Numerical analysis of ITER fourth poloidal field (PF) coil feeder

The ITER poloidal field (PF) feeder busbar which carries 52 kA current will be subjected to high Lorentz force due to the background magnetic field aroused by the coils and the self-field between a pair of PF busbars. Peak magnetic force requires dense supports. But to minimize the heat load to the busbars as well as the cryo-pipes, fewer and thinner supports design is proposed, so a balance between mechanical strength and thermal insulation performance should be achieved. This paper presents the analysis on support system design for ITER 4th PF feeder including the S-bend box, the cryostat feed-through, the in-cryostat-feeder. An electric–magnetic coupled analysis aims to get real magnetic force load under the worst scenario, then the Lorentz force result is imported into the mechanical analysis, applied on the busbars, meanwhile the busbar supports, the containment duct, the gimbals, the separator plate and the cryo-pipes, the cold mass supports are contained in the finite element model to check the full system performance under Lorentz forces, earth gravity and thermal contract at 4.5 K. Based on the analytical results, the quantity and the spaces between busbar supports in the 4th PF feeder have been studied and the detail design optimized.