Investigation on the in-situation pipe bending tool for the sector sub-assembly of ITER thermal shield

Abstract

The main components of the ITER tokamak are assembled from the nine sub-assemblies of the 40° sectors. During the sub-assembly, the Toroidal Field coils (TFCs) are installed outside of the Vacuum Vessel Thermal Shield (VVTS) by rotation. The clearance between TFCs and VVTS is very narrow, in relation to the cooling tube end points, which are connected to the thermal shield manifolds. The dimensional analysis shows that in-situ bending of the VVTS cooling tube is required instead of pre-bending. This paper describes the development of the in-situ bending tool and its validations. The specialized tool is designed and the in-situ bending procedure is verified by structural analysis and mock-up test.