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Manufacturing

Spare coil arriving from Japan

In August, Japan's National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and supplier Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipped a spare toroidal field coil to ITER—the very last (of nine) D-shaped coils to be supplied by Japan to the ITER Project.

Toroidal field coil #19 (TF19) has been shipped from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries facility in Futami, Japan. This is the ninth, and last, D-shaped coil to be supplied by the Japanese Domestic Agency to the ITER Organization. (Click to view larger version...)
Toroidal field coil #19 (TF19) has been shipped from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries facility in Futami, Japan. This is the ninth, and last, D-shaped coil to be supplied by the Japanese Domestic Agency to the ITER Organization.
On 23 August 2023, the spare coil left Mitsubishi's Futami plant for transport by barge to the port of Kobe. The 300-tonne component was loaded onto an oceangoing vessel in early September, for arrival in France later this month. 

This milestone marks the end of an important industrial effort in Japan that began in 2005 when QST launched R&D for toroidal field coil manufacturing, and that gained steam when a Procurement Arrangement was signed with the ITER Organization in 2008 for the supply of 9 complete toroidal field coils (an assembly of winding packs and coil structures) and all 19 toroidal field coil structures.

Working in collaboration, QST and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries developed high-precision technology for winding the niobium-tin conductors that form the heart of the superconducting winding pack, as well as durable structural materials for the coil cases. To arrive at manufacturing methods that would counter deformations caused by welding, parameter tests were conducted, and the welds verified using both miniature and full-scale specimens. Ultimately, through advanced welding procedures and machining techniques, Mitsubishi was able to meet the stringent requirements demanded for ITER.

QST collaborated with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation for the full scope of the Procurement Arrangement. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactured the inboard coil structures for all 19 coil cases and performed the final assembly (coil insertion and case closing) for 5 toroidal field coils, including the first coil to be completed for the ITER Project (January 2020) and the final, spare coil (TF19) that was completed last month.

The coil is expected to reach France in late September and the ITER site in October. 

See the Mitsubishi press release in English here. 

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