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

  • Portfolio | Sector repair has started

    Built up against vacuum vessel sector #7, the scaffolding reaches almost 20 metres in height and masks the massive component. Streaks of blinding light, filtere [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | Public/private consortium is building the DTT tokamak

    The Divertor Test Tokamak in Italy is creating a new model for engagement with industry in fusion research. ITER helped to pave the way. The Divertor Test Tokam [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | An architectural paradox

    There is something deliberately paradoxical in the architectural treatment of the ITER buildings. On the one hand, the alternation between the mirror-like stai [...]

    Read more

  • Former French Prime Minister | A fan then and now

    For Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister of France (2002-2005) who visited ITER on Friday 15 March, touring the ITER installation with ITER Director-Gene [...]

    Read more

  • CARE at ITER | New project values launched

    Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence drive the future of fusion for a diverse staff. When Pietro Barabaschi joined as ITER Director-General to [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Ultra-high vacuum

Leaving nothing to chance

With its 54 large openings (or ports) the ITER vacuum vessel is a challenge to seal completely, and yet ultra-high vacuum is needed for the success of the plasma pulses.

The team in celebratory mood after the completion of the test rig. This full-size replica of the largest of the equatorial ports has been designed to test the vacuum sealing. (Click to view larger version...)
The team in celebratory mood after the completion of the test rig. This full-size replica of the largest of the equatorial ports has been designed to test the vacuum sealing.
Vacuum Section Leader Robert Pearce describes the Herculean task: "The largest ports of the vacuum vessel have surface areas of 5 m². But an unsealed area the width of a human hair is enough to destroy the vacuum and halt fusion performance."

To leave nothing to chance a full-size replica of the largest equatorial ports has been designed and manufactured to test the vacuum sealing of what will be the largest port ever built on a tokamak.

The large seal test rig—4.8m (L) x 3.3m (W) x 4.8m (H)—is ready for factory acceptance testing at Vacuum Techniques in Bangalore, India. (Click to view larger version...)
The large seal test rig—4.8m (L) x 3.3m (W) x 4.8m (H)—is ready for factory acceptance testing at Vacuum Techniques in Bangalore, India.
This full-size test rig has just been completed by Vacuum Techniques based in Bangalore, India. Vacuum Techniques, founded in 1989, is one of India's largest suppliers of vacuum equipment and a specialist in the design and manufacture of custom built equipment. "Their team of highly qualified engineers, led by Director Rangaroa, has been dynamic and resourceful in completing this key component," says Eamonn Quinn, Vacuum Mechanical Engineer. 

The test rig is of an impressive size (nearly 5 metres in height and as many in length) and it weighs around 19 tonnes. It gives a preview of how the ITER machine will look when seen through the equatorial ports cells, as they are starting now to take shape on the construction site. It is due to be shipped to ITER shortly, where it will be used to test the assembly and function of a suite of large vacuum seals in order to validate the sealing technologies proposed for First Plasma and the subsequent operational phases of ITER.

"The seal test rig not only allows the largest demountable rectangular seals to be tested, but also enables us to prepare installation techniques which will be critical to achieving the required vacuum quality," states Pearce. "The rig can be heated to 240 ⁰C to simulate the baking of the ITER vacuum vessel and it also has the capability to apply loadings to the flanges to confirm the soundness of the sealing."


return to the latest published articles