Design and reliability assessment of a support structure for high heat flux testing

A support structure combining a fixed-hinge heavy-duty scissor adjustment mechanism with large-bend-radius high-pressure pipes is proposed for high-heat-flux testing of tonne-scale plasma-facing components. Rigid-body kinematics, finite-element analysis, conjugate heat transfer, and thermo-structural coupling were used to evaluate posture control, structural strength, cooling performance, and pipe response. Under a 10 kN load, maximum mechanism deformations were 0.16, 0.37, and 0.51 mm in the lowered, horizontal, and raised postures, respectively, while the maximum angular flexibility correction was 0.0197°. At 10 MW/m², the coolant temperature rise was 0.77 K, and the combined pressure loss of the two pipes was 90.87 kPa, or 1.82% of the 5 MPa operating pressure. The classified primary membrane-plus-bending stress and combined primary-plus-secondary stress were 88.344 and 105.8 MPa, below their respective limits of 150 and 300 MPa. Maximum pipe and heated-surface deformations were 0.22 and 0.15 mm, confirming adequate static performance of the system under the specified conditions.