Development of the bus joint for the ITER Central Solenoid

Abstract

The terminations of the Central Solenoid (CS) modules are connected to the bus extensions by joints located outside the CS in the gap between the CS and torodial field (TF) assemblies. These joints have very strict space limitations. Low resistance is a common requirement for all ITER joints. In addition, the CS bus joints will experience and must be designed to withstand significant variation in the magnetic field of several tenths of a Tesla per second during initiation of plasma. The joint resistance is specified to be less than 4nΩ.The joints also have to be soldered in the field and designed with the possibility to be installed and dismantled in order to allow cold testing in the cold test facility. We have developed coaxial joints that meet these requirements and have demonstrated the feasibility to fabricate and assemble them in the vertical configuration. We introduced a coupling cylinder with superconducting strands soldered to the surface of the cable that can be installed in the ITER assembly hall and at the cold test facility. This cylinder serves as a transition area between the CS module and the bus extension.We made two racetrack samples and tested four bus joints in our Joint Test Apparatus. Resistance of the bus joints was measured by a decay method and by a microvoltmeter; the value of the current was measured by the Hall probes. This measurement method was verified in the previous tests. The resistance of the joints varied insignificantly from 1.5 to 2nΩ.One of the challenges associated with a soldered joint is the inability to use corrosive chemicals that are difficult to clean. This paper describes our development work on cable preparation, chrome removal, compaction, soldering, and final assembly and presents the test results.