Fusion Engineering and Design 82 (2007) 1561–1566
Industrial engineering studies for the manufacture of the ITER PF coils P. Libeyre a,∗ , P. Decool a , O. Gu´erin a , M. Perrella b , A. Bourquard c a
b
Association Euratom-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC, CEA-Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France ASG Superconductors S.p.A., Corso Perrone, 73R, I-16152 Genova, Italy c ALSTOM Magnets and Superconductors, 3bis Av des Trois Chˆ enes, F-90018 Belfort, France
Received 31 July 2006; received in revised form 27 March 2007; accepted 27 March 2007 Available online 23 May 2007
Abstract Industrial studies have been carried out in Europe to prepare the manufacture of the five poloidal field (PF) coils, which will be manufactured on the ITER site. A first study, carried out by Ansaldo Superconduttori, addressed the manufacturing sequence, assuming the manufacture of the PF coils inside the two buildings which will further host the cryogenic system. A second study, carried out by Alstom investigated how to achieve the manufacture of some crucial points. A new layout of the manufacturing line was proposed, aiming at manufacture of the PF2–6 coils within 36 months. A recent study performed by Alstom, assumes the manufacture of the PF coils in a single dedicated building, releasing so the constraint of meeting the deadline fixed in ITER reference scheme by the starting point of installation of the cryogenic components. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: ITER; Poloidal; Field; Coils; Manufacture
1. Introduction The ITER magnet system includes six poloidal field (PF) coils to control the position and shape of the plasma ring [1]. The European Union will be in charge ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 4 42 25 46 03; fax: +33 4 42 25 26 61. E-mail address:
[email protected] (P. Libeyre).
0920-3796/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2007.03.048
of manufacturing five of these coils and the Russian Federation will manufacture the last one. Owing to their large size and relative weakness, transportation of the five largest coils would be problematic. Consequently, all these coils will be manufactured on the ITER site, with the exception of the PF1, which will be manufactured in Russia. This paper presents the industrial studies which have been carried out in Europe to prepare the manufacture of these coils.
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P. Libeyre et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 82 (2007) 1561–1566 Table 2 PF coil working stations
2. Poloidal field coil design 2.1. Conductor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Working station
Number of units
Winding station for PF1 and PF6 Winding station for PF2 and PF5 Winding station for PF3 Winding station for PF4 Coil/double pancake ground wrap station Coil/double pancake impregnation station PF3–4 spiral plate curing station Double pancake set-up station PF1–6 coil set-up station PF2–5 coil set-up station PF3–4 coil set-up station
1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1
All PF coils will use superconducting NbTi conductors. These conductors are dual channel cable-in-conduit conductors [2], cooled by internal circulation of supercritical helium and carrying a current of 45 kA. The cables will be circular multistage twisted cables made of a thousand of 0.72–0.73 mm NbTi strands and the jacket will be made of 316LN stainless steel with a square outer cross-section. A single layer coil, the poloidal field conductor insert (PFCI), aiming at qualification of the conductor design has been built by Europe and will be tested soon in the Naka test facility in Japan [3].
3. Industrial studies
2.2. Coil
3.1. Manufacturing sequence and toolings
The main features of the PF coils are summarized in Table 1. The conductors will be wound in double pancakes, using a two-in-hand technique, where two conductors are wound together, to meet the maximum conductor unit length of 1000 m. This configuration implies on one hand the inclusion of helium inlets at the coil inner bore in the higher magnetic field area and of joints at the coil outer bore in the lower magnetic field area. The insulation system relies on the use of multilayer glass–polyimide composite tapes wrapped around the conductor and impregnated with epoxyde resin. The quality of the insulation will be monitored through the whole operating life of the tokamak by a metallic screen wrapped inside the conductor insulation [4]. In order to stop the propagation of an arc in case of appearance of an electrical defect inside the coil, metallic plates are inserted in-between double pancakes of the largest coils (PF3–4) and put to ground potential.
