Configuration Space Control Using the Example of In-Vessel Components for Wendelstein 7-X

Concurrent engineering with the design of increasingly complex components requires additional tools to avoid space conflicts. Configuration space control is a key technology necessary to achieve the required design efficiency and product development of a complex experiment. Easily accessible solutions available within CAD frameworks, product data management, and configuration management systems currently solve only part of this task. Therefore, it is vital to develop and control a set of procedures that can handle concurrent engineering issues and manage the compatibility of the various components being designed, manufactured, and assembled. In addition, a defined set of procedures are required to control the changes, additions, and nonconformities to the design of components that occur in a developing experiment. To cope with these tasks, sophisticated tools and procedures have been adapted, developed, and implemented. This paper covers the configuration space control process for the in-vessel components of Wendelstein 7-X, and demonstrates its application in the control of the as-assembled components.

I. Introduction

The superconducting stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is currently under construction in Greifswald, Germany, and is envisaged to start its first operational phase in 2015. The mission of this experiment is to demonstrate the reactor potential of the helical advanced stellarator type for steady-state operation [1], [2]. The machine features a helical magnetic axis characterized by a strong variation of the plasma cross section from triangular shape to kidney shape and back, which is repeated with a fivefold rotational symmetry. Each of the five sectors is denoted as a torus module. W7-X is designed to operate in the steady state with 10 MW input power provided by the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system with a pulse length of up to 30 min and peak power of up to 24 MW; the additional power is provided by the neutral beam injection (NBI) and the ion cyclotron resonance heating systems for 10 s. Diagnostics and heating systems are arranged around the machine, asymmetrically with regard to the torus modules.