Numerical study on the loss of fast ions produced by minority ion cyclotron resonance heating in EAST

The classical prompt loss of fast ions produced by minority ion cyclotron resonance heating(ICRH)is studied by a guiding center orbit following code in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST).It is found that the loss of fast ions produced by ICRH mainly appears in both ends of the resonance layer,while the loss of fast ions in the middle resonance layer is very small.The dominant fast loss comes from trapped ions,rather than from passing ions.Controlling the location of resonance layer at the plasma core may be more beneficial to the EAST tokamak ICRH.In addition,the loss distribution of fast ions is studied.The results show that the fast ions are mainly lost near the midplane in the poloidal direction,but almost uniformly in the toroidal direction.Moreover,we investigate the dependence of fast ion loss on the ICRH power.The simulation results show that the loss fraction of fast ions in both ends of the resonance region increases with the ion cyclotron range of frequencies(ICRF)power,but barely affects the loss of fast ions in the middle region.     

Design and control of coaxial switching system for ion cyclotron wave resonance heating system of EAST

Ion cyclotron wave resonance heating system(ICRH) which is one of the most important auxiliary system in EAST provides conditions for heating the plasma. In order to make the whole transmission network of ICRH form the required state, the coaxial switching system was developed, which mainly consists of 11 same coaxial switches. Each coaxial switch has a controller with an RS485 communication interface and is able to switch between two states. All controllers are integrated to an RS485 hub which connects to the computer. A master computer software is developed to control the coaxial switching system so as to achieve the state needs of ICRH. Moreover, several rounds of experiments show that the coaxial switching system operates reliably. The coaxial switching system has already been applied to normal use currently.     

A digital long pulse integrator for EAST Tokamak

A digital integrator has been developed to be compatible with the long pulse plasma discharges on the Experimental Advanced Superconductor Tokamak (EAST), in which the induced signal is modulated by a chopper, and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) in the 16-bit digitizer is used to realize the digital integration in real time. After rectification and integration, the drift is almost linear and stable in controlled temperature, so a period of 50 s is used to determine the linear drift rate for drift compensation. The integration data can be directly transferred to the reflective memory (RFM) card, which is installed in the same PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) chassis, so the data transmission can be also done in real time. The test results show that the real time data transmission rate is up to 10 kHz, the integration drift is typically less than 0.4 uVs/s and drift performance is a little worse in real long pulse discharge, which can be reduced further by using more precise data acquisition.     

Tunable biasing magnetic field design of ferrite tuner for ICRF heating system in EAST

Ion cyclotron range of frequency(ICRF) heating has been used in tokamaks as one of the most successful auxiliary heating tools and has been adopted in the EAST. However, the antenna load will fluctuate with the change of plasma parameters in the ICRF heating process. To ensure the steady operation of the ICRF heating system in the EAST, fast ferrite tuner(FFT) has been carried out to achieve real-time impedance matching. For the requirements of the FFT impedance matching system, the magnet system of the ferrite tuner(FT) was designed by numerical simulations and experimental analysis, where the biasing magnetic circuit and alternating magnetic circuit were the key researched parts of the ferrite magnet. The integral design goal of the FT magnetic circuit is that DC bias magnetic field is 2000 Gs and alternating magnetic field is±400 Gs. In the FTT, E-type magnetic circuit was adopted. Ferrite material is Nd Fe B with a thickness of 30 mm by setting the working point of Nd Fe B, and the ampere turn of excitation coil is 25 through the theoretical calculation and simulation analysis. The coil inductance to generate alternating magnetic field is about 7 m H. Eddy-current effect has been analyzed, while the magnetic field distribution has been measured by a Hall probe in the medium plane of the biasing magnet. Finally, the test results show the good performance of the biasing magnet satisfying the design and operating requirements of the FFT.     

