Qualification of the Manufacturing Procedures of the ITER Correction Coils

The system of correction coils (CC) is a component of the ITER magnet system, required to correct toroidal asymmetries and reduce error magnetic fields detrimental for physical processes in the plasma. It includes 18 coils, inserted in between toroidal field coils and poloidal field coils and split into 3 sets of 6 coils each: bottom correction coils (BCC), side correction coils (SCC), and top correction coils (TCC). BCC and TCC are planar coils, whereas SCC are wound on a cylinder. All CC coils are wound using a 10 kA NbTi cable-in-conduit conductor and are manufactured by ASIPP laboratory (Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), under the responsibility of ITER China. A manufacturing line was installed in 2013 at ASIPP in a dedicated workshop for the construction of the CC. In order to qualify the manufacturing procedures, a comprehensive qualification program has been set up. This program includes a set of mock-ups, manufactured according to the process to be used for the coils and submitted to different tests. These qualification items are winding, insulation and vacuum pressure impregnation, helium inlet/outlet, terminal joints, case material, filler material between winding-pack and case, case assembly, and terminal service box. Qualification of conductor winding, He inlet/outlet manufacture, winding-pack turn and ground insulation installation and impregnation, case material, winding-pack-case filler material is achieved. This included mechanical testing of materials at room and cryogenic temperature in specialized testing laboratories and high-voltage tests performed at the CC workshop. Joint qualification, relying on electrical tests of joints in a dedicated test facility, is nearly complete. Remaining qualification items are case assembly, winding-pack insertion into case, and case closure welding. Manufacture of the first coil started in 2015 and its winding-pack is near completion.