A first industrial study was performed by Ansaldo at Genoa (Italy), aiming at detailed description of the manufacturing sequence and of the required toolings [5]. Two options were considered: either vacuumpressure impregnation (VPI) or preimpregnated tapes. In both the cases, a double turn insulation is used, made of two layers, each 1.5 mm thick of interleaved polyimide–glass tapes separated by a 0.2 mm stainless steel wrap. Whereas in the first case, dry glass is used, in the second case preimpregnated glass is used. Impregnation is performed with Araldite F epoxy resin. The conclusion of the study was to recommend the choice of the first solution in order to guarantee a better quality of the insulation, since the use of preimpregnated tapes requires toolings to apply pressure while curing, which would prove inefficient in the radial direction owing to the turn stiffness. The breakdown of the manufacturing line into 14 working stations (Table 2) allows matching the target of achieving manufacture of all coils within 3
Table 1 The ITER PF coils Coil
PF1
PF2
PF3
PF4
PF5
PF6
Inner diameter (m) Outer diameter (m) Height (m) Weight (t) Current (backup) (kA) Number of turns Solenation (MA)
6.919 8.901 0.999 145 45 (52) 249 11.21
16.017 17.359 0.617 129 41 (52) 106 4.35
23.326 24.810 1.161 387 45 (52) 185 8.33
23.325 24.691 1.161 355 45 (52) 168 7.56
15.997 17.683 0.969 255 45 (52) 217 9.77
6.893 10.211 0.999 262 45 (52) 425 19.13
P. Libeyre et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 82 (2007) 1561–1566
years, assuming a winding speed of 0.5 h/m of conductor, as results from the experience of previous projects. A dedicated working station is used to wind a pair of coils similar in overall dimensions, with the exception of coils PF3 and PF4, for which a dedicated station is needed for each coil. As all coils use the two-inhand technique, two winding lines are acting in parallel, which allows doubling of the effective winding speed (Fig. 1). Whereas the turn insulation is applied through an automatic wrapping machine with three heads (inner glass, steel ribbon, outer glass) (Fig. 2), the double pancake and coil ground insulation is wrapped by hand. The intermediate steel plates in coils PF3 and PF4 are made using stainless steel ribbon wound on the same winding stations as the coils. Vacuum impregnation of double pancakes is performed in a dedicated working station, using a thin welded vacuum vessel and pressing plates (Fig. 3). A collapsible lifting frame is used to handle the double pancakes. A set of two circular rings and inflatable bladders are used to apply radial pressure as well on inner radius as on outer radius
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during coil impregnation, after stacking the double pancakes. 3.2. Manufacture of crucial items A second study, carried out by Alstom at Belfort (France), was dedicated to an evaluation of the tolerances and the manufacture of some crucial items, such as joints, helium inlets or separating plates for coils PF3–4 [6]. The coil thickness is estimated within a tolerance of 4–8 mm in radial direction and 4–7 mm in axial direction, depending on the coil (Table 3). Several variants have been considered for the helium inlets (long slot in one side of the conductor, half jacket removal, full jacket removal). For easiness of manufacture, Alstom would prefer the full jacket removal, but this solution needs mechanical assessment. A mockup with the long slot in one side of the conductor has been recently manufactured by CEA [7], which demonstrates its feasibility but no mechanical testing has been performed yet. As far as the joints between
Fig. 1. PF3–4 winding line.
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Fig. 2. Turn insulation.
Fig. 3. Double pancake vacuum impregnation.
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Table 3 Comparison of original ITER design and recent recommendation of one possible manufacturer (Alstom) Coil
PF1 PF2 PF3 PF4 PF5 PF6 a
ITER design
ALSTOM recommendation
Insulated coil width (mm)
Insulated coil height (mm)
Insulated coil width (mm)
Insulated coil height (mm)
991 671 742 683 843 1659
999 617 1161 1161 969 999
1004.5 679.1 755.5 696.5 856.5 1672.5
1023 632 1161a 1161a 993 1023
Height would have been 1193 if ground insulated DPs were impregnated before stacking.
