LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) HFTF (High-Field Test Facility): A Flexible Superconducting Test Facility for Fusion Magnet Development

摘要

The High-Field Test Facility (HFTF) is a flexible and, in many ways, unique facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for providing the test capabilities needed to develop the superconducting magnet systems of the next generation fusion machines. The superconducting coil set in HFTF has been operated successfully at LLNL, but in its original configuration, its utility as a test facility was somewhat restricted and cryogenic losses were intolerable. A new cryostat for the coil set allows the magnet system to remain cold indefinitely so the system is available on short notice to provide high fields (about 11 T) inside a reasonably large test volume (0.3-m diam). The test volume is physically and thermally isolated from the coil volume, allowing test articles to be inserted and removed without disturbing the coil cryogenic volume, which is maintained by an on-line refrigerator. Indeed, with the proper precautions, it is even unnecessary to drop the field in the HFTF during such an operation. The separate test volume also allows reduced temperature operation without the expense and complication of subcooling the entire coil set (about 20-t cold mass). The HFTF has thus become a key facility in the LLNL magnet development program, where the primary goal is to demonstrate the technology for producing fields to 15 T with winding-pack current densities of 40 A.mm sup -2 in coils sized for fusion applications. 4 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab. (ERA citation 13:008343)