Overview of the Helios Design: A Practical Planar Coil Stellarator Fusion Power Plant
Thea Energy, Inc.（Thea Energy公司）
C. P. S. Swanson, S. T. A. Kumar, D. W. Dudt, E. R. Flom, W. B. Kalb, T. G. Kruger, M. F. Martin, J. R. Olatunji, S. Pasmann, L. Z. Tang, J. von der Linden, J. … 展开作者
C. P. S. Swanson, S. T. A. Kumar, D. W. Dudt, E. R. Flom, W. B. Kalb, T. G. Kruger, M. F. Martin, J. R. Olatunji, S. Pasmann, L. Z. Tang, J. von der Linden, J. Wasserman, M. Avida, A. S. Basurto, M. Dickerson, N. de Boer, M. J. Donovan, A. H. Doudna Cate, D. Fort, W. Harris, U. Khera, A. Koen, J. A. Labbate, N. Maitra, A. Ottaviano, R. K. Parmar, E. J. Paul, B. Reydel, A. van Riel, P. K. Romano, M. Savastianov, S. Saxena, S. Seethalla, S. Srinivasan, R. H. Wu, D. Nash, J. Priebe, M. Slepchenkov, S. Walsh, B. Berzin, D. A. Gates, the Thea Energy team
Thea Energy, Inc. 已开发出'Helios'聚变发电厂的预概念设计，该设计基于平面线圈星形磁约束架构。在本文概述中，设计被总结，并建议读者参考其他论文以获取更多细节。Helios设计围绕一个两场周期准轴对称（'QA'）星形磁约束均衡系统展开，其长宽比为4.5，并采用一种新型的托卡马克式X点分流器。利用星形磁约束的自然稳定性、低循环功率和稳态能力。稳定性与输运通过最先进的、高保真度的代码进行计算，并基于现有实验的测量性能。电磁线圈集是高温超导（'HTS'）的，包括12个大型、环绕等离子体的线圈，类似于托卡马克的环形场线圈，以及324个较小的、用于场整形的线圈。所有线圈均为平面且凸形。强制规定线圈上的最大磁场为20 T，这一值已在现有的大孔径HTS线圈中实现。等离子体与线圈之间的最小距离为1.2米，留出空间用于三氢 breeding 表层和中子屏蔽。由于这种厚屏蔽，所有线圈的最小使用寿命为40年，与发电厂系统相同的最小寿命。产生1.1 GW的热功率和390 MW的净电力功率。形状线圈可以单独控制，使磁场均能够灵活配置，以放松制造和组装公差以及等离子体控制。实用的维护架构是设计的主要驱动力；维护是在整个环形扇区上进行的，这些扇区被移除在环绕线圈之间。估计每两年的维护周期约为84天，导致容量因子为88%。严格遵守工程约束，如温度和应力限制。
英文摘要：
Thea Energy, Inc. has developed the preconceptual design for "Helios," a fusion power plant based on the planar coil stellarator architecture. In this overview paper, the design is summarized and the reader is referred to the other papers for more detail. The Helios design is based around a two-field-period quasi-axisymmetric ("QA") stellarator equilibrium with aspect ratio 4.5 and a novel tokamak-like X-point divertor. The natural stability, low recirculating power, and steady-state capability of the stellarator are leveraged. Stability and transport are calculated using state-of-the-art, high-fidelity codes and grounded in measured performance of existing experiments. The electromagnetic coil set is high-temperature superconducting ("HTS") and consists of 12 large, plasma-encircling coils like the toroidal field coils of a tokamak, and 324 smaller, field-shaping coils. All coils are planar and convex. A maximum of 20 T on-coil is enforced, a value which has been achieved in existing large-bore HTS coils. There is a minimum of 1.2 m between plasma and coils, leaving space for tritium breeding blanket and neutron shielding. Because of this thick shielding, all coils have a minimum 40-year operational lifetime, the same minimum lifetime of the power plant system. 1.1 GW of thermal power and 390 MW of net electric power are produced. The shaping coils are individually controllable, enabling a uniquely configurable magnetic field for relaxed manufacturing and assembly tolerances and plasma control. A practical maintenance architecture is a primary driver of the design; maintenance is performed on entire toroidal sectors that are removed from between the encircling coils. A biennial maintenance cycle is estimated to take approximately 84 days, resulting in an 88% capacity factor. Rigorous engineering constraints such as temperature and stress limits are enforced.