On the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster immerged in a non-uniform magnetic field

To study the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster(ECRT) immersed in a non-uniform magnetic field, experiments and simulations are performed based on an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source at ASIPP. It is found that the first harmonic of electron cyclotron resonance is essential for plasma ignition at high magnetic field(0.0875 T), while the plasma can sustain without the first and second harmonics of electron cyclotron resonance at low magnetic field(till 0.0170 T). Evidence of radial hollow density profile indicates that upper hybrid resonance, which has strong edge heating effect, is the heating mechanism of low-field ECRT. The heating mode transition from electron cyclotron resonance to upper hybrid resonance is also revealed. Interestingly, the evolutions of electron temperature and electron density with input power experience a ‘delayed' jump, which may be correlated with the different power levels required for cyclotron and ionization. Moreover, when the field strength decreased, the variation of electron density behaves in an opposite trend with that of electron temperature,implying a possible competition of power deposition between them. The present work is of great interest for understanding the plasma discharge in ECRT especially immersed in a non-uniform magnetic field, and designing efficient ECRT using low magnetic field for economic space applications.     

电子回旋共振等离子体源的特性

简要描述了一台频率为２．４５ＧＨｚ的电子回旋共振（ＥＣＲ）等离子体源的特性测试,结果表明,放电室内的等离子体密度和电子温度与静态磁场、微波输入功率和真空度等参数均有着密切关系。当磁场达到共振条件８７．５ｍＴ时,等离子体很易产生,但等离子体密度的最大值却出现在９３ｍＴ处。ＥＣＲ源在真空度为０．１－１Ｐａ间均能运行。由石英、Ａｌ２Ｏ３陶瓷和ＢＮ构成的微波输入窗有良好的阻抗匹配,在微波功率为２００－７０     

Long-pulse power-supply system for EAST neutral-beam injectors

The long-pulse power-supply system equipped for the 4 MW beam-power ion source is comprised of three units at ASIPP (Institute of Plasma Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences):one for the neutralbeam test stand and two for the EAST neutral-beam injectors (NBI-1 and NBI-2,respectively).Each power supply system consists of two low voltage and high current DC power supplies for plasma generation of the ion source,and two high voltage and high current DC power supplies for the accelerator grid system.The operation range of the NB power supply is about 80 percent of the design value,which is the safe and stable operation range.At the neutral-beam test stand,a hydrogen ion beam with a beam pulse of 150 s,beam power of 1.5 MW and beam energy of 50 keV was achieved during the long-pulse testing experiments.The result shows that the power-supply system meets the requirements of the EAST-NBIs fully and lays a basis for achieving plasma heating.     

A remotely steered millimetre wave launcher for electron cyclotron heating and current drive on ITER

High-power millimetre wave beams employed on ITER for heating and current drive at the 170 GHz electron cyclotron resonance frequency require agile steering and tight focusing of the beams to suppress neoclassical tearing modes. This paper presents experimental validation of the remote steering (RS) concept of the ITER upper port millimetre wave beam launcher. Remote steering at the entrance of the upper port launcher rather than at the plasma side offers advantages in reliability and maintenance of the mechanically vulnerable steering system. A one-to-one scale mock-up consisting of a transmission line, mitre bends, remote steering unit, vacuum window, square corrugated waveguide and front mirror simulates the ITER launcher design configuration. Validation is based on low-power heterodyne measurements of the complex amplitude and phase distribution of the steered Gaussian beam. High-power (400 kW) short pulse (10 ms) operation under vacuum, diagnosed by calorimetry and thermography of the near- and far-field beam patterns, confirms high-power operation, but shows increased power loss attributed to deteriorating input beam quality compared with low-power operation. Polarization measurements show little variation with steering, which is important for effective current drive requiring elliptical polarization for O-mode excitation. Results show that a RS range of up to −12° to +12° can be achieved with acceptable beam quality. These measurements confirm the back-up design of the ITER ECRH&CD launcher with future application for DEMO.     

Power Compensation for ICRF Heating in EAST

The source system covering a working frequency range of 24 MHz to 70 MHz with a total maximum output power of 12 MW has already been fabricated for Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency(ICRF) heating in EAST from 2012. There are two continuous wave(CW) antennas consisting of four launching elements each fed by a separate 1.5 MW transmitter. Due to the strong mutual coupling among the launching elements, the injection power for launching elements should be imbalance to keep the k||(parallel wave number) spectrum of the launcher symmetric for ICRF heating. Cross power induced by the mutual coupling will also induce many significant issues,such as an uncontrollable phase of currents in launching elements, high voltage standing wave ratio(VSWR), and impedance mismatching. It is necessary to develop a power compensation system for antennas to keep the power balance between the feed points. The power balance system consists of two significant parts: a decoupler and phase control. The decoupler helps to achieve ports isolation to make the differential phase controllable and compensate partly cross power. After that, the differential phase of 0 or π will keep the power balance of two feed points completely. The first power compensation system consisting of four decouplers was assembled and tested for the port B antenna at the working frequency of 35 MHz. With the application of the power compensation system, the power balance, phase feedback control, and voltage standing wave ratio(VSWR) had obviously been improved in the 2015 EAST campaign.     

