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

  • Fusion world | Japan and Europe inaugurate largest tokamak in the world

    It was 6:00 a.m. in La Bergerie, a former sheep barn located a few kilometres from ITER in the vast Château de Cadarache domain, and that had been converted [...]

    Read more

  • Stakeholders | ITER Director-General meets Prime Minister Kishida

    In Japan, the prime minister lives and works at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in central Tokyo, just a few blocks from the National Diet Building and [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | Season wrapping

    Although the travel distance is short, barely exceeding one hundred metres, the transfer of vacuum vessel sector #8 from the Assembly Hall, where it is presentl [...]

    Read more

  • In memoriam | Bernard Pégourié, physicist and mountaineer

    The worldwide fusion community mourns Bernard Pégourié, of France's Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (CEA-IRFM), who passed away on 25 November following [...]

    Read more

  • COP28 | Fusion is making a splash

    The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, opened on 30 November in Dubai's Expo City—a sprawling conference centre built two years ago for the W [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Transformer reliability demonstrated in China

The latest tests demonstrate high reliability and strong short circuit withstand capability. (Pictured: the transformer outside the tank for inspection.) (Click to view larger version...)
The latest tests demonstrate high reliability and strong short circuit withstand capability. (Pictured: the transformer outside the tank for inspection.)
Qualification activities for the ITER poloidal field converter package are continuing in China where—in the latest round of successful testing—the prototype of the poloidal field rectifier transformer successfully passed the third phase of routing and type tests.

From 25-28 February the rectifier transformer prototype fabricated by the Xi'an Transformer Co. Ltd (China XD Group) underwent testing in the presence of representatives from the ITER Organization, the Chinese Domestic Agency, the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP), and XD in Xi'an. The positive results of this visual examination, following on the heels of recent successful short circuit tests, confirm the suitability of R&D carried out for the poloidal field rectifier transformer prototype.

The rectifier transformer is one of the key prototype components of the ITER poloidal field converter package. With the assistance of ASIPP, ITER China issued the technical requirements for the fabrication and testing of the prototype according to the Procurement Arrangement signed with the ITER Organization in August 2012, and subsequently awarded the contract to the XD Group in December 2012.

The supplier accomplished two procurement milestones in 2013—completing the manufacturing design review in April followed by the fabrication of the prototype—before fulfilling all required tests.

The capability for the large transformer to withstand short circuit current is essential to guaranteeing reliability under the harsh operating conditions of ITER; short circuit test statistics over the past decade have tended to show a very high failure rate (nearly 30 percent). As a key component of the ITER coil power supply system, the test was carried out in full compliance with the latest IEC standards. Several peak current impulses up to 350kA were applied to the transformer and the evolution of winding parameters measured between each current application.

return to the latest published articles