Electromechanical Analysis of the Technology Demonstrator for the IGNITEX Fusion Device

Abstract

The Texas Ignition Experiment (IGNITEX) device is a single turn coil tokamak designed to produce and control an ignited plasma using ohmic heating alone. The proposed high strength magnet system operates at a magnetic field on-axis of 20 T, using homopolar generators (HPGs), which meet the power supply requirements (150 MA, 10 V) inexpensively. In this paper, the electromechanical analysis of a scaled down prototype (1/10 scale in linear dimensions) of the IGNITEX toroidal field (TF) magnet is presented. The primary goal of the IGNITEX Technology Demonstrator (ITD) is to prove the operation of a single turn, 20 T, toroidal field coil powered by a homopolar generator power supply system of 60 MJ, 9 MA, current operating at the Center for Electromechanics. The University of Texas at Austin (CEM-UT). In order to simulate the actual operating conditions of the full-scale device, the ITD coil will be precooled at liquid nitrogen temperature and driven by the six homopolar generators in parallel. Scaling relationships have shown that electromagnetic loading mechanical and thermal loading of the coil and their relative distribution will approximate well predicted levels of the full-scale IGNITEX device.