EAST离子回旋加热系统高功率射频放大器阳极电源的研制

离子回旋共振加热是EAST超导托卡马克核聚变实验中重要的辅助加热手段。高性能的高功率射频放大器阳极电源对整个加热系统的稳定运行起重要作用。本工作设计了基于脉冲阶梯调制（PSM）技术的阳极电源及其控制保护系统,通过采集电源的实验数据对电源的设计进行了验证。实验结果证明,本阳极电源的设计和参数选择均是合理正确的,电源的开通和关断以及控制保护的数据指标完全达到设计要求。     

SN方法自动建模程序SNAM在EAST纵场线圈核热计算中的应用

在核领域的中子学计算中,离散纵标(SN)方法三维粒子输运计算程序得到了广泛应用.SNAM作为离散纵标法粒子输运自动建模程序系统,其主要功能是CAD模型与SN计算模型之间的相互转换.一方面,SNAM可以将通用格式的CAD模型转换成SN计算模型,另一方面可以以CAD模型的方式显示SN计算模型中几何及材料等相关信息.本文主要介绍使用SNAM程序对EAST三维模型进行中子学建模,并计算分析了EAST装置纵场线圈的中子注量率与核热沉积.     

EAST离子回旋波加热快速阻抗匹配系统的研究

离子回旋波加热是EAST装置最重要的辅助加热方法,在实验中获得了明显的加热效果。射频功率源与天线负载之间阻抗匹配才能保证最大的加热功率输出。在射频加热实验中,等离子体参数的改变将会引起天线负载阻抗的快速变化,为应对这一情况研制出了快速阻抗匹配系统。本文采用解析法和计算机仿真相结合的分析方式,研制了该阻抗匹配系统的铁氧体匹配支节,并对其性能进行了测试。测试结果表明,快速阻抗匹配系统的时间响应速度明显优于传统匹配方式的,可作为实时匹配的候选者。     

Technical diagnosis system for EAST tokamak

Technical diagnosis system (TDS) is one of the important subsystems of EAST (experimental advanced superconducting tokamak) device, main function of which is to monitor status parameters in EAST device. Those status parameters include temperature of different positions of main components, resistance of each superconducting (SC) coils, joint resistance of SC coils and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) current leads, strain of cold-quality components endured force, and displacement and current of toroidal field (TF) coils in EAST device, which are analog input signals. In addition there are still some analog and digital output signals. The TDS monitors all of those signals in the period of EAST experiments. TDS data monitoring is described in detail for it plays important role during EAST campaign. And how to protect the SC magnet system during each plasma discharging is presented with data of temperature of coolant inlet and outlet of SC coils and feeders and cases of the TF coils and temperature in the upper and middle and bottom of the TF coil case.During construction of the TDS primary difficulties come from installation of Lakeshore Cernox temperature sensors, strain measurement of central solenoid coils support legs and installation of co-wound voltage sensors for quench detection. While during operation since the first commissioning big challenges are from temperature measurement changes in current leads and quench detection of PF coils. Those difficulties in both stages are introduced which are key to make the TDS reliable. Meanwhile analysis of experimental data like temperature as a back up to testify quench occurrence and stress on vacuum vessel thermal shield and vacuum vessel have also been discussed.     

The effects of beam line pressure on the beam quality of an electron cyclotron resonance ion source

The results of a series of measurements studying the possibility to use neutral gas feeding into the beam line as a way to improve the quality of the heavy ion beams produced with an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) are presented. Significant reduction of the beam spot size and emittance can be achieved with this method. The observed effects are presumably due to increased space charge compensation degree of the ion beam in the beam line section between the ion source and the analyzing magnet. This is the region where the neutral gas was injected. It is shown that the effects are independent of the ion source tuning. Transmission measurements through the beam line and K-130 cyclotron have been carried out to study the effects of improved ion beam quality to the transmission efficiency.     

