Often termed as the world’s largest thermos, the cryostat is a 30 m tall and 30 m diameter outer vacuum shell of the ITER machine to insulate the machine and its components. It is a 54 piece puzzle manufactured by M/s L&T Hazira and assembled at the cryostat workshop of ITER-India at the ITER site. Key technologies include:
- Welding across different thickness, ranging from 20mm to 200mm and ensuring dimensional control within 0.3% tolerance
- Special handling of large pieces ~ 100 Tons each, development of dual operator technique to control distortion in T welds and special Hot wire TIG welding for heavy thickness
- Weld inspection by Ultrasonic method for thick welds