MITICA cryopump – manufacturing, assembly and factory acceptance testing

• MITICA cryopump is a 1:1 prototype of the ITER heating neutral beam injector cryopump. • MITICA cryopump functions through cryosorption on charcoal-coated cryopanels. • Qualification of special processes such as blackening or charcoal coating was key. • Manufacturing, assembly and testing of the MITICA cryopump was a complex endeavor. • Cryopump factory acceptance test was successfully completed in March 2023. The ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility, known as PRIMA (Padova Research on ITER Megavolt Accelerator), is situated in Padova, Italy, and includes the MITICA experiment - a full-scale prototype of the ITER Heating Neutral Beam Injector (HNBI). The beam line vessel of the HNBI houses two cryopumps (CPs). Each CP is equipped with 32 pumping sections, all supported by the CP frame. The pumping process occurs within the pumping sections, utilizing cryosorption on charcoal-coated cryopanels (cryopanels) operating in the temperature range of 4.5 K to 400 K. These cryopanels are protected by thermal radiation shields (TRS) functioning between 80 K and 400 K. Some of the CP components are subject to special processes such as chemical polishing, electropolishing, blackening by plasma spray coating or oxidation and charcoal coating. The company Ravanat manufactured the cryopanels and TRSs, which were subsequently delivered to the company SDMS for the manufacturing and final assembly of the CPs. Currently, efforts are underway to advance the installation and commissioning of the CPs to confirm their use at ITER. This paper outlines the major challenges encountered in the manufacturing of CP components, as well as the assembly and factory acceptance testing of the CPs.