Data monitoring system of technical diagnosis system for EAST

<正>Technical diagnosis system(TDS)is an important subsystem to monitor status parameters of EAST (experimental advanced superconducting tokamak).The upgraded TDS data monitoring system is comprised of management floor,monitoring floor and field floor.Security protection,malfunction record and analysis are designed to make the system stable,robust and friendly.During the past EAST campaigns,the data monitoring system has been operated reliably and stably.The signal conditioning system and software architecture are described.     

Estimation of the sheath power dissipation induced by ion cyclotron resonance heating

During ion cyclotron resonance heating, the sheath power dissipation caused by ion acceleration in the radio frequency(RF) sheath is one of the main causes of RF power loss in the tokamak edge region. To estimate the power dissipation of an RF sheath in the ion cyclotron range of frequency(ICRF), a 1 D fluid model for the multi-component plasma sheath driven by a sinusoidal disturbance current in the ICRF is presented. By investigation of the sheath potential and ion flux at the wall, it is shown that the larger frequency and lower amplitude of the disturbance current can cause smaller sheath power dissipation. The effect of the energetic ion on the sheath power dissipation depends on the disturbance current. For large amplitude of disturbance current, the increase in the concentration and energy of the energetic ion leads to a decrease in sheath power dissipation. While for a small disturbance current, the sheath power dissipation demonstrates non-monotonic variation with the concentration and energy of the energetic ion. In addition, the sheath power dissipation is found to have a small increase in the presence of light impurity ions with low valence.     

Predictive Calculation of Neutral Beam Heating Plasmas in EAST Tokamak by NUBEAM Code for Certain Parameter Ranges

A predictive calculation is carried out for neutral beam heating of fusion plasmas in EAST by using NUBEAM code under certain plasma conditions. Results calculated are analyzed for different plasma parameters. Relations between major plasma parameters, such as density and temperature, are obtained and key physical processes in the neutral beam heating, including beam power deposition, trapped fraction, heating efficiency, and power loss, are simulated. Other physical processes, such as current-drive, toroidal rotation and neutron emission, are also discussed.     

EAST装置的连续数据采集与服务系统的设计与实现

介绍了应用于EAST超导托卡马克装置的连续数据采集与数据服务系统的设计思路与具体实现过程,该系统能使实验人员了解EAST装置在降温以及实验过程中各系统与重要设备的运行状态,以保证系统的正常运转与安全.该系统经测试与实验表明,整个系统稳定、灵活、有效.     

Design of the high voltage isolation transmission module with low delay for ECRH system on J-TEXT

As a flexible auxiliary heating method,the electron cyclotron resonance heating(ECRH) has been widely used in many tokamaks and also will be applied for the J-TEXT tokamak.To meet requirements of protection and fault analysis for the ECRH system on J-TEXT,signals of gyrotrons such as the cathode voltage and current,the anode voltage and current,etc should be transmitted to the control and data acquisition system.Considering the high voltage environment of gyrotrons,isolation transmission module based on FPGA and optical fiber communication has been designed and tested.The test results indicate that the designed module has strong anti-noise ability,low error rate and high transmission speed.The delay of the module is no more than 5 μs which can fulfill the requirements.     

Thermo-mechanical analysis of RMP coil system for EAST tokamak

Resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) has been proved to be an efficient approach on edge localized modes (ELMs) control, resistive wall mode (RWM) control, and error field correction (EFC), RMP coil system under design in EAST tokamak will realize the above-mentioned multi-functions. This paper focuses on the thermo-mechanical analysis of EAST RMP coil system on the basis of sensitivity analysis, both normal and off-normal working conditions are considered. The most characteristic set of coil system is chosen with a complete modelling by means of three-dimensional (3D) finite element method, thermo-hydraulic and thermal-structural performances are investigated adequately, both locally and globally. The compromise is made between thermal performance and structural design requirements, and the results indicate that the optimized design is feasible and reasonable.