Design Assessment of Power Supply Systems for Divertor Coils in the Divertor Tokamak Test

In tokamak-based nuclear fusion systems, powering the coils to control the plasma is a challenge that involves design choices that are a mix between advanced and traditional approaches. Each tokamak coil requires peculiar driving conditions and needs specific design activities. This paper deals with power supply design assessment for the Divertor (DIV) Coils in the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) facility. The design constraints of high-current (5500 A) and relatively low-voltages lead to the comparison of an SCR-based AC–AC converter (cycloconverter) with an IGBT-based DC–AC inverter with devices in a parallel solution and with interleaved modulation. The design assessment of two converter solutions to drive the DIV coils with the control issues were explored and described. Several simulation results were carried out to define the DIV coils operative conditions. Furthermore, an electro-thermal analysis on the used IGBT or thyristor devices was carried out considering the losses and the highest temperatures obtained in the conditions of maximum stress for the components.