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The Large Helical Device (LHD), one of the world's largest superconducting systems, has been operated for the research of fusion plasma since 1998. The toroidal field of almost 3 T is made by a pair of pool-cooled helical coils. When they were cooled with saturated liquid helium at 4.4 K, a normal-zone had been induced several times in their innermost layer at the higher current than 11.0 kA. In order to improve the cryogenic stability by lowering temperatures, an additional cooler with two-stage cold compressors was installed at the inlet of the coil. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the coils are successfully lowered to 3.2 K and 3.8 K, respectively, with a mass flow of 50 g/s. Stable operation of the subcooling system has been established, and the operating current for the plasma experiments can be increased up to 11.4 kA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance tests of the subcooling system for the helical coils in the Large Helical Device (LHD) have been performed. For the performance of the system, it is necessary to supply the helical coils with a subcooled helium mass flow of 50 g/s at 3.2 K. From the test results, the performance was able to fulfill the design requirements of the system. Additionally, the coil temperature has been evaluated with the quasi-one dimensional numerical calculation, in which the numerical model simplifying the helical coil configuration is used. The coil temperature would be 3.6 K under a steady heat load of 100 W from outside of the coil case in the system which maintains the above performance, as the result of the calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large Helical Device, the largest superconducting stellarator, has been operated for the research of fusion plasma since 1998. The toroidal held of almost 3 T is produced by a pair of pool-cooled helical coils, in the innermost layers of which a normal-zone had been induced several times at the bottom of the coil at higher currents than 11.0 kA. Since the field is not the highest there, the local cooling conditions are probably deteriorated by bubbles gathered by buoyancy. In order to improve the cryogenic stability by subcooling, an additional cooler with two-stage cold compressors was installed at the inlet of the coil in 2006. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the coils were successfully lowered to 3.2 K and 3.8 K, respectively, with a mass flow of 50 g/s. In spite of a half charging rate to reduce AC losses, a normal-zone was induced near the top of the coil at 11.45 kA. It propagated to one side and stopped near the inner equator, where the field is the highest. In comparison with the stability tests with a model coil, the local temperatures of the innermost layers near the top is considered to have been raised up to almost the saturated temperature of 4.4 K by charging. The excitation method was revised to waiting cool-down at 11.0 kA, and the excitations up to 11.5 kA have been attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors have measured AE signals from the helical coils of the LHI) (Large Helical Device) system at NIFS (National Institute of Fusion Science, Gifu, Japan) in order to monitor the state of the superconducting coils. Four AE sensors are attached on the surface of the vessel containing the helical coils, and preamplifiers are installed close to the sensors in the area with a leakage magnetic field of about 0.02 T. The measuring system is remotely controlled by PC's via a LAN system. The AE signals are recorded and analyzed. Their relation with the balance voltage signal of the coil has been investigated. The obtained experimental result shows that (1) the AE signals have been successfully recorded despite the leakage magnetic field on preamplifier, (2) the AE signal shows a good correlation with the balance voltages, (3) the AE signal is observed only when the excitation current is changing, (4) the pattern of the observed AE signal is stable for each excitation pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pair of helical coils of the Large Helical Device is the largest pool-cooled superconducting magnet The first excitation test up to 1.5 T was carried out at the end of March, 1998. In the first trial to charge up to the design value of 3 T, wide propagation of a normal-zone was induced at 11.45 kA, and the quench detection system acted. It was revealed that a normal-zone could propagate below the cold-end recovery current by additional heat generation due to the slow current diffusion into the thick pure aluminum stabilizer. In these six years' operation, propagation of a normal-zone has been observed 17 times at almost the same current. The normal-zones were recovered within several seconds except for the wide propagation. By a novel detection system of the propagation with pick-up coils along the helical coils, it was disclosed that the recovered normal-zones propagated in only one side. In order to attain plasma experiments near 3 T, higher excitations were tried by the current grading method, in which the current of the innermost block is decreased and those of the other two blocks are increased. The average current of 11.67 kA was attained. The excitation tests up to the highest currents have been carried out after each cool-down. Degradation is not observed in the coil performance, and the stable operation has been demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pair of helical coils of the Large Helical Device is a large pool-cooled superconducting magnet. Conductor motions are induced repeatedly at higher than about 60% of the design current of 13 kA in charging, and these disappear while holding the current or discharging halfway from the high current. This hysteresis could be caused by the friction. A normal zone can propagate at higher than 87% of the design current because of the excess heat generation by the slow current diffusion into a pure aluminum stabilizer. This propagation has been observed nine times in four years' operation. From the comparison of balance voltages of the three pairs of coil blocks, the positions of the conductor motions and the induced normal zones can be evaluated. The behavior of the conductor motions is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]