4C modeling of the supercritical helium loop HELIOS in isobaric configuration

Superconducting magnets for tokamak fusion reactors are subject to highly variable loads due to the intrinsically pulsed operation of the machine. The refrigerator should, on the contrary, work under conditions as stable as possible and should be sized based on the averaged loads. In this paper, the cryogenic circuit module of the 4C (Cryogenic Circuit Conductor and Coil) code is used to analyze the isobaric configuration of the HELIOS (HElium Loop for hIgh lOads Smoothing) facility at CEA Grenoble, France. The 4C model is validated against experimental data from the isobaric HELIOS configuration: the computed evolution of temperature, pressure and mass flow rate at different circuit locations shows a good agreement with the measurements for two different pulsed heat load scenarios, with and without regulation. The advantages of the (somewhat more complicated) isobaric configuration vs. the isochoric configuration in terms of heat load smoothing are highlighted. 4C simulations are used to propose a new HELIOS layout with helium charging and discharging lines located in such a way that the HELIOS performance in the isobaric configuration is optimized. The paper confirms the importance of the isobaric configuration for a tokamak cryogenic circuit, as well as the accuracy of 4C in modeling the HELIOS operation, even in the presence of complex regulation.