Thermal shield passes first trial
Positioning the outboard panel inside its 30-tonne frame and precisely adjusting the clamps to 13 attachment points to keep the component from deviating from its nominal shape had required a full week's work. Moving it from one end of the Assembly Hall to the tool at the other took another 12 hours.
By the end of December, the component will have company. In a similar sequence, the second (left hand) outboard panel will be installed on the opposite "wing" of the tool, where it will remain for about a month. The outboard right-hand panel will then be removed and replaced by the inboard component.
Holding one of each type of panel in its arms, the SSAT will be ready to perform the first pre-assembly sequence—the rotation of the inboard section into place. This will be the initial act of the first vacuum vessel sector pre-assembly operation. In addition to the thermal shield panels, two toroidal field coils will be rotated and attached to vacuum vessel sector #6.
The elements for the first 1,200-tonne pre-assembly are now all on hand: the thermal shield panels began arriving in the fall of 2019, vacuum vessel sector #6 was delivered by Korea on 7 August, and toroidal field coils #12 and #13 arrived on site on 25 April and 3 July respectively.
Click to view a time-lapse video of the operation.