Fusion Engineering and Design 146 (2019) 2375–2378

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Fusion Engineering and Design

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Design and manufacturing of thermal shield for JT-60SA T

Shigetoshi Nakamura , Yusuke Shibama, Shinji Sakurai, Junnichi Yagyu, Fuminori Okano,
⁎

Koji Kamiya, Go Matsunaga, Kei Masaki, Akira Sakasai

National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The thermal shield (TS) of JT-60SA which is a superconducting tokamak, is installed to reduce radiation heat
On-site assembly load from a vacuum vessel (VV), a cryostat vessel and ports at ambient temperature to superconducting coils at
Clearance 4 K. The TS is double walled structure with He cooling pipe at 80 K, and is divided electrically in toroidal
Coupler direction and poloidal direction to suppress eddy currents flowing through the TS during disruption. The TS is
Positioning
required to be installed in a narrow space which is between the VV, the ports, and the superconducting coils.
Thermal shield
JT-60SA
Manufacturing and assembly accuracy of the TS are required to ensure the sufficient space for the relative
displacement caused by thermal displacement and seismic load. Customization of mechanical joints in the di-
vided section of the TS is effective process for keeping the required accuracy. Assembly of 340 ° sector of the
vacuum vessel thermal shield has been completed.

1. Introduction
The mission of the JT-60SA project is to contribute to the early
realization of fusion energy by supporting the exploitation of ITER and
research towards DEMO by addressing key physics issues associated
with these machines [1]. The JT-60SA tokamak [2] is under construc-
tion and is composed of a vacuum vessel (VV) with ports [3], super-
conducting magnet system [4], a thermal shield (TS) [5,6], a cryostat
[7,8], and plasma heating systems. Fig. 1 shows cross section view of
inside of the cryostat vessel the JT-60SA tokamak.
The VV has a D-shaped poloidal cross section, a double wall struc-
ture made of 316 L stainless steel (Co < 0.05 wt %) and consists of 18
sections with 73 openings. For baking, nitrogen gas of 200℃ while
borated water of　50 ℃ during plasma operation is circulated in the
double wall. The superconducting coils are supplied at 4 K and ther-
mally insulated by the vacuum space of the cryostat. The super-
conducting coils consist of 18 toroidal field coils (TF), a central solenoid
with 4 modules (CS), 6 equilibrium field coils (EF) as shown in Fig. 1.
The EF and the CS coils are connected with TF coils by bolts and pins,
and supported by the gravity supports of the TF coils. The cryostat
consists of its base and a single wall vessel with a thickness of 34 mm
which is made of 304 stainless steel (Co < 0.05 wt %). The TS consists
of the vacuum vessel thermal shield (VVTS), the cryostat thermal shield
(CTS) and the port thermal shield (PTS) as shown in Fig. 2. The TS
covers the TF coils, the EF coils, and the CS coils.
During plasma operation, baking and seismic events, relative
displacement between the VV, the coils, the ports, the TS, and the
cryostat are caused by thermal expansion, thermal contraction and
seismic load. Therefore manufacturing and the assembly of the TS are
required to keep a clearance between the TS and the neighboring
equipments. The required manufacturing tolerances of the TS are ± 5
mm or ± 10 mm depending on the location, and assembly tolerances
are ± 5 mm. Deviations from the ideal surface caused by welding dis-
tortion in the manufacturing process are measured by dimensional
gauge and laser theodolite. Deviations above the required accuracy are
corrected by means of a press and hydraulic jack with special jigs. The
constraint jigs are developed to avoid deformations of the VVTS during
transportation to the installation position. In the assembly of the VVTS,
customization of couplers is effective to absorb misalignments in se-
parate segments. Manufacturing of the VVTS and assembly of the 340 °
VVTS have been completed.
In this paper, the structural design and the manufacturing including
assembly are reported. Specification and design for the TS are described
in Section 2, and manufacturing and assembly are presented in Section
3, and summarized in Section 4.
2. Specifications and design
Specifications of the TS are the reduction of the radiative heat on
the superconducting coils, electrical insulation in toroidal and poloidal
direction, and ensuring enough clearance to the neighboring equipment
for relative displacement among the VV, the ports, the TS, the coils, and

