Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Tokamak assembly | Extra support from below

    Underneath the concrete slab that supports the Tokamak Complex is a vast, dimly lit space whose only features are squat, pillar-like structures called 'plinths. [...]

    Read more

  • Vacuum standards and quality | Spreading the word

    As part of a continuing commitment to improve quality culture both at the ITER Organization and at the Domestic Agencies, the Vacuum Delivery & Installation [...]

    Read more

  • Test facility | How do electronics react to magnetic fields?

    A tokamak is basically a magnetic cage designed to confine, shape and control the super-hot plasmas that make fusion reactions possible. Inside the ITER Tokamak [...]

    Read more

  • ITER Robots | No two alike

    More than 500 students took part in the latest ITER Robots challenge. Working from the same instructions and technical specifications, they had worked in teams [...]

    Read more

  • Data archiving | Operating in quasi real time

    To accommodate the first real-time system integrated with the ITER control system, new components of the data archiving system have been deployed. Data archivi [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

A new database tool for magnet production

ITER's Arnaud Devred and colleague Gregory Bevillard during a training session in China, language lesson included. (Click to view larger version...)
ITER's Arnaud Devred and colleague Gregory Bevillard during a training session in China, language lesson included.
One of the greatest challenges to monitoring the production of the large and complex components at the heart of the ITER magnet system is the quick and efficient exchange of quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) documents and data—important information that needs to be reviewed during the manufacturing process and cleared for acceptance by the responsible Domestic Agency and the ITER Organization.

Following the successful implementation of the Conductor Database tool that tracked production data for the ITER conductors at six Domestic Agencies and their suppliers right through to final acceptance tests, it was decided to develop and implement a Magnet Manufacturing Database (MMD) on the same model.

The Magnet Manufacturing Database will be the main tool for monitoring the QA/QC processes of the Procurement Arrangements for magnet coils, magnet structures and magnet feeders. This web-based application, integrated into ITER's collaborative platform ICP, provides data and process integration with unified access and workflow. For the manufacturers, it offers an inventory control system with the possibility of integrating test result data and acceptance criteria functionalities, and of automatically generating barcodes and lot/serial numbers to facilitate tracking.

For the ITER Organization, the workflow management system included in the database matches the control points defined in each Procurement Arrangement and the manufacturing processes defined in the Manufacturing Inspection Plan. References to ITER documents are included for procedures, instructions, and specifications ... allowing the ITER Organization to identify and manage critical operations such as welding.

The Magnet Manufacturing Database can manage any kind of complex manufacturing process chain, regardless of product type. Real-time production status and work-in progress monitoring will be also developed in a near future, using the IT online reporting system to extract and display data from the database in an efficient manner.

The success of such a tool will rely on the ability of its users around the world to input data in a timely manner. After a prototype implementation at the European Domestic Agency for the toroidal field coil winding packs, representatives of the ITER Magnet Division were in China mid-May to provide extensive training to the staff of the Chinese Domestic Agency, its supplier ASIPP, and some of the ASIPP sub-suppliers to launch the Magnet Manufacturing Database for the feeders, high temperature superconductor leads, and correction coils.


return to the latest published articles