A contract that will amount 156 million EUR for the supply of ten winding packs for the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) Coils with a European consortium of companies bringing together Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción SAU, ASG Superconductors SpA and Elytt Energy SL, was signed on 18 July by F4E. Europe will manufacture 10 of the 19 TF Coils for ITER, including a spare one, while Japan is responsible for producing the remaining nine. The signature of the contract is a significant step for the ITER project and an impressive technological milestone given the fact that winding packs of this size have never been manufactured before.
What is the function of winding packs in the ITER device?
The ITER device will operate with a system of superconducting magnets which relies on the Toroidal Field Coils, the Central Solenoid, the Poloidal Field Coils and the Correction Coils (see ITER image).
Toroidal Field coils are “D” shaped coils whose core task in the ITER device is the confinement of plasma. They are composed of a winding pack and a stainless steel coil case. Each winding pack is 14 metres high, 1 metre wide and 9 metres long. The weight of a winding pack is approximately 110 tonnes, which compares to that of a Boeing 747. Every winding pack consists of a set of 7 double pancakes, stacked together and electrically connected in a series for an operating current of 68,000 Amps. Each double pancake is made of one radial plate, a D-shaped special grade stainless steel plate in which the conductor is embedded (see Winding Packs image).
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The European consortium that was awarded the winding packs contract with representatives from Iberdrola, Elytt Energy and ASG.
Representatives of F4E who will be responsible for the winding packs contract.
From left to right:
Maria Luisa Sanchez-Mayoral, Director of Nuclear Business Development of Iberdrola, Ramon de Miguel, Director of Iberdrola, Frank Briscoe, Director of F4E, Carlos Serrano, General Counsel of Iberdrola signing the winding packs contract.
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