A ceremony marking the completion of China’s firstInternational Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Procurement Agreement--Troidal Field (TF) Coil conductor procurement developed by Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASHIPS), was held in Hefei, Anhui, China.
On August 14th, 2011, as China’s first ITER component, construction of TF coil conductor started. After manufacturing process, all 6 TF conductors provided by China passed SULTAN test at once and presented good and stable performance as well. And On Nov. 28th, 2015, the last TF coil conductor manufacture was completed.
The completion of this completely-domestic-made task marks a notable milestone in China’s participation in ITER, which certifies again that China’s Large-scale superconducting conductor development and industrialized production capacity has edged into the international first-class group. Toroidal Field (TF) conductor package is completely made in China and the quality of all the products is up to the standard.
As a critical component of ITER, the magnet system includes 18 TF coils. TF conductor procurement, consisting of 13 conductors, is the first ITER procurement taken on and launched in China. Because of its high technology, all partners in ITER raced for TF procurement since the beginning of the negotiation. Among ITER’s 137 procurements, it is the only procurement whose components are jointly provided by ITER’s six partners (EU, US, Japan, Korea, Russia and China).
Each TF coil is made up of 5 regular Double Pancakes (rDP) and 2 side Double Pancakes (sDP). And each Double Pancake is wound from a single piece length of Nb3Sn-based Cable-In-Conduit Conductor (CICC). The minimum length of a regular Double Pancake unit is 760 m and the minimum length of a side Double Pancake unit is 415 m. In order to manufacture 18 TF conductors, 90 rDP unit lengths and 36 sDP unit lengths need to be fabricated. With liquid helium of 4.2K（-269℃）flowing inside, rated current at 68kA, TF conductor’s Max Magnetic Strength reaches 20T.
Through cooperation with domestic partners, Applied Superconductivity Division of Institute of Plasma in Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences manages to develop TF conductor manufacturing technology and complete the industrial production certification. Meanwhile, they establish a quality management and process control system which goes up to ITER’s standard and completes the research and development of manufacture technology, facility, test and quality evaluation.
China’s former vice minister of Science and Technology and director of China Domestic Agency, CAO Jianlin and ITER’s Superconductor Systems & Auxiliaries Section Leader, Arnaud DEVRED attended the ceremony, which was organized by ASIPP in CASHIPS and sponsored by ITER China Domestic Agency.
TF Conductor (Image by YE Hualong)
Dr QIN Jinggang,
Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
NO. 350, Shushanhu Road, Hefei, China
Tel: +86-0551-65595691
E-mail: qinjg@ipp.ac.cn
