This is for my colleagues who design and construct distribution infrastructure. I invite your feedback.
Idea –
A two part “conduit” for open trenching of distribution conductor in an underground environment.
A three-sided bottom in 1 to 6 wide spaces (think conduits) that will allow the cable to be laid, rather than pulled thru the conduit. With a top that forms the 4th side of the box. These would be made of reinforced concrete and made in standard 20-foot lengths with 6-foot radius “sweeps” available and pre-built risers, the parts would butt together with slots and tabs to keep them in alignment.
They could be stacked, like duct banks.
The insides would be smoothed to facilitate the removal and replacement of the conductors.
The typical concrete back fill would still apply.
Looking at effort metrics from undergrounding projects the time studies suggest a 10-30% reduction of labor involved in undergrounding, but no real experiments have been run.
Questions:
1) Good idea/bad idea?
2) Useful / not useful?
3) What is missing?
4) Comments?
Thank you for reading.
Doug Houseman
Expert Member
Top Contributor