The Model C stellarator was the first large-scale
stellarator to be built, during the early stages of
fusion power research. Planned since 1952, construction began in 1961 at what is today the
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
The Model C followed the table-top sized Model A, and a series of Model B machines that refined the stellarator concept and provided the basis for the Model C, which intended to reach break-even conditions. Model C ultimately failed to reach this goal, producing
electron
The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family,
and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...
temperatures of 400 eV when about 100,000 were needed. In 1969, after UK researchers confirmed that the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
's T-3
tokamak was reaching 1000 eV, the Model C was converted to the Symmetrical Tokamak, and stellarator development at PPPL ended.
Design parameters
The Model C had a racetrack shape. The total length (of the tube axis?) was 1.2m. The plasma could have a 5-7.5 cm minor radius. Magnetic coils could produce a toroidal field (along the tube) of 35,000 Gauss.
[ It was only capable of pulsed operation.
It had a ]divertor
In nuclear fusion power research, a divertor is a device within a tokamak or a stellarator that allows the online removal of waste material from the plasma while the reactor is still operating. This allows control over the buildup of fusion prod ...
in one of the straight sections. In the other it could inject 4 MW of 25 MHz ion cyclotron resonance heating Ion cyclotron resonance is a phenomenon related to the movement of ions in a magnetic field. It is used for accelerating ions in a cyclotron, and for measuring the masses of an ionized analyte in mass spectrometry, particularly with Fourier transf ...
(ICRH).
It had helical windings on the curved sections.
Results
An average ion temperature of 400 eV was reached in 1969.
History
Construction funding/approval was announced in April 1957 with the design based on Katherine Weimer's efforts in fundamental research.[Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 57. April 19. p9]
/ref>[See 1962]
/ref>
The Model C was reconfigured as a tokamak in 1969,[ becoming the ]Symmetric Tokamak
Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definiti ...
(ST).[See 1969,1970]
/ref>
References
Further reading
Experiments on the Model C stellarator. S. Yoshikawa and T.H. Stix
A CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF THE MODEL C STELLARATOR. 1956
Says 9" vacuum tube, but 150 ft long seems unlikely. 150,000 kW peak of pulsed power to the magnets.
{{Fusion power
Stellarators
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory