Design of the precompression mechanism and gravity support for the central solenoid assembly in the JT-60SA tokamak

Tsuchiya, Katsuhiko; Kizu, Kaname; Murakami, Haruyuki; Yoshizawa, Norio; Koide, Yoshihiko; Yoshida, Kiyoshi

JT-60SA is full superconducting tokamak that was constructed in JAEA Naka site in corporation with JAEA and F4E. The central solenoid (CS) assembly in JT-60SA consists of 4 modules of superconducting solenoid which has outer diameter of 2m and height of 1.6m. The currents for each module were independently controlled. CS was designed to produce enough flux to control the plasmas with 5.5 MA during 100 sec. Superconducting conductor for CS consists of NbSn strands. The support structure for CS assembly consists of the tie-plates (inner and outer), buffer zones and key-blocks. CS must be cooled down to 4K before charging, and modules will be shrunk during this process. The support structure made of stainless steel was also shrunk at 4K. Thermal expansion ratio of stainless steel, however, is different from that of modules, which would result in the gap between modules and supports. In order to cancel this gap, pre-compress mechanism needs to be introduced in the support structure for CS assembly. Mechanical pressure for the pre-compress will be controlled by hydraulic rams that are set at the top of each support. During the pre-compress process in which both key-blocks clamp the modules, tension works at the tie plates. The support structure for CS assembly, especially tie plates, should have sufficient mechanical strength to withstand the stress induced by the pre-compress at room temperature, not only to withstand the electro-magnetic force which was produced during the plasma operation. Space for installation of CS assembly is limited by TF coils, so that cross section of tie-plate is also limited. Final structure was successfully designed to adopt the stainless steel with 0.120.17 wt% of nitrogen content (SS316LN) for the material of the main parts of support structure.