Finite-Element Analysis of Dump Resistor for Prototype Superconducting Magnet Carrying 3.60 MA-t

Stability margin, transient ac responses, and protection of the magnet system in the case of abnormal quench are some of the important design drivers of superconducting magnets for fusion reactors. A prototype magnet has been designed using a cable-in-conduit conductor with a nominal operation current of 30 kA at 12 T and 5 K at the Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India. Protection of the magnet system during off-normal scenarios leading to quench makes the operation of the magnet system more challenging. An external dump resistor is required to extract the stored magnetic energy of the magnet in case of quench. Such a dump resistor has been designed for this 3.60 MA-turns current-carrying prototype superconducting magnet. Finite-element thermal, structural, and electromagnetic analyses have been done for validating the dump resistor parameters using commercially available Ansys software. The maximum temperature rise of the dump resistor system is found to be 540 K, considering cool down by natural convection only. In addition, the maximum stress between the parallel plates of the is found to be less than 1.0 GPa, which is in the acceptable range.