Design and manufacture of a full size joint sample (FSJS) for the qualification of the poloidal field (PF) insert coil

Within the framework of the European Fusion Programme a FSJS has been designed and manufactured by European Industry using PF coil NbTi superconductor manufactured and supplied by the Russian Federation as part of the R&D for the PF Conductor Insert (PFCI) coil. In addition to the superconductor, this sample contains a number of unique features. In contrast to other samples previously manufactured in Europe, the FSJS has used the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) joint design with NbTi conductor and a thick square jacket. One leg of the FSJS has had the conductor and sub-petal steel wraps removed before jacketing to assess the difference in the conductor performances between the two configurations. This paper will report on the development and manufacture of the FSJS, in particular the use of the Central Solenoid jacketing and swaging tools for compaction of the conductor and swaging of the joints, the preparation and qualification of the manufacturing route for the joint, the jacketing of a special length without conductor wraps and the high level of instrumentation required for the testing of the joint. The sample has been instrumented with more sensors than any other previous European sample, including temperature sensors, a large number of voltage taps for quench detection and Tcs measurements, quadrupoles to detect uneven voltage distribution, hall arrays for current distribution measurements and saddle coils.