Toroidal field coil torque structure

Claim 1

In a fusion reactor of the Tokamak-type that employs a toroidal magnetic field for purposes of effecting the confinement of the plasma therewithin, the fusion reactor including a multiplicity of toroidal field coils operable to produce said toroidal magnetic field, the improvement comprising a torque structure for providing support for the multiplicity of toroidal field coils, said torque structure forming a frame structure operable to enable torque loads acting on the toroidal field coils to be equilibrated as close to the area of force application as possible, said torque structure comprising: a. a membrane shell positioned in surrounding relation to the toroidal field coils and operative to substantially enclose the toroidal field coils therewithin, said membrane shell including a multiplicity of membrane sections interconnected one to another so as to collectively effect the enclosure of the toroidal field coils, each of said multiplicity of membrane sections including a first segment, a second segment and a third segment, said first segment being operative to define a plane, said second segment having one end thereof affixed to one end of said first segment, said second segment having the other end thereof spaced outwardly away from said first segment and inclined at an angle in a first direction from the plane of said first segment, said third segment having one end thereof affixed to the other end of said first segment, said third segment having the other end thereof spaced outwardly away from said first segment and inclined at an angle in a second direction from the plane of said first segment, said first segment having an opening formed therein to provide access to the interior of the fusion reactor; and b. an intercoil structure including a multiplicity of intercoil sections, each of said multiplicity of intercoil sections interposed between an adjoining pair of toroidal field coils, each of said multiplicity of intercoil sections being cooperatively associated with a corresponding one of said multiplicity of membrane sections, each of said multiplicity of intercoil sections including a first spacer wedge and a second spacer wedge, said first spacer wedge and said second spacer wedge each being affixed to the corresponding one of said multiplicity of membrane sections such that said first spacer wedge and said second spacer wedge are located in spaced relation one to another and on opposite sides of the opening formed in said first segment of the corresponding one of said multiplicity of membrane sections.