Heat pipe technology based divertor plasma facing component concept for European DEMO

Abstract Heat pipes (HP) are considered being used in the divertor target because of their high thermal conductivity and their capability to substantially enlarge the heat transfer area to the cooling circuit. Here, a divertor target concept based on a heat pipe design is introduced being able to dissipate heat fluxes of up to 20 MW/m2. It consists of a 230 mm long water-based heat pipe with a capillary structure that combines axial grooves with sintered porous material. The analysis of the integration of the HP in the divertor target indicates that design changes of the current divertor cassette design are required to accommodate such a solution.