An optimized compact stellarator with four simple coils is obtained from direct optimization via coil shape. The new stellarator consists of two interlocking coils and two vertical field coils similar to those of the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT)[Pedersen et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 205002 (2002)]. The optimized configuration has global magnetic well and a low helical ripple level comparable to that of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X)[Wolf et al. Nucl. Fusion 57, 102020 (2017)]. The two interlocking coils have a smooth three-dimensional shape much simpler than those of advanced stellarators such as W…
This paper deals with the design of the stellarator field with the simple coil set. In order to realize the stellarator field by the simple coil set, the tilted toroidal field coil uses for creating the rotational transform. Sixteen tilted TF coils create the small radial field and large vertical field. With reducing the vertical field of the tilted toroidal field coil by the axisymmetric poloidal field coil, the stellarator field can be made. The formation of clear and nested flux surfaces is confirmed, and the rotational transform is proportional to the tilting angle of the toroidal field co…
In recent years many efforts have been undertaken to simplify coil designs for stellarators due to the difficulties in fabricating non-planar coils. The FOCUS code removes the need for a winding surface and represents the coils as arbitrary curves in 3D. In the following work, the implementation of a spline representation for the coils in FOCUS is described, along with the implementation of a new engineering constraint to design coils with a straighter outer section. The new capabilities of the code are shown as an example on HSX, NCSX, and a prototype quasi-axisymmetric reactor-sized stellara…
Efficient Computation of Stellarator Coils with an Augmented Lagrangian Optimization Method
Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik（马克斯·普朗克等离子体物理研究所）；BASIS Independent Silicon Valley（BASIS独立硅谷）；Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University（纽约大学柯朗数学科学研究所）
We have developed a fast method to design perpendicular permanent magnets for simplifying stellarator coils based on existing codes. Coil complexity is one of the main challenges for stellarators. To date, only electromagnetic coils have been used to generate 3D fields for stellarators. Permanent magnets provide an alternative way to produce the desired magnetic field for optimized stellarators. In this paper, we revisit the concept of representing surface current using magnetic dipoles and carry out numerical validations. A surface magnetization is proven to be equivalent to the surface curre…
In the construction of a stellarator, the manufacturing and assembling of the coil system is a dominant cost. These coils need to satisfy strict engineering tolerances, and if those are not met the project could be canceled as in the case of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) project [25]. Therefore, our goal is to find coil configurations that increase construction tolerances without compromising the performance of the magnetic field. In this paper, we develop a gradient-based stochastic optimization model which seeks robust stellarator coil configurations in high dimensions. …
It is shown that the magnetic-field coils of a stellarator can, at least in principle, be substantially simplified by the use of permanent magnets. Such magnets cannot create toroidal magnetic flux but they can be used to shape the plasma and thus to create poloidal flux and rotational transform, thereby easing the requirements on the magnetic-field coils. As an example, a quasiaxisymmetric stellarator configuration is constructed with only 8 circular coils (all identical) and permanent magnets.
