A low cost joint for the ITER PF coils, design and test results

The Poloidal Field (PF) coils of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) are designed using of NbTi cable-in-conduit conductors carrying a current up to 45 kA. Each PF coil consists of several modules Wound in double pancakes. Joints connect that double pancakes electrically in series at the coil periphery. In order to minimize the manufacturing cost maintaining a high reliability, a low cost joint design was developed at CRPP and tested in SULTAN test facility in the frame of ITER task for PF coils. The concept of the joint is a single fully welded stainless steel box and one pitch joint through sectioned copper saddle blocks. The joint sample includes two full-scale joints, one in the hairpin configuration at the bottom of the sample and one as an overlap joint at mid length of the sample. Lifting the sample in the SULTAN facility, either the hairpin or the overlap joint can be placed in the center of the facility and tested under ITER-relevant operating conditions. The low cost joint design for the ITER PF coils is described and the test results (DC and AC loss) are presented in this paper. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.