SULTAN Test Facility
SULTAN test facility: blue vessel is a cryostat, inside which the magnets generating 10.8 T are hosted. Green structure is a scaffolding. Team of Applied Superconductivity group of SPC is standing on an access platform.
SULTAN (from German SUpraLeiter Test ANlage) is the world’s unique magnet facility for testing forced-flow, high-current superconductors up to fields of 10.8 T. It consists of superconducting split solenoid cooled by forced-flow supercritical helium and has been the reference facility for the qualification of ITER conductors. More recently, conductors for other large fusion facilities — JT-60SA, SPARC, BEST, CFETR, DTT, Proxima Fusion, STEP, … — have also been tested here.
What we test here
- Forced-flow and cable-in-conduit conductor samples, including joints
- Conductor DC performance in a background field up to 10.8 T at sample currents up to 100 kA at temperatures from 4.5 to 50 K
- AC losses in AC fields (up to 0.4 T, 0.01–6 Hz)
- Minimum quench energy in pulsed fields (up to 3 T amplitude, 140 ms period)
- Stability of the conductor performance in cyclic electromagnetic loadings and thermal cycles.
Key Parameters
| Parameter | Value |
| Background field | up to 10.8 T |
| Test well | 94 x 144 mm2 , 1% field uniformity aprox. 300 mm |
| Sample current | up to 100 kA with supercond. transformer |
| Cooling (both SULTAN and sample) | supercritical He, 10 bar, 2 x 10 g/s (at 4.5 K) |
| Temperature range | 4.5 – 50 K |
| Repetitive AC field | up to 0.4 T amplitude, 0.01 – 6 Hz |
| Single pulse | up to 3T amplitude, 140 ms pulse period |
Access and collaboration
SULTAN is provides its services to laboratories and companies from all over the world, inside international collaborations such as ITER and EUROfusion and in bilateral projects. Sample design, preparation, heat treatment, assembly and instrumentation are often carried out by our team in Villigen; see Testing services and access for how a test campaign is organised.