Hitachi Cable completed TF dummy cable

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Hitachi Cable completed TF dummy cable
-Denis Bessette, ITER Magnets Division

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Denis Bessette (standing, second from right) in Hakata, Japan where he witnessed the successful conclusion of the dummy cable unit fabrication for the ITER TF coil.

On 22 September at the Hitaka worksite in Japan, Hitachi-Cable and its sub-contractor J-Power Systems (JPS) successfully completed the fabrication of a copper dummy cable unit length measuring 784m for the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) coil. The Japanese Domestic Agency (JA DA) is the second Domestic Agency among those involved in the TF conductor procurement to demonstrate its ability to fabricate a TF dummy cable unit length of at least 760m. In all, Japan is responsible for procuring 23 km of TF conductor through the JA DA, and Hitachi-Cable has been awarded the first contract for cabling TF cable in Japan.

The completion of a dummy length is a key achievement, and a necessary step before cabling superconducting wires as part of the cabling procedure qualification. The TF cable consists of more than 1400 strands arranged in five, multi-twisted stages. The cabling is carried out in five stages on various types of cabling machines, the most impressive being the big planetary machine used to assemble the fifth stage. Takahaki Isono from the JA DA and Denis Bessette from the ITER Organization attended this critical step at the Hikata worksite on 21—22 September.

The dummy cable was fabricated at a rate of approximately 1m per min; the cabling work started at 5 p.m. on 21 September and ended at 4 a.m. on 22 September. Big cabling machines operate 24 hours a day! The cabling went very smoothly thanks to the preparatory work of Ishibashi-san from Hitachi-Cable and the skilled operators of JPS who managed to complete the unit length without damaging a single strand. After clearing the cabling procedure hold point, the JA DA can now prepare for the next challenge: the cabling of 100m TF cable unit length with superconducting wires for qualification.

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