Design study of superconducting coil system for JA DEMO

Abstract

A fusion demonstration (DEMO) reactor requires toroidal field (TF) coils larger than those used in ITER and can withstand higher electromagnetic forces. This creates significant challenges regarding the manufacturability of the TF coils, the increased electromagnetic forces on the TF inner leg case, and increased fabrication costs. This means that new winding pack designs and superconducting conductors must be designed to meet these requirements, and high-strength cryogenic steel for the coil case must be developed to withstand electromagnetic forces. This paper describes these possible solutions based on the Japanese DEMO (JA DEMO) design. In the layered winding of rectangular conductors, it was found that a new conductor geometry called the hybrid R-shape conductor can significantly reduce the stress on the turn insulation while reducing the superconducting wire to less than half. In addition, a guideline for designing the conductor strand structure was provided for a superconducting conductor subjected to electromagnetic forces 1.5 times greater than those of ITER. Furthermore, the effect of composition on strength was evaluated using several prototype materials based on high-Cr austenitic steels, and the feasibility of increasing the strength of cryogenic steels was confirmed.