Several fast methods for computing stellarator coil shapes are compared, including the classical NESCOIL procedure [Merkel, Nucl. Fusion 27, 867 (1987)], its generalization using truncated singular value decomposition, and a Tikhonov regularization approach we call REGCOIL in which the squared current density is included in the objective function. Considering W7-X and NCSX geometries, and for any desired level of regularization, we find the REGCOIL approach simultaneously achieves lower surface-averaged and maximum values of both current density (on the coil winding surface) and normal magneti…
We present a method for stellarator coil design via gradient-based optimization of the coil-winding surface. The REGCOIL (Landreman 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 046003) approach is used to obtain the coil shapes on the winding surface using a continuous current potential. We apply the adjoint method to calculate derivatives of the objective function, allowing for efficient computation of analytic gradients while eliminating the numerical noise of approximate derivatives. We are able to improve engineering properties of the coils by targeting the root-mean-squared current density in the objective funct…
We present a technique that can be used to design stellarators with a high degree of experimental flexibility. For our purposes, flexibility is defined by the range of values the rotational transform can take on the magnetic axis of the vacuum field while maintaining satisfactory quasisymmetry. We show that accounting for configuration flexibility during the modular coil design improves flexibility beyond that attained by previous methods. Careful placement of planar control coils and the incorporation of an integrability objective enhance the quasisymmetry and nested flux surface volume of ea…
Error fields are predominantly attributed to inevitable coil imperfections. Controlling error fields during coil fabrication and assembly is crucial for stellarators. Excessively tight coil tolerance increases time and cost, and, in part, led to the cancellation of NCSX and delay of W7-X. In this paper, we improve the recently proposed Hessian matrix method to rapidly identify important coil deviations. Two of the most common figures of merit, magnetic island size and quasi-symmetry, are analytically differentiated over coil parameters. By extracting the eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix, we …
A new stellarator coil design code is introduced that optimizes the position and winding pack orientation of finite-build coils. The new code, called FOCUSADD, performs gradient-based optimization in a high-dimensional, non-convex space. The derivatives with respect to parameters of finite-build coils are easily and efficiently computed using automatic differentiation. FOCUSADD parametrizes coil positions in free space using a Fourier series and uses a multi-filament approximation to the coil winding pack. The orientation of the winding pack is parametrized with a Fourier series and can be opt…
Optical analogy for stellarators: Ridges as caustics and coils as singularities
Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）；Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK（鲁道夫·派尔斯理论物理中心）；Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics（马克斯·普朗克等离子体物理研究所）
Sources of error fields were indirectly inferred in a stellarator by reconciling computed and numerical flux surfaces. Sources considered so far include the displacements and tilts (but not the deformations, yet) of the four circular coils featured in the simple CNT stellarator. The flux surfaces were measured by means of an electron beam and phosphor rod, and were computed by means of a Biot-Savart field-line tracing code. If the ideal coil locations and orientations are used in the computation, agreement with measurements is poor. Discrepancies are ascribed to errors in the positioning and o…
We present the first single-stage optimization of islands in finite-$β$ stellarator equilibria. Stellarator optimization is traditionally performed as a two-stage process; in the first stage, an optimal equilibrium is calculated which balances a set of competing constraints, and in the second stage a set of coils is found that supports said equilibrium. Stage one is generally performed using a representation for the equilibrium that assumes nestedness of flux surfaces, even though this is not warranted and occasionally undesired. The second stage optimization of coils is never perfect, and the…
Finding an easy-to-build coils set has been a critical issue for stellarator design for decades. Conventional approaches assume a toroidal "winding" surface. We'll investigate if the existence of winding surface unnecessarily constrains the optimization, and a new method to design coils for stellarators is presented. Each discrete coil is represented as an arbitrary, closed, one-dimensional curve embedded in three-dimensional space. A target function to be minimized that covers both physical requirements and engineering constraints is constructed. The derivatives of the target function are cal…
Polaris: a flexible stellarator demonstration experiment with simple modular coils
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院）；BergTop fusion（BergTop聚变）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics（马克斯·普朗克等离子体物理研究所）
