Magnetics Business & Technology - Summer 2017 - 18

INDUSTRY NEWS
General Atomics Completes Heat Treatment of
ITER's First Central Solenoid Module

General Atomics (GA) has reached a key milestone in the fabrication of the ITER Central Solenoid as engineers and technicians at
GA's facility officially completed heat treatment of the first module.
The Central Solenoid, an integral component of ITER's unprecedented fusion facility, will stand more than five stories tall and will
be the world's most powerful pulsed superconducting magnet.
"The heat treatment is what ultimately creates the solenoid's
superconducting material, and completion of this process demonstrates that we are continuing to make good, consistent progress on
this project," said John Smith, GA's program manager.
The process required to create the superconducting material inside the module windings is exacting. The temperature within the
furnace can only change at a rate of 5°F or 6°F per hour, making
both the heating and cooling processes very time consuming, it
required more than one week for each.

ITER is a collaborative scientific partnership between 35 nations
representing more than
half the population of
the world. This research
and development project
aims to demonstrate fusion power is a feasible
clean-energy source that
can be scaled globally.
The US ITER project is a
collaboration of over 500
companies, laboratories,
and universities across 43
states and the District of
Columbia and is hosted
by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The US ITER work is
supported by the Office
of Fusion Energy Sciences
within the Office of Science of US Department
of Energy.

The first ITER Central Solenoid module
leaves the furnace area on its way to
the next step of the fabrication process,
where the windings will be wrapped with
fiberglass and Kapton insulation. General Atomics is manufacturing seven such
modules, six of which will together form
the ITER Central Solenoid. Courtesy: General Atomics

Top 5 Vendors in the Global Superconducting
Magnetic Energy Storage Market from 2017-2021

A General Atomics technician prepares to remove the first ITER
Central Solenoid module from the furnace following heat treatment. The process required five weeks of careful temperature
control in order to create the superconducting material in the
module windings. Courtesy: General Atomics

In order to complete the critical heat treatment process, GA engineers and technicians positioned the first module in a massive oneand-a-half-megawatt furnace, which functions in a manner similar
to that of convection ovens found in many kitchens. The benefit
of the convection oven is the ability to shorten the overall process
while maintaining uniform "cooking" of the module.
Inside the furnace, the module spent approximately ten-and-ahalf days at 1,060°F and an additional four days at 1,200°F.
"After spending weeks carefully monitoring and controlling the
temperature in the furnace, we will now begin the first of the module's multiple insulation processes, called turn insulation. Simultaneously, samples that were heat treated along with the first module will
be sent to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida to
be tested, proving the heat treatment successfully created the superconducting material needed for ITER's solenoid," Smith said. "GA
is pleased with our progress on the Central Solenoid fabrication to
date, and we are proud of each successive milestone that we reach."

Magnetics Business & Technology * Summer 2017

Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their
recent global superconducting magnetic energy storage market report until 2021. This research report also lists seven other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the
forecast period. The research study by Technavio on the global superconducting magnetic energy storage market for 2017-2021 provides a detailed industry analysis based on the geography, including
APAC, the Americas, and EMEA).
"The global superconducting magnetic energy storage market is
projected to grow to nearly $67 million by 2021, at a CAGR of more
than 6 percent over the forecast period. The rising need for energy
storage as distributed generation is a key factor driving the growth
of the market," said Thanikachalam Chandrasekaran, a lead analyst
at Technavio for energy storage research.
The global superconducting magnetic storage market is in its infant stage, with plenty of untapped opportunities available to the
market vendors. The prospects of the market rely heavily on the advances in technology and the course of business decisions taken by
the players in the market. Analysts at Technavio expect the market
to grow with the rise in demand for energy-efficient technologies.
Therefore, vendors in the market are expected to innovate and
enhance their technologies to meet the demand, intensifying the
competition in the market.
Top five vendors in the global superconducting magnetic energy
storage market:
American Superconductor generates ideas, technologies, and solutions to meet the world's demand for better, cleaner, and smarter
energy. The company has two verticals, namely WINDTEC Solutions
and GRIDTEC Solutions.
Bruker offers a broad range of applications in all fields of development and research and is used in all industrial production
procedures to ensure process reliability and quality. The company
is one of the world's leading analytical instrumentation companies.
Southwire produces half of the cable used to distribute and
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