3 cold valve boxes for neutral beam heating
Cold valve boxes are compact yet highly complex assemblies that regulate the flow of supercritical helium to the ºÚÁÏÉçapp cryopumps. Eight units are required for the large cryopumps that will establish the vacuum conditions needed for plasma operation within the vacuum vessel and cryostat, while an additional three will manage helium distribution to cryopumps on ºÚÁÏÉçapp’s neutral beam injectors. Europe has now completed the delivery of all units.
The successful reception inspection of the final three units at ºÚÁÏÉçapp in December marks the conclusion of a 20-year adventure for the ºÚÁÏÉçapp, Fusion for Energy (the European Domestic Agency), and contractor Research Instruments (Germany) and its partner Cryoworld (Netherlands).
The manufacturing experience acquired with the first batch of eight, delivered in 2022, allowed production to move swiftly on the second set of cold valve boxes, which are larger in size due to the fact that each box serves two neutral beam cryopumps and therefore includes more piping.
Cold valve box assemblies are an intricate jigsaw puzzle of pipes, sensors and dozens of special valves per unit. Each cold valve box is paired with a cryopump, supplying them with precise doses of helium across a wide temperature range, from -269 °C up to 210 °C.
