Experiments on a tokamak device with force‐balanced coils

High field is very favorable for magnetically confined fusion devices such as a tokamak, but the electromagnetic force derived from the field becomes a fatal problem. In particular, the largest in‐plane centering force hinders toroidal field coils from operating at higher fields. Although variable‐pitch multihelical coils, which we term force‐balanced coils (FBCs), by which this force is drastically reduced, were proposed for the coil system of tokamaks, there had been no actual tokamak device with FBCs. Therefore, Todoroki‐1, a small tokamak device with FBCs has been manufactured and experiments started. In this paper, the structure of Todoroki‐1 is indicated, and the stray magnetic field and centering force on FBCs are investigated. The plasmas have been generated in the device, and attempts at better plasmas are beginning. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(3): 19–29, 2000