Design and thermal-structural analysis of a high power ICRH travelling wave array antennas

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design Vol. 166; p. 112325
• Main Authors: Batal, T., Ragona, R., Hillairet, J., Yu, C., Bernard, J-M., Mollard, P., Farina, F., Firdaouss, M., Yang, Q.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Antennas; Cyclotron resonance; DEMO; Design analysis; Electric fields; Electric potential; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fusion reactors; Heating system; Hydraulics; Ion cyclotron resonance heating; Ions; Mockups; Plasma radiation; Structural analysis; Thermal and structural analysis; Traveling waves; Travelling wave antenna; Virtual reality; Voltage; Travelling wave antenna; Heating system; Thermal and structural analysis; DEMO; Virtual reality; Ion cyclotron resonance heating
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112325

Travelling wave array (TWA) antennas have been proposed for the ICRH (Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating) antennas of fusion reactors in view to decreasing the antenna voltage and associated electric field. This paper reports the progress of the design and structural analysis of an actively cooled high power TWA antenna for WEST. First, the design of a non-cooled mock-up that will be tested in the TITAN facility is presented. The main objective is to assess the voltage stand-off of the antenna at power and electric field levels relevant for future nominal operation in a fusion device. The main characteristics of the mock-up are detailed and the results from thermal and structural analysis of the mock-up tested in TITAN are presented. In the second part, the compatibility with WEST environment for an actively-cooled TWA antenna is assessed. Mechanical, electromagnetic, thermal and hydraulics constrains (.i.e VDE, plasma radiation, toroidal magnetic field ripple…) are listed in a system loads specification. A Virtual Reality analysis using IRFM tools has been performed to check compliance of the design in term of assembly inside the WEST vacuum vessel.