Special Purpose Winding Machine for Fusion Relevant Magnets in India

A focused Research and Development program on indigenously developing fusion relevant magnets is presently under way in India at the Institute for Plasma Research in association with Indian industries. A large size magnet winding facility under contractual obligations from Institute for Plasma Research is being developed by Patel's Analog and Digital Measurements Co. Pvt. Ltd. (PADMCO). This “special purpose winding machine” (SPWM) is capable of winding up to 30 mm 30 mm square cross section NbTi and Nb3Sn based cable-in-conduit-conductors (CICC) in both circular and non-circular (D shape) winding pack geometries. Magnet winding packs with both layered as well as double pancake configurations can be wound with this SPWM. The winding pack dimensions could be up to five meters in the major dimensions, with a width as high as several hundreds of mm. The Special Purpose Winding Machine (SPWM) facility primarily comprises of a feeding conductor spool with appropriate tensioning mechanisms, straightening and shaping units, cleaning unit, insulation unit, press forming units and tangent tracing units, rotating turn table mandrel, rotation and synchronization arrangements etc. with both hydraulic and electrical control elements and feedbacks. The facility is expected to carry out winding with a precision of 1 mm over a meter of built-up length in various arc lengths of windings. Prototype windings are planned using an indigenously developed 30 kA CICC with these facilities in the second half of 2011.