CONTOURING OF AN INERTIALLY COOLED PUMP LIMITER FOR TORE SUPRA

The paper describes the methods used to calculate, optimize and machine the surface contours of a pyrolytic graphite limiter head for the Tore Supra tokamak. The main objective of the effort was to produce an inertially cooled limiter head that would sustain at least a 5 s plasma pulse with 2 MW of total incident power while maximizing particle pumping. First, the paper discusses calculation and optimization of the contours, and describes the plasma edge model used in the analysis. Techniques and algorithms used for optimization are described, and the sequence leading to optimized limiter surface contours detailed. Techniques used to transfer the design from the computer-aided design model to programs for numerical control machining of the contours are then discussed. The use of computer aided analyses and contour transfer not only minimized the risk of error in the final contours, but also permitted consideration of more complex shapes.