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nakamura.shigetoshi@qst.go.jp (S. Nakamura).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2019.03.194
Received 8 October 2018; Received in revised form 29 March 2019; Accepted 29 March 2019
Available online 15 April 2019
0920-3796/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Nakamura, et al.
Fig. 1. Section view of JT-60SA.
Fig. 2. Thermal shield.
the cryostat.
A double wall structure is adopted for the TS reducing the radiation
heat load. The double wall consists of 3 mm thick plates for VVTS and
PTS as shown in Fig. 3, 1 mm for the outer plate of CTS facing the
cryostat vessel. The double wall structure is made of 316 L stainless
steel. The outer surface of the TS is mechanically polished to reach a
surface emissivity of 0.15. Multi-layer insulation is attached to the
surface of CTS facing the cryostat. The two plates are connected by
10 mm thick of side plates. Cooling pipes with an outer diameter of
21.7 mm and a thickness of 2.8 mm are made of 316 L stainless steel.
The cooling pipes are welded to the inside of the double wall for effi-
cient cooling. Ten degrees sectors of the TS are equipped with two
cooling lines to ensure redundancy in case of a helium leaky pipe. The
inlet of the helium cooling line is at the bottom side of the CTS while
Fig. 3. Section view of double wall structure and cooling pipe in PTS and VVTS.
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Fusion Engineering and Design 146 (2019) 2375–2378
the outlet is on the upper side of PTS. The helium enters the TS at a
pressure of 1.5 MPa and leaves it at a pressure of 1.2 MPa with all ten
degrees sectors being supplied in parallel. For redundancy, two pipes go
across to the adjacent 10 ° sector of the VVTS due to narrowness of the
inboard the VVTS. By the design, a heat flux of 43.9 W/m2 is reaching
the VVTS and the PTS, while a heat flux of 2.2 W/m2 is loaded to the
CTS. The temperature of the VVTS, the PTS, and the CTS is 90˜100 K,
80˜90 K, and 80˜90 K, respectively with consideration of the heat flux in
the plasma operation.
The TS is electrically insulated in toroidal and poloidal direction to
suppress eddy currents flowing through the TS by insulated couplers.
The insulated couplers welded to the side plates are composed of two
bolted plates and insulation plate of G10. The VVTS is electrically di-
vided to every 20 ° in toroidal direction, and is insulated at a bottom
point which is connection between the inboard and an outboard. The
CTS has same electrical insulation structure in toroidal direction, but
the CTS is insulated 3 points in the poloidal direction. The TS for each
poloidal section will be grounded via a resistance outside the cryostat.
The divided segments are jointed with bolted couplers. The bolted
coupler is composed of two bolted plates and a connection plate
The TS is supported by the TF coils. The gravity supports of the TS
are placed at the bottom of the horizontal PTS and connected to the TF
coils. The gravity support has several degrees of freedom in the toroidal
and radial directions, because the thermal shield is just lifted by the
gravity supports. The CTS and the cryostat vessel body are connected by
tension bars to suppress the horizontal displacement of the TS during
seismic events. The VVTS is very close to the TF coils and the VV, re-
quiring very tight tolerances as shown in Table 1. The required clear-
ance is set considering the relative displacement during operations, the
manufacturing tolerance, and the assembly tolerance.
3. Manufacturing and assembly
3.1. Manufacturing
After welding of the cooling pipes onto the double wall as well as
after assembly pressure and helium leak tests are performed according
to the refrigeration safety act and the high pressure gas safety law.
During the pressure test, the cooling pipes are pressurized with ni-
trogen-gas at 2.5 MPa gauge for more than 60 s and checked for ab-
normal deformation. During the helium leak test, the cooling pipes are
pressurized with helium gas at 0.5 MPa gauge while the outside is
checked with a helium sniffer. All cooling pipes are leak tight to better
than 1.0 × 10−8 Pa· m3/sec.
The inboard and the outboard of the VVTS, the PTS, and CTS are
required to be manufactured within ± 5 mm, ± 10 mm, ± 5 mm,
and ± 10 mm, respectively. During manufacturing, the outer and the
inner plate are formed with the restriction jigs providing the design
curvature. The inner plate of the double wall is fixed by a restriction jig
with clamps to suppress deformations caused by welding. The surface
accuracy of the TS is measured by a laser theodolite or dimensional
gauges after welding in each manufacturing step. The deviation from
the ideal surface of the TS is evaluated across the surface profile.
Deviations larger than the required tolerance are corrected by a hy-
draulic jack or a press. During the assembly, the separate sections are
jointed with the bolted couplers. The couplers are customized to absorb
the misalignment of the separate sections. In the customization,
welding positions and the angle between the connecting plate and the
bolted plates are adjusted as shown in Fig. 4. In another customization,
the sections of the TS are joined by welding pieces. The customization
of the couplers is effective to connect the misalignment parts.
Twenty degrees and forty degrees sectors of the VVTS are pre-as-
sembled in the factory during the coupler customization. The surface
profile of the VVTS in horizontal posture is measured by laser theo-
dolite as shown in Fig. 5. The inboard and the outboard surface of the
VVTS are measured at 3 points and 6 points, respectively as shown in
S. Nakamura, et al. Fusion Engineering and Design 146 (2019) 2375–2378

Table 1
Required clearance for VVTS.

