Fluid-dynamic and thermo-mechanical analyses of the Monoblock Mitre Bend for the ITER electron cyclotron Upper launcher

Abstract

The ITER Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) system will be used to counteract magneto-hydrodynamic plasma instabilities by aiming up to 20 MW of mm-wave power at 170 GHz. The primary vacuum boundary at the Electron Cyclotron Upper Launcher (EC UL) extends into the port cell region through eight beamlines, defining the so-called First Confinement System (FCS). Each beamline, designed for the transmission of 1.31 MW, is delimited by the closure plate at the port plug back-end and by a diamond window in the port cell. The FCS essentially consists of a Z-shaped set of straight corrugated waveguides (WG) connected by Mitre Bends (MB) with a nominal inner diameter of 50 mm. Due to the space restrictions, the eight MBs at the last FCS section are grouped into two monoblocks. Each Monoblock Mitre Bend (MBMB) consists of a body with corrugated feedthroughs defining a specific angle for each beamline and four mirrors attached by bolted connection to reflect the mm-wave power. The thermal expansion arising from the ohmic losses, the cooling pressure, the bolt pre-tension and the imposed displacements coming from the connection with the transmission lines are the primary design loads for the MBMBs. The fluid-dynamic analyses performed for both upper and lower MBMBs show that highest temperature takes place in the MB mirrors, reaching a maximum value of 203 °C at the beam center. The thermo-mechanical analyses demonstrate that the peak stress also occurs at this location with a maximum value of 324 MPa. These stresses are categorized and compared with the allowable limits defined in the ASME code, what probes that the current design of both upper and lower MBMBs are able to withstand the loads taking place during the mm-wave normal operation.