June 4th 2020
A great achievment by all international partners coming from 35 nations !!!!
Hereunder ITER’s article
In the closing scene of the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an alien spaceship hovers above an anxious and awestruck crowd of scientists and engineers. The ship looks like a giant soup bowl, with lights filtering through openings in its hull. As the ship slowly descends to the ground, there’s an intense feeling of wonder and expectation among onlookers—a sense that a new era is dawning upon humankind.
Not only did the component’s shape bring back images of the alien ship, it also conveyed a similar significance. With the installation of the first major machine element, humankind was taking a decisive step toward the realization of fusion energy. And by providing clean, safe and unlimited energy, fusion has the potential to alter the course of civilization.
Procured by India, manufactured in segments by Larsen & Toubro Ltd at its Hazira factory, the cryostat is assembled and welded on site under the supervision of the Indian Domestic Agency. The elements for the base section were delivered to ITER in December 2015 and the 1,250-tonne component was finalized in July of last year. Taking over from the Indian Domestic Agency, the ITER Organization then proceeded with “pre-assembly work” before moving the component into the Assembly Hall one month ago.
And there it stood for a little more than one month, a giant among the other ITER giants.
Spielberg’s movie doesn’t say how long, and how carefully, the alien ship’s crew tested and rehearsed procedures before delicately landing it. For the cryostat base, these preparatory steps took the better part of one week.
The base had been assembled and welded inside a sturdy support frame, acting as a rigid exoskeleton. For the first time, the component would be lifted out of its steel cradle and it was of crucial importance to verify that the deformation incurred would remain within tolerances.
However thick the steel plates, a component as large and as heavy as the cryostat base becomes slightly flexible once suspended in the air. Despite carefully balancing the load supported by each of the crane’s four spreader beams, deflections are inevitable and acceptable as long as they remain within tolerances.
Incremental lifts, first a few centimetres, then a few metres above ground, allowed for the fine-tuning of the crane systems. These movements were interrupted at regular intervals to perform metrology surveys, ensuring that reality reflected what had been planned and modelled over the years.
And it did.
REEL wishes you a happy new year 2023!
Groupe REEL takes over CNIM Systèmes Industriels, which designs and produces large-scale complex mechanical systems.
REEL teams are waiting for you from 27th to 29th September 2022 at the 2022 Aluminium Exhibition in Düsseldorf.
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