Speaker
Description
IO (ITER Organization) planned cold tests for Toroidal Field (TF) and Poloidal Field (PF1) coils, and a test facility is under development for this specific purpose. The TF coil test campaign foresees a series of tests at half operational current and a final one at full current, 68kA. The latter requires a further development of the facility, due to the severity of the test together with a series of design constraints. Firstly, a stand-alone TF coil is subjected to a stress condition different from the operational one, since it is not part of the entire magnetic system, where centripetal actions are shared and reacted by wedging. This condition results in significant bending of the inboard leg and a strain state potentially affecting the superconductor performance. Secondly, the required supporting structures to mitigate this bending, apart from being effective in increasing the stiffness and structurally sound, must withstand strict requirements in terms of dimension, interface with other components, handling and weight. In this investigation the preliminary design of the necessary auxiliary structure is discussed. The results of the FEM mechanical and thermal analyses show how the design meets the requirements in terms of stresses in the TF coil and strain in the WP, as well as the structural compliance of both coil and supporting structure, also in compliance with the requirements of assembly and handling in the facility.
The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ITER Organization.
