From 2012 to 2013 SEA-ALP designed the machine for winding the ITER CS Coils. This machine has been manufactured in two copies by Tauring SpA and supplied by Turing U.S. to General Atomics Inc., San Diego CA-USA. The superconducting conductor has a square section 49 x 49 mm, the jacket made of JK2LB austenitic stainless steel. The coil is formed through a continuous CNC bending, and wound according to the quad or hexa pancake technique. The turn-to-turn transition is shaped using the ‘smooth transition’ solution, so bending only in one direction, in such a way that the transition is formed by the rolling machine as a continuous bending, without the need of any stop for a local forming.

A 4-axis Winding Table adapts the winding position in real time according to the actual spire, the transition profile and the actual layer. The CNC movement of the Winding Table is driven on the base of the conductor forwarding coordinate, precisely measured by a patented measuring carriage designed for overcoming inaccuracies due to any residual curvature of the straightened conductor and incoming line oscillation. A second measuring carriage placed after bending as a redundancy measure can take into consideration any conductor elongation during bending and provides the additional measure of the local curvature.

The plant footprint is about 30x7m.