Method and apparatus for controlling coolant distribution in magnetic coils
First Claim
1. A toroidal fusion reactor assembly comprising:
- (a) a plurality of toroidal field (TF) coils;
(b) a plurality of ohmic heating (OH) coils disposed inside the toroid of said TF coils, said OH coils cooled by a cooling fluid;
(c) each of said OH coils comprising two flat washer-like members placed together and having a common inner radius Ri and an outer radius Ro ;
(d) an inlet for said cooling fluid to pass to said OH coils;
(e) an outlet for receiving cooling fluid from said OH coils; and
(f) each of said OH coils including at least one magnetic coil turn, said coil turn being one of said two flat washer-like members and said coil turn having a plurality of radially outwardly spiralling cooling channels for controlling the passage of cooling fluid through said coil turn, each channel extending from said inner radius Ri to said outer radius Ro in a continually increasing radial amount and extending over a portion less than the circumference of said coil turn,whereby the coil turn cooling characteristics are radially varied.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for controlling coolant distribution in ohmic heating and other poloidal field magnetic coils. The apparatus consists of a coolant inlet and outlet arrangement with spiral coolant channels positioned therebetween. The spiral coolant channels are designed to control the coolant pressure drop within the coil turns and hence the coolant flow distribution within the entire coil. The coolant channels of the present invention provide coil turns with improved structural and cooling characteristics over the prior art. The method disclosed consists of controlling the flow distribution of cooling fluid through coolant channels in a magnetic coil by using spiral channels of a specially designed length, width and spiral configuration.
13 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A toroidal fusion reactor assembly comprising:
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(a) a plurality of toroidal field (TF) coils; (b) a plurality of ohmic heating (OH) coils disposed inside the toroid of said TF coils, said OH coils cooled by a cooling fluid; (c) each of said OH coils comprising two flat washer-like members placed together and having a common inner radius Ri and an outer radius Ro ; (d) an inlet for said cooling fluid to pass to said OH coils; (e) an outlet for receiving cooling fluid from said OH coils; and (f) each of said OH coils including at least one magnetic coil turn, said coil turn being one of said two flat washer-like members and said coil turn having a plurality of radially outwardly spiralling cooling channels for controlling the passage of cooling fluid through said coil turn, each channel extending from said inner radius Ri to said outer radius Ro in a continually increasing radial amount and extending over a portion less than the circumference of said coil turn, whereby the coil turn cooling characteristics are radially varied. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of controlling the flow distribution of coolant fluid through coolant channels in ohmic heating magnetic coils of a tokamak-type toroidal fusion reactor comprising the steps of:
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providing a coolant inlet means to said magnetic coils having a static pressure rise; providing a coolant outlet means from said magnetic coils having a static pressure drop; stacking a plurality of flat washer-like disk magnetic coil turns into an assembly and distributing cooling fluid to all of said plurality of coil turns throughout said assembly to cool the turns in accordance with the local temperature gradients desired in the magnetic coil turns; providing radially spiralling cooling channels in said magnetic coils having a sufficient pressure drop relative to said static pressure rise and static pressure drop to ensure adequate coolant flow distribution through said channels, said radially spiralling coolant channels provided in said plurality of coil turns and each extending over a portion less than the circumference of said coil turn; passing coolant from said inlet means, through said coolant channels and to said outlet means. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification