Final design of the DTT Toroidal power supply circuit

• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2023.113595
• Publication Date: 2023-02-28T17:58:07Z
• Authors: P. Zito; M. Manganelli; A. Lampasi; S. Pipolo; R. Lopes
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; Quench protection; Toroidal field coil power supply; Silicon carbide varistors, Divertor tokamak test (DTT); 01 natural sciences; Fast discharge units

The Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) facility is in advanced design and construction phase at the ENEA laboratories in Frascati, Italy, to contribute to the study, the design and assessment of systems for the treatment of heat exhaust. The DTT Toroidal Field (TF) magnet system consists of 18 superconducting coils, fed in series by a single power supply (TFPS), which is a 24-pulses thyristor-based converter with an output DC current up to of 44 kA. In case of a quench in the superconductors, the magnetic energy stored in the coils is extracted by 3 Fast Discharge Units (FDUs) in series with 3 sectors of 6 TF coils. After the respective contracts were awarded, the TFPS and the FDUs are currently in the final design phase which is addressed in this paper. In particular, the analysis is focused on the most innovative aspects of the design, as the use of silicon carbide (SiC) varistors instead of discharge resistors and of a fully electronic and completely redundant high-current switch without any mechanical device.