Performance of the US quench detection systems in the QUELL experiments

Author

Pourrahimi, S. ; Smith, S.P. ; Schultz, J.H. ; Minervini, J.V. ; Ezekiel, S. ; Anghel, A. ; Vecsey, G. ; Takahashi, Y.

Author_Institution

MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

7

Issue

2

fYear

1997

fDate

6/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

447

Lastpage

450

Abstract

The Quench of Long Length (QUELL) experiments have been completed. The US contribution was to develop and implement both conventional and novel techniques in quench detection. The results of the quench detection experiments demonstrate that all US systems functioned as expected. The most important criteria for the comparison of the various quench detection systems were the time constant of the response and noise rejection by the system. The novel US internal (inside the CICC) sensors included; (1) a cowound voltage sensor, and (2) a fiberoptic temperature sensor. The internal sensors combined fast response with high noise rejection capacity, and proved to offer potentially high reliability for ITER. The conventional sensors, namely the absolute pressure transducer and Venturi flowmeters, confirmed inherent thermo-hydraulic time response limitations in measurements of pressure and flow that excludes them as quench detectors for ITER and other large scale CICC applications.

Keywords

Tokamak devices; fibre optic sensors; fusion reactor instrumentation; fusion reactors; superconducting cables; superconducting coils; superconducting device testing; temperature measurement; voltage measurement; CICC applications; ITER; QUELL experiments; Quench of Long Length experiments; Venturi flowmeters; absolute pressure transducer; high noise rejection capacity; inherent thermohydraulic time response limitations; internal sensors; quench detection systems; superconducting cable in conduit conductors; Capacitive sensors; Fluid flow measurement; Optical fiber sensors; Pressure measurement; Temperature sensors; Thermal sensors; Time factors; Time measurement; Transducers; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.614530

Filename

614530