Clearance [mm]
Position
TF coils side VV side
①20+② 5 → Clearance: 25
①20 → Clearance: 20
A VVTS Inboard ① Base clearance : 20
①Base clearance : 20
② TF coils: 5
①20+② 10 ①20+③ 15
VVTS → Clearance: 30 → Clearance: 35
B
Outboard ①Base clearance : 20 ①Base clearance : 20
②TF Coils: 10 ③Baking: 15

Sum of clearance B and ④ Clearance is same as B.

VVTS
C → Clearance: 39 → Clearance: 35
Upper area
④TS gravity : 4, TF gravity : 5

:Base clearance including assembly tolerance :Manufacturing tolerance :Thermal displacement : Other dis-
placement.

3.2. On-site assembly for VVTS

Fig. 4. Customization of couplers in VVTS.
Fig. 5. The dimensional center of origin during pre-assembly at the
factory is set the same as the origin in JT-60SA [2]. The setting position
of the 20° sectors are adjusted with reference to their inboard co-
ordinates. The coordinate data at the measurement points are compared
against the measuring surface profile of 20° sectors before pre-assembly
of 40° sectors. The outboard surface of all 20° sectors showed deviations
of max. 4.9 mm and min. -4.9 mm, and the inboard surface of all 40°
sectors resulted in max. 3.0 mm. The outboard of all 40° sectors resulted
in max.4.9 mm and min. −4.9 mm. The manufacturing accuracy of all
18 sectors is within manufacturing tolerances.
The VV, the thermal shield, and the superconducting magnet system
are assembled sequentially. The 20° VVTS is installed in sequence onto
the assembled VV until the VVTS is assembled up to 340°. The TS needs
to be assembled within ± 5 mm.During on-site assembly as shown in
Fig. 6, the inboard and the outboard of the VVTS are transported to the
installation position using the empty space of the final 20° VV sector.
Each constraint jig for the inboard and the outboard of the VVTS are
designed to avoid deformations during the transport. The constraint jigs
are designed to provide stiffness and control the shape of the 20° sector
by correcting deviations.
The installed VVTS segments are temporally supported by lower
guide rail, middle guiderail, the EF coils, and a cryostat base because
the gravity supports for the VVTS are installed after installation of the
PTS. The lower guide rail and the middle guide rail are located below of
the inboard and outside of the outboard, respectively. The installation
position of the inboard and the outboard is adjustable separately in
vertical and horizontal direction by using jacks and bolts. The outboard
upper side of the VVTS is supported temporarily on the VV. The in-
stallation position and surface profile of the VVTS is measured by use of
a laser tracker. The clearance is measured against the design position of
the TF coils and the measurement result of the VV and the VVTS. The
minimum clearance for the VV and the TF coils are shown in Table 2.
The minimum clearances satisfy requirements. The assembly of 340 ° of
the VVTS has been completed as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 5. Measurement in pre-assembly of VVTS and measurement positions.

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S. Nakamura, et al.
Fig. 6. Conceptual assembly process of VVTS.
Table 2
Assembly accuracy of VVTS 18 sectors.
Fig. 7. 340° vacuum vessel thermal shield.
4. Summary
The TS has to be manufactured and assembled with the clearance
against the neighboring equipment. The clearance has to include the
relative displacement. The clearance from 20 mm to 39 mm is required
in the VVTS. Any excessive deviation from the ideal surface is con-
trolled by the correction. In manufacturing of the VVTS, 20° sectors and
40° sectors are pre-assembled for the correction of the welding distor-
tion and the coupler customization. The transport jigs are developed to
provide stiffness while allowing corrections of the shape if necessary. In
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Fusion Engineering and Design 146 (2019) 2375–2378
assembly of the VVTS, misaligned parts in separate segments of the TS
are connected by customized couplers and readjust the installation
position. The accuracy of manufacturing and assembly is in full
agreement with the requirements.
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