Abstract
The welded lip seals form part of the torus primary
vacuum boundary in between the port plugs and the vacuum
vessel, and are classified as Protection Important
Component. In order to refurbish the port plugs or the
in-vessel components, port plugs have to be removed from
the machine. The lip seal design must enable up to ten
opening of the vacuum vessel during the life time
operation of the ITER machine. Therefore proven, remote
reliable cutting and re-welding are essential, as these
operations need to be performed in the port cells in a
nuclear environment, where human presence will be
restricted. Moreover, the combination of size of the
components to be welded (~10. m long vacuum compatible
thin welds) and the congested environment close to the
core of the machine constraint the type and size of tools
to be used.This paper describes the lip seal cutting and
welding development programme performed at the VTT
Technical Research Centre, Finland. Potential cutting and
welding techniques are analyzed and compared. The
development of the cutting, TIG and laser welding
techniques on samples are presented. Effects of lip seal
misalignments and optimization of the 2 welding processes
are discussed. Finally, the manufacturing and test of the
two 1.2. m. *. 1. m representative mock-ups are
presented. The set-up and use of a robotic arm for the
mock-up cutting and welding operations are also
described.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1528-1531 |
Journal | Fusion Engineering and Design |
Volume | 98-99 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Event | 28th Symposium of Fusion Technology (SOFT) - San Diego, United States Duration: 19 Oct 2014 → 23 Oct 2014 Conference number: 23 |
Keywords
- ITER
- port plug
- sealing
- maintenance
- lip seal