The design of a stellarator with acceptable confinement properties requires optimization of the magnetic field in the non-convex, high-dimensional spaces describing their geometry. Another major challenge facing the stellarator program is the sensitive dependence of confinement properties on electro-magnetic coil shapes, necessitating the construction of the coils under tight tolerances. In this Thesis, we address these challenges with the application of adjoint methods and shape sensitivity analysis. Adjoint methods enable the efficient computation of the gradient of a function that depends o…
Initial evaluation of miniature ultra-high-field commercial stellarator reactors with breeding external to resistive coils
Laboratorio Nacional de Fusión, CIEMAT（国家聚变实验室，CIEMAT）；Departamento de Física, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid（马德里卡洛斯三世大学物理系）；Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)（橡树岭国家实验室）；University of Texas, Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）
Coil complexity is a critical consideration in stellarator design. The traditional two-step optimization approach, in which the plasma boundary is optimized for physics properties and the coils are subsequently optimized to be consistent with this boundary, can result in plasma shapes which cannot be produced with sufficiently simple coils. To address this challenge, we propose a method to incorporate considerations of coil complexity in the optimization of the plasma boundary. Coil complexity metrics are computed from the current potential solution obtained with the REGCOIL code (Landreman 20…
Magnetic confinement devices for nuclear fusion can be large and expensive. Compact stellarators are promising candidates for costreduction, but introduce new difficulties: confinement in smaller volumes requires higher magnetic field, which calls for higher coil-currents and ultimately causes higher Laplace forces on the coils-if everything else remains the same. This motivates the inclusion of force reduction in stellarator coil optimization. In the present paper we consider a coil winding surface, we prove that there is a natural and rigorous way to define the Laplace force (despite the mag…
It was recently shown in [Wechsung et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2022] that there exist electromagnetic coils that generate magnetic fields which are excellent approximations to quasi-symmetric fields and have very good particle confinement properties. Using a Gaussian process based model for coil perturbations, we investigate the impact of manufacturing errors on the performance of these coils. We show that even fairly small errors result in noticeable performance degradation. While stochastic optimization yields minor improvements, it is not able to mitigate these errors significantly…
How Does The Magnetic Gradient Scale Length Influence Complexity of Filamentary Coils in Stellarators?
Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland（马里兰大学电子研究与应用物理研究所）；Proxima Fusion（普罗克西玛聚变）；Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院等离子体科学与聚变中心）
We introduce a topology optimization method to design permanent magnets for advanced stellarators. Recent researches show that permanent magnets have great potentials to simplify stellarator coils. We adopt state-of-the-art numerical techniques to determine the presence of magnets in the entire designing space. The FAMUS code is developed and it can design engineering-feasible permanent magnets for general stellarators satisfying the constraints of the maximum material magnetization and explicitly forbidden regions. FAMUS has been successfully verified against the previously proposed linear me…
We extend the single-stage stellarator coil design approach for quasi-symmetry on axis from [Giuliani et al, 2020] to additionally take into account coil manufacturing errors. By modeling coil errors independently from the coil discretization, we have the flexibility to consider realistic forms of coil errors. The corresponding stochastic optimization problems are formulated using a risk-neutral approach and risk-averse approaches. We present an efficient, gradient-based descent algorithm which relies on analytical derivatives to solve these problems. In a comprehensive numerical study, we com…
Designing A Buildable Optimized Stellarator to Confine Electron-Positron Plasmas
Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik（德国马普等离子体物理研究所）；Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院等离子体科学与聚变中心）；Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校物理系）；SchulerTEC；Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University（麦吉尔大学机械工程系）
Tight tolerances have been a leading driver of cost in recent stellarator experiments, so improved definition and control of tolerances can have significant impact on progress in the field. Here we relate tolerances to the shape gradient representation that has been useful for shape optimization in industry, used for example to determine which regions of a car or aerofoil most affect drag, and we demonstrate how the shape gradient can be computed for physics properties of toroidal plasmas. The shape gradient gives the local differential contribution to some scalar figure of merit (shape functi…
