Tokamak coils require protection systems to extract the stored magnetic energy without breaking the power supply circuit. This is more critical in superconducting coils, especially due to quench phenomena. This protection can be simply obtained by fast discharge units (FDUs), able to insert proper resistor banks in the coil circuit. Similarly, resistive switching network units (SNUs) are the standard method to initiate plasma in tokamak. The use of varistors instead of linear resistors can introduce several benefits for the tokamak operations, including the possibility to implement in a single unit both the SNU and the FDU functions. These principles are descried in this paper with reference to their applications in the DTT facility, reporting some examples of the possible and selected parameters. Nevertheless, the proposed approaches, the developed theory and the obtained results can be adapted to any tokamak and nuclear-fusion project.

Benefits of high-energy varistors in breakdown and fast discharge units

Lampasi A.
2023-01-01

Abstract

Tokamak coils require protection systems to extract the stored magnetic energy without breaking the power supply circuit. This is more critical in superconducting coils, especially due to quench phenomena. This protection can be simply obtained by fast discharge units (FDUs), able to insert proper resistor banks in the coil circuit. Similarly, resistive switching network units (SNUs) are the standard method to initiate plasma in tokamak. The use of varistors instead of linear resistors can introduce several benefits for the tokamak operations, including the possibility to implement in a single unit both the SNU and the FDU functions. These principles are descried in this paper with reference to their applications in the DTT facility, reporting some examples of the possible and selected parameters. Nevertheless, the proposed approaches, the developed theory and the obtained results can be adapted to any tokamak and nuclear-fusion project.
2023
Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT)
Fast Discharge Unit (FDU)
High-Energy
Power Supply
Switching Network Unit (SNU)
Varistor
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12079/75187
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 4
social impact