Low-Resistance Joint for the ITER In-Vessel Coils

The In-Vessel Coils (IVCs) are resistive and located inside the vacuum vessel behind the Blanket Shield Modules (BSM). There are two types of IVCs: 27 Edge Localized Modes (ELM) coils equally distributed around the vessel wall, with three coils located in each of the vessel nine sectors, namely Upper ELM, Equatorial ELM and Lower ELM and 2 Vertical Stabilization (VS) ring-shaped coils, one upper and one lower. There are a total of 176 IVC joints for joining the IVCs, feeders, and feedthroughs. All joints have to be manufactured in the ITER Vacuum Vessel (VV) and are made of stainless steel mineral insulated conductor (SSMIC) to withstand the severe environment as the coils themselves. After several years of design and manufacturing updates, the IVC joint has been successfully developed. In this paper, the joint design, manufacturing process and test results are presented.