conductors of the same double pancake or between adjacent pancakes are concerned, a design derived from that developed by CEA, using twin boxes [8], has been developed (Fig. 4). To avoid circulation of eddy currents, the separation plates cannot be continuous. Instead of winding an insulated stainless steel strip, Alstom recommends to use a set of stainless steel sectors, assembled with glass–epoxy G11 chocks and easier to manufacture. 3.3. Manufacturing line layout The large coils PF2–6 will be wound at the ITER site, whereas the PF1 coil will be manufactured in
Russia and shipped to Cadarache. The ITER reference scheme assumes that the manufacture of the PF2–6 coils will be performed in the two buildings of the cryoplant before installation of its components. This option was investigated as well by Ansaldo as by Alstom in their studies. They both concluded that it is possible to manufacture the coils within the cryoplant buildings, but that additional areas for loading unloading are necessary, as well as warehouses, areas for professional support, meeting rooms, social premises. Manufacture of all coils is achievable in 31 months according to Ansaldo (including PF1), if the winding speed is increased up to 0.167 h/m and in 36 months according to Alstom, with the same winding
Fig. 4. Double pancake joint cross-section.
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Fig. 5. Proposal of manufacturing line layout in a single dedicated building.
speed of 0.167 h/m, but taking into account learning curves (more time needed at beginning). In a more recent study [9], Alstom investigated the option of manufacturing the coils in a single dedicated building. This option would allow to release the constraint of freeing the buildings after 36 months so as to start installation of the cryogenic equipments with respect to the ITER reference scheme. A proposed overall layout of the dedicated building is shown in Fig. 5. The building is split into five areas (A–E): winding is carried out in A and double pancakes are stored in B, impregnation is performed in C, ground insulation of double pancakes of PF3 and PF4 in D and final assembly of coils in E. All areas are climate-controlled except area C which is separated from the other areas by walls.
4. Conclusion Engineering industrial studies of the ITER PF coils have made available a detailed manufacturing sequence and have shown that the manufacture of all coils could be carried out in the buildings which will be further used for the cryoplant. Nevertheless, it has been shown that manufacture of the coils in a dedicated building would give more flexibility to fit in the overall ITER time schedule.
References [1] M. Huguet, et al., Key engineering features of the ITER-FEAT magnet system and implications for the R&D programme, Nucl. Fusion 41 (October (10)) (2001) 1503–1513. [2] J.L. Duchateau, M. Spadoni, E. Salpietro, D. Ciazynski, M. Ricci, P. Libeyre, A. della Corte, Development in Europe of high current high field conductors for fusion application, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 15 (2002) R17–R29 (Topical review). [3] R. Zanino, S. Egorov, N. Martovetsky, J. Kim, E. Salpietro, L. Zani, et al., Preparation of the ITER poloidal field conductor insert (PFCI), IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 15 (June (2)) (2005) 1346–1350. [4] K. Yoshida, F. Iida, R. Gallix, S. Sadakov, R. Vieira, J. Stoner, C. Sborchia, Electrical insulation design and monitoring of the ITER magnet system, in: 20th SOFT Proceedings, Marseille, September 1998, pp. 807–810. [5] Final Report on Design Task on Poloidal Field and Correction Coils, Contract EFDA 93-851 GK, EFET/Ansaldo 700 RM 09032, January 2002. [6] Report on Detailed Engineering Studies of ITER PF Coils, Contract EFDA 03-1098, Alstom Member of AGAN Consortium, TR-04001A, March 2005. [7] P. Decool, H. Cloez, S. Nicollet, A. Nyilas, J.P. Serries, Design and qualification of ITER CS and TF cooling inlets, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 16 (June (2)) (2006) 876–879. [8] P. Decool, D. Ciazynski, P. Libeyre, A. della Corte, M. Spadoni, S. Rossi, et al., Design and manufacture of a prototype NbTi fullsize joint sample for the ITER poloidal field coils, Fusion Eng. Des. 66–68 (2003) 1165–1169. [9] Report on Preliminary Design of a Dedicated Building for PF Coil Manufacturing, EISS-5 Task: IF52.1, Alstom Member of AGAN Consortium, TR-06001A, March 2006.