Simulation and experimental study of vacuum pressure impregnation for correction coil of international thermonuclear experimental reactor

The mold-filling in the arc of correction coil by vacuum pressure impregnation for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor was physically modeled on the basis of Darcy law, numerically simulated, and experimentally evaluated. The influence of the impregnation conditions, including but not limited to the flow front, pressure distribution, viscosity of resin, locations of inlets and outlets, and filling time in the four injection methods, on the filling efficiency were investigated. With the inlets positioned at 1/4 L and 4/3 L and with the outlets located at the center and the two ends along the axial direction, effective filling with considerable reduction of void was achieved. The simulated and measured filling times were found to be 7.67×103 s, and 7.62×103 s, respectively. Only a few small voids, 100~200 μm in size, were observed in computed tomography scanning of the highly insulated sample with a leakage current lower than 1 μA at 10 kV. ©, 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.