Vertical supports of the PV Wendelstein 7-X

At the Max-Plank-Institute for plasma physics (IPP) in Greifswald, the stellerator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is under construction. The toroidal plasma with a major diameter of 11 m is enclosed by a plasma vessel, whose geometrical shape closely follows the shape of the plasma-beam. The plasma vessel supporting system is divided into two separate subsystems, the horizontal support system and the vertical support system (VSS). The assignment of the horizontal support system is to centre and to adjust the plasma vessel during radial thermal expansion in the horizontal direction. The vertical support system is designed to resist the plasma vessel dead weight and other vertical loads coming from attached structures and to allow a vertical adjustment. This paper describes the design of the VSS and the testing conducted at the University of Rostock to validate the design. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.