/8 inch ground rod in the center of the POLY-GROUND®.
It is our conclusion from these tests that POLY-GROUND® makes a far superior backfill/ground for dealing with lightning strikes and avoiding the damages they can cause to an electrical system.
Because of the immense energy that is discharged, a number of individual ground connections must be available in order to dissipate the energy to the earth’s crust. Normally, the strike is discharged through 10 to 20 individual structure grounds.
Our investigations show that properly installed POLY-GROUND® backfill should maintain both structural strength and electrical properties under lightning conditions.
We theorize POLY-GROUND® has several advantages. One advantage is that lightning strikes create permanent electrical pathways through the POLY-GROUND® backfill. The greater the intensity of the lightning strike, the more pathways are created and multiplied. The more electrical pathways created, the more electrically conductive the POLY-GROUND® backfill becomes.
Another theory is that structural integrity is maintained, although some scorching appears on the foam-metal interface. Our investigation indicates that the POLY-GROUND® should not burn because of the limited oxygen present in the soil and in the foam material when at least ten (10) structures are grounded. Most applications will have more grounds connected (10+) together.
Also, the lower resistance of the backfill should allow the energy to radiate the strike to the interface of the POLY-GROUND® soil and will reduce the high voltage shock dramatically. Our conclusions are based on testing and theoretical analysis.
The test samples were four feet long, six inches in diameter, filled with POLY-GROUND® with a 5/8 inch ground rod in the center of the POLY-GROUND®.
It is our conclusion from these tests that POLY-GROUND® makes a far superior backfill/ground for dealing with lightning strikes and avoiding the damages they can cause to an electrical system.
POLY-GROUND and Corrosion
Corrosion is an electro-chemical phenomenon where the metal tends to return to metal oxide by oxidation where a conductive circuit exists. POLY-GROUND® backfill material used to install metal structures is a closed-cell polyurethane foam that isolates the metal structure from the soil.
Our test procedure was done with a 3" foam cube that had a steel bar embedded in the foam block. The foam block with steel bar was immersed in a salt-water electrolyte with a 10-volt DC connected to the steel bar and the electrolyte.
Contact our company to order POLY-GROUND®. We proudly serve clients nationwide.
Our test procedure was done with a 3" foam cube that had a steel bar embedded in the foam block. The foam block with steel bar was immersed in a salt-water electrolyte with a 10-volt DC connected to the steel bar and the electrolyte.
Contact our company to order POLY-GROUND®. We proudly serve clients nationwide.