Quench protection for the superconducting magnet system of WENDELSTEIN 7-X

Author

Rummel, Thomas ; Gaupp, Osvin ; Lochner, Georg ; Sapper, Joerg

Author_Institution

Euratom Assoc., Max-Planck-Inst. fur Plasmaphys., Greifswald, Germany

Volume

12

Issue

1

fYear

2002

fDate

3/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1382

Lastpage

1385

Abstract

WENDELSTEIN 7-X, a superconducting fusion experiment, is presently under construction at the Greifswald branch of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Plasmaphysik (IPP), Germany. The magnetic confinement of the plasma is achieved by 70 coils. In case of a rapid shutdown (e.g., caused by a quench) a very reliable protection system has to reduce the current in all coils within seconds. Different concepts applying linear and nonlinear resistors, which operate at room temperature or at 80 K, were studied. To switch the current electronic and mechanical breakers were considered. The paper presents the concepts studied and describes in detail the selected solution.

Keywords

commutation; protection; resistors; stellarators; superconducting magnets; switching; 20 C; 80 K; WENDELSTEIN 7-X; commutation circuit; discharge resistor; electronic breakers; fast de-energization; linear resistors; magnetic plasma confinement; mechanical breakers; nonlinear resistors; quench protection system; rapid shutdown; reliable protection system; superconducting fusion experiment; superconducting magnet system; Costs; Delay effects; Plasma confinement; Plasma temperature; Power system protection; Resistors; Superconducting coils; Superconducting magnets; Switches; Toroidal magnetic fields;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2002.1018660

Filename

1018660