Preliminary design and analysis of the CFQS supporting structure

Abstract The Chinese First Quasi-axisymmetric Stellarator (CFQS) is now under design and construction. It will be the first quasi-axisymmetric (QA) configuration device to be operated in the world. The main parameters of the CFQS are as follows: the toroidal periodic number Np = 2, major radius R = 1.0 m, aspect ratio Ap = 4.0 and magnetic field strength Bt  = 1.0 T. The low Ap makes it quite challenging to design a supporting structure because of the limited space and strong electromagnetic (EM) force. In this paper, a cage-like supporting structure is proposed for the CFQS modular coil (MC) system to sustain the EM force and the weight of entire device. A finite element analysis is carried out for ensuring the reliability of the supporting structure. The analysis results of the CFQS global model indicate that the cage-like supporting structure can basically satisfy the requirement.