Year in review: What happened at ASDEX Upgrade in 2023?
The IPP's tokamak experiment in Garching has been undergoing conversion since summer 2022. The progress can be followed in a video
Some of the milestones:
January: All plasma-facing components were removed from the vacuum vessel.
March: Electrical work was carried out to enable the installation of new diagnostics.
June: The team installed the upper cryopumps.
July: The new inner and outer upper divertors were installed.
August: Technicians installed devices to enable the bending of the new coils within the plasma vessel.
September: The most challenging work began. The inner of the two new coils for the upper divertor was bent in the vessel and then inserted into the devices. This was followed by the bending of the outer divertor coil.
October: Both coils were fully inserted.
November: The coils were also firmly mounted. ASDEX Upgrade will now be made ready for new experiments until late summer 2024, which are expected to start in the fall.
And why all this effort?
Our tokamak, ASDEX Upgrade, located in Garching near Munich, is being prepared for its next mission: testing a new divertor concept in which the magnetic flux tubes are flared near the power-receiving wall sections, i.e., close to the divertor. The new upper divertor will receive new cryopumps and two concentric magnetic coils in the plasma vessel for this purpose.