Thermo-mechanical design of the Plasma Driver Plate for the MITICA ion source

摘要

In the framework of the activities for the development of the Neutral Beam Injector (NBI) for ITER, the detailed design of the Radio-Frequency (RF) negative ion source has been carried out. One of the most heated components of the RF source is the rear vertical plate, named Plasma Driver Plate (PDP), where the Back-Streaming positive Ions (BSI+) generated from stripping losses in the accelerator and back scattered on the plasma source impinge on. The heat loads that result are huge and concentrated, with first estimate of the power densities up to 60 MW/m~2. The breakdowns that occur into the accelerator cause such heat loads to act cyclically, so that the PDP is thermo-mechanically fatigue loaded. Moreover, the surface of the PDP facing the plasma is functionally required to be temperature controlled and to be molybdenum or tungsten coated. The thermo-hydraulic design of the plate has been carried out considering active cooling with ultra-pure water. Different heat sink materials, hydraulic circuit layout and manufacturing processes have been considered. The heat exhaust has been optimized by changing the channels geometry, the path of the heat flux in the heat sink, the thickness of the plate and maximizing the Heat Transfer Coefficient. Such optimization has been carried out by utilizing 3D Finite Element (FE) models. Afterwards all the suitable mechanical (aging, structural monotonic and cyclic) verifications have been carried out post-processing the results of the thermo-mechanical 3D FE analyses in accordance to specific procedures for nuclear components exposed to high temperature. The effect of sputtering phenomenon due to the high energy BSI+ impinging on the plate has been considered and combined with fatigue damage for the mechanical verification of the PDP. Alternative solutions having molybdenum (or tungsten coatings) facing the plasma, aiming to reduce the sputtering rate and the consequent plasma pollution, have been evaluated and related 3D FE models have been developed, analyzed and compared. In this paper, the design will be presented in detail, as well as the analyses carried out for the thermo-mechanical verification of the component and an outlook to open issues.