The design and the manufacturing process of the superconducting toroidal field magnet system for EAST device

The toroidal field (TF) magnet system of EAST (HT-7U), which consists of 16 superconducting coils enclosed in steel cases, has been manufactured to generate the magnetic field of 3.5 T at the plasma center to maintain plasma in a tokamak configuration with a current up to I MA. The TF coils have an approximately D-shape geometry of 2.6 m wide and 4.0 m high, and operate at a maximum field of 5.8 T. The conductor used in the TF coil is NbTi/Cu cable-in conduit (CIC) conductor, and its operating current is 14.3 kA. In March 2006, the first cooling down of the EAST device has been carried out successfully. The total of TF magnet system has been cooled down from room temperature to 4.5 K, and the TF system has been energized up to 8.2 kA with 5 A/s ramp rate. In September 2006, full performances of the TF magnet system have been reached, and the device of EAST has delivered its first plasma. In addition, the TF magnet system has been routinely operated with a current maintained constant on a whole day basis, for a preliminary program of more than 500 shots. In this paper, the main parts of the design, developmental tests, and the fabrication and assembly of TF coils are described in detail. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.