Reading a Poloidal Cutaway
A vertical section through Hyperion's centerline is the single most informative view, showing plasma shape and every shell.
The most useful single view
If you look at only one view of Hyperion, make it the poloidal cutaway: a vertical section through the machine centerline. Because the machine is nearly axisymmetric, this one slice captures the plasma shape and every shell that wraps it, all in the plane where the physics is naturally described.
What the slice reveals
- The D-shaped plasma boundary with its -0.30 negative triangularity.
- The first wall, then the breeding blanket, then the neutron shield, then the vacuum vessel, in order.
- The inboard center stack packing the TF legs, solenoid, and inboard shield.
- The divertor at the bottom where diverted field lines meet the targets.
Why this plane
Plasma shape parameters, triangularity and elongation, are defined in this R-Z plane, so the poloidal cutaway is where they are honestly visible. The shell ordering is also radial, so a horizontal traverse from the plasma outward crosses each layer once, letting you read the whole build from a single line across the picture.
Reading the layers outward
Start at the plasma and move outward: the thin first wall, the thick blanket carrying the breeding, the shield protecting the magnets, the vessel holding vacuum, then the coils and cryostat. Layer thickness callouts at the cut face turn this into a measured drawing you can compare directly against the neutronics that give the breeding ratio of 1.8.
Where to go next
Each layer has its own page. See the breeding blanket, the plasma shape, and the general cutaway views.