A sub-contract for the design upgrade of the In-Vessel Viewing and metrology System (IVVS), as part of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project through Fusion for Energy and Oxford Technologies, has been won by ASE Optics Europe. The project is led by Fusion For Energy (F4E), and ASE Optics Europe is responsible for the design upgrade, mocking-up and testing of the probe optical system. ASE EU is in charge of the provision of engineering support in the area of remote handling.
‘The IVVS is a critical metrology instrument which will be deployed inside the reactor chamber to measure the erosion of the chamber walls and ultimately be able to assess the amount of material which the plasma has eroded,’ commented Thomas Siegel, PhD and head of R&D of ASE Optics Europe.
During this on-going contract, ASE Optics Europe will successively upgrade the current IVVS design, build a functional prototype and characterise its performance. ‘ASE Optics’ input into this project is essential,’ said Zino Perdikou, Systems Engineering team leader at Oxford Technologies. ‘They have demonstrated their optical engineering expertise through their critical analysis and optical design and I have no doubt this will continue through the assembly and test of the prototype.’
ASE Optics Europe won the project thanks in particular to its experience and expertise in the field of optical design, laser technology and its capabilities in the development of high-precision and custom optical systems. Specifically, the project on which ASE Optics Europe is working is located in the area of metrology and measurement of the Fusion Chamber by means of optical technology system.
‘After joining the IVVS project at a late stage, ASE Optics have impressed F4E with their ability to rapidly absorb the large amount of technical information related to the system, and have already make a number of key design recommendations that should offset some major technical risks in the project,’ commented Dr Philip Bates, from Fusion for Energy (Remote Handling Project Team / ITER Department). ‘ASE’s innovative optical analysis and design work, backed up by their physical prototyping and testing, should allow a large reduction in complexity of the IVVS. This will result in reduced cost and improved reliability for this key ITER diagnostic system.’