Manufacturing
Europe completes pre-compression rings
12 Apr 2021
The French company CNIM (Toulon) has produced a tenth pre-compression ring for the ITER Project on behalf of Fusion for Energy, the European Domestic Agency.
At CNIM (Toulon, France), ten pre-compression rings were wound, cured, machined, inspected and proof tested. Nine are already at ITER and the lower set of three will be installed in the Tokamak pit soon.
The completed component is made of pultruded laminate, wound into a ring shape on specialized winding tooling, with alternate layers of 0.12 mm-thick epoxy tape applied. The completed ring is cured and then machined to the required final dimensions.
In the ITER machine, two sets of three pre-compression rings will be installed at the top and bottom of the toroidal field coil structures. Mounted around the "tips" of the structures, the high tensile strength of the rings "pushes back" against the against the forces exerted on the toroidal field coils during operation, relieving stress and fatigue. Four other pre-compression rings will serve as spares.
The completion of this procurement package has been celebrated by the European Domestic Agency and contractors alike. Read the full report here.