Design of the PDX Tokamak wall armor and inner limiter system

Abstract

The inner wall protective plates for the PDX Tokamak are designed to absorb 8 MW of neutral deuterium beam power at maximum power densities of 3 kW/cm/sup 2/ for pulse lengths of 0.5 sec. Preliminary studies indicate that the design could survive several pulses of 1 sec duration. The design consists of a tile and mounting plate structure. The mounting plates are water cooled to allow short duty cycles and beam calorimetry. The temperature and flow of the coolant is measured to obtain the injected power. A thermocouple array on the tiles provides beam position and power density profiles. Several material combinations for the tiles were subjected to thermal tests using both electron and neutral beams, and titanium carbide coated graphite was selected as the tile material. The heat transfer coefficient of the tile backing plate structure was measured to determine the maximum pulse rate allowable. The design of the armor system allows the structure to be used as a neutral beam power diagnostic and as an inner plasma limiter. The electrical and cooling systems external to the vacuum vessel are discussed.