Princeton Plasma Physics Lab QPS Project
QPS - an Experiment to Explore the Quasi-Poloidal Approach to Compact Stellarators. JP Pattern was contracted by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy to determine feasibility and construction of a single casting. This casting was one type of segment needed to produce the necessary magnetic containment shell.
First, JP
Pattern refined
the CAD model of the desired part for metal casting. Features were
added to ease castings dimensional inspection and to allow for
machinability.
During
the design phase is was determined that a machined sand mold would be
the approach used to develop the metal casting. The finish casting
would weight in excess of 5500 lbs.
Sand
mold components were machined with a 5-axis router type machine. Each
components was verified for accuracy with a ROMER portable coordinate
measuring machine (CMM).
After
meticulous planning and preparation the end result was a good casting
that did meet qualification for metal integrity and magnetic
permeability.
More information on this project can be found at the QPS project home page. (http://qps.fed.ornl.gov)