Review of Experimental Results and Models for AC Losses in the ITER PF and CS Conductors

Abstract

During the years of ITER conductors qualification and production, samples from all domestic agencies were tested. Some of these tests were focused on characterizing the AC losses properties of the ITER conductors. The data produced originate from various facilities (PSI, University of Twente, CERN), using different experimental and data reduction protocols, for a large number of samples. The result is thus a considerable database of results with a wide spread in the properties. The need for a reduced set of parameters describing the AC losses properties of the ITER conductors is now becoming urgent in order to permit consistent analysis of the coils heat loads in commissioning and operation. In particular, PF and CS are pulsed coils, cooled by supercritical helium 4.5 K, operating at nominal currents up to 50 kA while subject to time varying fields that can reach 2 T/s during the plasma scenario. This paper summarizes the reference conductor samples, the models and the parameters that emerge from the extensive experimental characterizations, hoping to give a strong baseline for analysts investigating AC losses in ITER CS and PF conductors.