Performance tests on an ITER relevant CICC Nb3Sn coil

The Central Solenoid (CS) of a fusion reactor is expected to be operated ar ound 13T, 5.8K, at ramp rates of 0.5-1 T/s. The present state of the art of the superconductor technology allows the fulfillment of such requirements only by means of coils made of Cable-In-Conduit Nb3Sn conductors (CICC). In the ENEA Frascati laboratory, the construction of a CICC Nb3Sn coil (Im o. d., 0.6m bore) was completed in 1994. Its original destination was the high field DC test facility SULTAN. Since many characteristics of this coil mak e it representative of a CS, it was decided that it was higher priority to test it in transient field conditions. An ad-hoc facility was designed and set up in the ENEA Frascati Laboratory. The tests performed can be divided into four categories: 1. Ramp Rate Limitations; 2. AC loss measurement on t he whole coil; 3. Current redistribution inside the conductor induced by fa st ramps, 4. DC performance within the limits of the facility. Well known a nd validated computer codes (SARUMAN and GANDALF) have been used both to pr edict the behaviour of the coil and to interpret the results. In the paper the results of all the tests are reported. Their influence on the design of CICC coils is discussed.