In service feed-back of the TORE-SUPRA actively cooled inner first wall
- Euratom-CEA sur la Fusion Controlee, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)
The TORE-SUPRA inner first wall has been designed to sustain a steady state 1 MW/m{sup 2} incident heat flux. It is made of square stainless steel tubes cooled by a pressurized loop protected by brazed graphite tiles. This wall covers 22 m{sup 2} of the high field side of the inner vacuum vessel. Over 12000 plasma shots (up to 8 MW of additional power and as long as 60 s) have been done in TORE-SUPRA with a majority of them positioned on the inner wall. Long shot experiments have shown that for this type of components a high reliability is needed for the joining technique of the protective tiles. High power experiments have also shown that a precise alignment ({plus_minus} 0.5 mm) is also needed for the large belt limiters. In order to improve the overall reliability of this component calculations were done to evaluate the local heat flux and the limits associated to different geometrical mismatches in the inner first wall. The brazing and service thermomechanical stresses have been evaluated by finite element calculation. Mock-ups (same concept with CFC tiles replacing the graphite ones) were successfully heat flux tested on an e-beam facility. New sectors are being manufactured following a new design (compatible with the existing one) and are going to be installed in the vessel. Industrial brazing tests have shown that reliability of the joint is strongly related to the quality of the C.F.C. Non destructive testing of the braze joint by infrared measurements has been evaluated and a minimum detectable size defect has been determined. The in-service observation of this element will give a better sense of a zero defect component for steady state operation.
- OSTI ID:
- 196850
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940664--; CNN: 21
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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