Abstract
The new current lead test facility CuLTKa was successfully commissioned in 2014 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. Towards the end of the year the first pair of High Temperature Superconductor current leads (CL) for the Japanese tokamak JT-60SA was tested. These CL have to carry currents of up to 26 kA and are cooled with helium (He) at two different temperature levels, 4.5 K and 50 K, respectively. After commissioning and test of the first pair another 24 CL will be tested until 2017. The facility consists of five cryostats: The first cryostat distributes the He coming from the 2 kW refrigerator to the different experiments in the ITEP. In the second one, with an integrated He-bath, the forced flow He for the CL is cooled down to 4.4 K and the 50 K He is piped through. In a valve box the He at two temperature levels is distributed to two test cryostats housing each one pair of CL. This paper describes the design of the facility from a cryogenic point of view starting from the basic demands. The overall setup is derived and particular details are explained. Some design calculations will be opposed to measured data from its real performance. In addition one major safety aspect is described.
Highlights
IntroductionIn 2006 KIT got the contract to design, fabricate and test 16 High Temperature Superconductor (HTS)-Current Lead (CL) for the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X
Successful High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Current Lead (CL) developments in the Institute for Technical Physics (ITEP) in KIT started in the 1990s with the development of a 70 kA HTS-CL as a demonstrator for ITER [1]
In the final design calculation the input values have been set to the least favorable inlet flow conditions coming from the refrigerator and for an accepted temperature difference between bath and outlet of the heat exchanger (HEX) (ΔTbath-HEXout) of 0.2 K
Summary
In 2006 KIT got the contract to design, fabricate and test 16 HTS-CL for the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. In 2014 the Current Lead Test Facility Karlsruhe (CuLTKa) was commissioned together with the first pair of 26 kA HTS-CL. To operate these HTS-CL helium at two different temperature levels at 4.5 K and 50 K at overcritical pressures are required. Some of these are compared to measured data to evaluate the accuracy of the design tools.
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