In vessel electrical integration in ITER—Requirements & solutions

Abstract

The ITER in-vessel electrical integration has been divided between several engineering activities to complete the distribution of more than 4000 cables around the inner wall of the vacuum vessel and divertor, using the upper and lower ports to exit from the vessel. Having met difficult requirements, this integration enables the measurements of key parameters of the burning ITER plasma. Most of the cables are mineral insulated (MI) cables with different diameter and type (twisted pair, quad core, triaxial, coaxial), with complex routing from the sensor to vacuum feedthrough across an in-vessel loom using a connection box located in a marshaling area at the ports. These cables have the function to connect the diagnostic sensors, located into the machine, to the data acquisition hardware in the diagnostic hall for plasma diagnostics and blanket and vessel monitoring Martinez et al. [3]. The in-vessel looms and the cables have to achieve adequate thermal contact to the vessel for cooling, and adequate neutronic protection for suitable performance of their measurement functions. The integration constraints for routing the in-vessel looms and cable tails behind blankets, and also the assembly constraints for these components will be described in this manuscript.