Speaker
Carlos Otarola
(Electromechanical Engineering)
Description
The manufacturing methods and issues found during the construction of the Stellarator of Costa Rica 1 (SCR-1) will be discussed. The SCR-1 is a small modular stellarator developed by the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (ITCR). Currently, it’s being tested for the first plasma discharge.
SCR-1 is a 2-field period small modular stellarator (Ro=0.238 m, =0.054 m, Ro/a>4.4, plasma volume =0.01 m33). Constructed from a 6061-T6 aluminum torus-shaped vacuum vessel with 10 mm thickness and a volume of 0.0418 m33 [1]. Plasma will be confined by magnetic field with a strength of 43.8 mT on axis. This wil be generated by 12 copper modular coils with 4.6 kA-turn each. The SCR-1 plasmas will be heated by ECH 2nd harmonic at 2.45 GHz with a plasma density cut-off value of 7.45 × 101616 m-3-3. Two magnetrons with a maximum output power of 2 kW and 3 kW will be used during plasma shot.
For its construction, a combination of classic and modern manufacturing techniques was used. Its main body was CNC machined from two prismatic aluminum blocks. The vacuum vessel has 24 ports: 22 circular CF ports, and two rectangular ports which were mechanized according to in house design dimensions. The coil supports were obtained from a 3D printed and casted mold. This was preferred given their complex geometry and the modularity needed for their assembly. MIG welding was used to join all the previous elements.
Verification testing on mark positioning were performed where coil support were placed. Once the coil supports were positioned, the copper wire was allocated between the coil supports by an experienced and certified technician. Advantages and disadvantages of manufacturing methods of vacuum vessel, CF ports and modular coils will be presented.
Co-authors
Adan Mora
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Carlos Otarola
(Electromechanical Engineering, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Edgardo Villalobos
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Ivan Vargas
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Jaime Mora
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Jose Asenjo
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
Laura Barillas
(Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica)
