Re:Livestream of Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator being turned on
by numlocked on Wednesday February 03, 2016 @10:26AM
(#11026908)
I've read a lot about the design and construction of the 7-X, but I've never read why there are so many "portholes" all over the thing. There are a comically large number of them, everywhere, of totally different sizes, shapes, and at weird angles. Why are so many holes/ports necessary, and why is there so little homogeneity?
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Re:Livestream of Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator being turned on
by sbierwagen on Wednesday February 03, 2016 @10:51AM
(#11027071)
It's an experimental device, the ports are needed for instrumentation. A utility-scale fusor would have many fewer of them.
The ITER vacuum vessel also looks pretty funny, though much more symmetrical: https://www.iter.org/mach/vacuumvessel
The ITER design is also dramatically complicated by the need to have robots fit in there to replace blanket modules.
Re:Livestream of Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator being turned on
by db48x on Wednesday February 03, 2016 @10:54AM
(#11027095)
It's a scientific instrument, not a power plant. The portholes are to allow all the measurements and tests that they plan to do over the life of the machine.
Re:Livestream of Wendelstein 7-X Stellerator being turned on
by the8472 on Wednesday February 03, 2016 @12:58PM
(#11028106)
> Why are so many holes/ports necessary
It's designed to be maintained from the inside. So you need to get replacement/upgrade/experiment parts inside where you need them.
> and why is there so little homogeneity?
stellarators are highly asymmetrical