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Latest ITER Newsline
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Magnets | CEA delivers ITER cryogenic instrumentation
The ITER Organization has relied on the French CEA institute and its expertise in cryogenics and large superconducting magnets for the specialized instrumentati [...]
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Sector sub-assembly | Twin meets twin
Although they were born one full year apart, they are identical twins: when the second vacuum vessel sector sub-assembly tool (SSAT-2) is complete, nothing will [...]
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R&D in Europe | Working with industry on digital hydraulics
A contract signed with the European Domestic Agency is helping Finnish industry innovate in the domain of digital hydraulic valves. The result could interest IT [...]
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Diagnostics | What is the plasma shape? Ask the flux loop
Inside the machine, the flux loop diagnostic will provide important information to operators on the boundary shape, energy and stability of the plasma. In ITE [...]
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Image of the week | Communicators of all countries, unite!
ITER is a fascinating story to tell—how it began and how it developed, the challenges it has never ceased to face, the awe its infrastructure and components ins [...]
ITER NEWSLINE -
And now, it's for keeps!
At first view, nothing distinguishes the current operations in the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility from those that got underway last November: steel-jacketed conductor is being unspooled, straightened, cleaned, bent to the correct angle, and wrapped with layers of insulating tape ... technicians in white lab coats are carefully performing dimensional checks ... and there is the same machine hum and flash of orange lights.
The real thing—production winding—has started for poloidal field coil #5. In this on-site facility at ITER, Europe will produce the four largest poloidal field coils.
The difference lies in the heart of the steel-jacketed component. In the dummy conductor, the strands were one hundred percent copper. This less-expensive material—which respected the actual dimensions of the true conductor—was a good choice for qualifying the production line; contractors used it to first produce a semi-winding (four turns) and then a full two-layer dummy double pancake.
In the actual conductor, the strands consist of a mix of copper and of the superconducting alloy niobium-titanium. Four poloidal field coils (out of the six needed for the machine), will be manufactured by Europe in the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility. With diameters of 17 to 24 metres and weights ranging from 200 to 400 tonnes, these impressive components will require approximately 18 months each to manufacture.
Two smaller ring coils, with diameters of approximately 8 metres, are in production now in Russia and China.
See a recent report from the European Domestic Agency on fabrication activities for poloidal field coils #5 and #6 here.
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