Hyperion Vacuum Vessel
The vacuum vessel is the sealed chamber that holds the plasma in high vacuum and forms the primary confinement boundary.
The chamber that holds vacuum
The vacuum vessel is the sealed metal chamber that encloses the plasma. Fusion plasmas exist only in high vacuum, because any stray gas would cool and contaminate them, so the vessel's first duty is to hold that vacuum against atmospheric pressure pushing in. It is also the primary safety boundary containing the plasma and its tritium inventory.
What it does
- Maintains high vacuum around the plasma.
- Provides a structural boundary that resists atmospheric load and electromagnetic forces.
- Carries the ports through which heating, fueling, diagnostics, and maintenance reach the plasma.
- Forms a confinement barrier for tritium and activated material.
Electromagnetic loads
When a plasma disrupts, its current can dump suddenly, inducing large currents in the vessel that interact with the toroidal field to produce strong forces. The vessel must be stiff enough to take these disruption loads without distortion. In the model the vessel is shown as the shell outboard of the neutron shield and inboard of the coils and cryostat.
In the model
The vessel is selectable as a shell and, in the exploded view, separates to reveal its port pattern. Because it is the boundary everything passes through, it is the reference frame for locating ports and internal components.
Ports and access
The vessel's penetrations are where the machine connects to the outside world. See vessel ports and the cryostat that encloses the cold structure outside the vessel.