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A Cooling Concept for Indirectly Cooled Superconducting Magnets for the Fusion Reactor FFHR

Kazuya TAKAHATA, Hitoshi TAMURA, Toshiyuki MITO, Shinsaku IMAGAWA and Akio SAGARA

National Institute for Fusion Science, 322-6 Oroshi-cho, Toki 509-5292, Japan

(Received 29 October 2014 / Accepted 20 January 2015 / Published 27 February 2015)

Abstract

Helical fusion power reactors have competitive advantages for steady-state operation because they use a currentless plasma. This paper presents the cooling concept of the indirectly cooled superconducting helical coil for the helical fusion reactor FFHR-d1. The helical coil consists of continuously wound aluminum-alloy-jacketed Nb₃Sn superconductors and intermediate metal plates that not only cool the conductor indirectly, but also support the electromagnetic force. The copper cooling panels are partially mounted in the stainless steel intermediate plate and cooled by cryogenic supercritical helium. The conductor is cooled by contact with the cooling panels through an insulation material with high thermal conductivity, such as a ceramic. Fundamental calculations show that this cooling concept is technically feasible. Experimental investigations yielded a candidate for the ceramic insulator with high thermal conductivity.

Copyright (c) 2015 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research

Keywords

heliotron fusion reactor, indirectly cooled superconducting coil, nuclear heat, ceramic insulator, thermal conductivity

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.10.3405011

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This paper may be cited as follows:

Kazuya TAKAHATA, Hitoshi TAMURA, Toshiyuki MITO, Shinsaku IMAGAWA and Akio SAGARA, Plasma Fusion Res. 10, 3405011 (2015).