Conceptual, engineering design and fabrication aspects of support structures for super-conducting central solenoid of SST-1

SST-1, country's first indigenously built steady state super-conducting tokamak is planned to be equipped with a Nb₃Sn based super-conducting central solenoid which will replace the existing copper conductor TR1 coil for the purpose of Ohmic breakdown. The design requirements for support structures of the coil and associate thermal shields should have a minimum conducting heat load from ambient surfaces to cryogenic liquid nitrogen shields, super critical helium temperature coils. The supports should also be structurally strong enough to with stand the dead load and full fill electrical and thermal requirements. This paper will present the design drivers, material selection, advantages and constraints of the coil support structures its conceptual and engineering design, CAD models, finite element analysis using ANSYS, and, on-going works about fabrication, quality assurance/control and assembly/integration aspects with in the super-conducting coils. (author)