Additive Manufacturing of Steady-State Mirrors for the KSTAR ECH Launchers

Authors:   R. Ellis, J. Hosea

Abstract:   Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) launchers typically use a fixed and a steerable mirror to direct a microwave beam to a small volume of a plasma, for the purpose of heating or current drive. Superconducting tokamaks such as KSTAR are now operating their ECH systems at pulse lengths that require steady-state equilibrium between heat input and heat extraction. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has designed, and fabricated, a set of fixed and steerable mirrors for use in the KSTAR system during the 2015 campaign. During the course of our design work, the emergence of additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, of metal components prompted a decision to take advantage of this technology in our mirrors. This paper gives a brief overview of additive manufacturing. The design of the fixed and steerable mirrors is described. Some analytical results are presented, and the use of novel design features made possible through 3-D printing is described. Possibilities for additional applications of 3-D printing are discussed.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Presented at:  IEEE 26th Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE) Austin, TX, May 31-June 4, 2015
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Download PPPL-5157 (pdf 3.2 MB 8 pp)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________