LHCD Properties with a New Lower Hybrid Wave Antenna on HT-7 Tokamak

1 IntroductionLower hybrid current drive (LHCD) has become aneffective method to maintain plasma current in a toka-mak. Plenty of experimental results on the HT-7 toka-mak also show that LHCD is an important auxiliarymeans to achieve steady state operation of the toka-mak and to obtain plasmas with improved confine-ments [1~4]. In the experiments, lower hybrid wave(LHW) with a frequency of 2.45 GHz is launched intothe plasma by an LHW antenna. Since the power spec-trum of the launched …     

EAST4.6GHz/4MW低杂波电流驱动系统隔直器优化设计

为了研究全超导托卡马克稳态高参数等离子体性能,2008年在EAST托卡马克装置上研制并成功建成了一套能最大传输2兆瓦,工作频率是2450MHz的低混杂波电流驱动系统,要实现低杂波长时间地维持等离子体电流,还需要对低杂波系统的输出功率大小及运行时间长度提出更高要求,拟研制一套波源输出功率4 MW,中心频率4.6GHz,波谱范围为1.7< N_(//)< 2.5,运行脉冲宽度0～1000秒低杂波电流驱动系统.在EAST4.6GHz/4MW低杂波电流驱动系统中,因为速调管放大器和低杂波天线有共同的接地点,速调管放大器电源为负高压,有接地点,低杂波天线有接地点,并且和EAST托卡马克相连,在系统中要求不能有两个接地点,所以要通过隔直器来隔断托卡马克和速调管之间的的直流通路.论文详细介绍了隔直器的原理和设计过程,在以4.6GHz为中心频率,150MHz的频带范围内,隔直器各个端口微波性能良好.     

HT-7低杂波相控天线阵的耦合特性分析

HT-72.45GHz低混杂波系统利用相控波导阵列将微波能量耦合到等离子体中。本工作基于二维线性耦合理论,主要利用Step+Ramp的等离子体密度剖面模型,详细分析了HT-7装置上各种关键参数(如边缘密度、密度梯度、相邻主波导相位差等)下低杂波波导阵列天线的耦合特性。分析表明,通过调节主波导之间－90°～90°的相差,天线的n_∥谱可在1.93～3.15之间灵活调节;当天线口边缘密度为0.5×10¹⁸～2×10¹⁸m^-3时,波导阵天线的反射系数可保持在5%以下,方向性系数很大;主波导之间相位差的改变对波导阵的驱动效率有很大影响。     

Enhanced Lower Hybrid Current Drive Experiments on HT-7 Tokamak

Effective Lower Hybrid Current Driving (LHCD) and improved confinement experiments in higher plasma parameters (Ip > 200 kA, ne > 2 ×1013 cm-3, Te≥ 1 keV) have been curried out in optimized LH wave spectrum and plasma parameters in HT - 7 superconducting tokamak. The dependence of current driving efficiency on LH power spectrum, plasma density ne and toroidal magnetic field BT has been obtained under optimal conditions. A good CD efficiency was obtained at higher plasma current and higher electron density. The improvement of the energy confinement time is accompanied with the increase in line averaged electron density, and in ion and electron temperatures. The highest current driving efficiency reached ηCD = IpneR/PRF≈1.05×1019 Am-2/W. Wave-plasma coupling was sustained in a good state and the reflective coefficient was less than 5%. The experiments have also demonstrated the ability of LH wave in the start-up and ramp-up of the plasma current. The measurement of the temporal distribution of plasma     

Experimental Results of MHD Suppression with Modulated LHCD on the HT-7 Tokamak

Modulation of lower hybrid current drive was used successfully to suppress MHD activity. This was achieved in discharges with MHD m = 2 tearing modes during the discharge conditions Ip = 110 kA, Bt = 1.75 T, ne0 - 1.1 ×1013 cm-3. The delivering time of LHCD pulse is less then 30 μs. The amplitude, interval and the period of LHCD modulation pulse can be adjusted very conveniently. The modulation LHCD can be delivered very fast at any time during the discharge. The modulation LHCD period was always much shorter than the plasma resistive time (Tη≈100 ms). So the profile of plasma current is changed much faster than the plasma resistive time. The different forms of LHCD modulating can be proved.     

Experiment and Operation of a LHCD—35kV／2.8MW／1000s High—Voltage Power Supply on HT—7 Tokamak

A-35kV/2.8MW/1000s high-voltage power supply(HVPS) for HT-7 superconducting tokamak has been built successfully.The HVPS is scheduled to run on a 2.45 GHz/1MW lower hybrid current drive(LHCD)^[1] system of HT-7 superoonducting tokamak before the set-up of HT-7 superconducting tokamak in 2003.The HVPS has a series of advantages such as good steady and dynamic response,logical computer program controlling the HVPS without and fault,operationa panel and experimental board for data acquisition.which both are grounded distinctively in a normative way to protec the main body of HVPS along with its attached equipments from dangers.Electric power cables and other control cables are disposed reasonably,to prevent singals from magnetic interference and ensure the precision of signal transfer.This paper involves the experiment and operation of a 35kV/2.8 MW/1000s HVPS^[2] for 2.45 GHz/1 MW LHCD system.The reliability and feasibility of the HVPS has been demonstrated in comparison with experimental results of original design and simulation data.     

The Experiment of Modulated Toroidal Current on HT-7 and HT-6M Tokamak

The Experiments of Modulated Toroidal Current were done on the HT-6M tokamak and HT-7 superconducting tokamak. The toroidal current was modulated by programming the Ohmic heating field. Modulation of the plasma current has been used successfully to suppress MHD activity in discharges near the density limit where large MHD m = 2 tearing modes were suppressed by sufficiently large plasma current oscillations. The improved Ohmic confinement phase was observed during modulating toroidal current (MTC) on the Hefei Tokamak-6M (HT-6M) and Hefei superconducting Tokamak-7 (HT-7). A toroidal frequency-modulated current, induced by a modulated loop voltage, was added on the plasma equilibrium current. The ratio of A.C. amplitude of plasma current to the main plasma current △Ip/Ip is about 12% ～ 30%. The different formats of the frequency-modulated toroidal current were compared.     

Edge Plasma behavior during Improved Confinement by Lower Hybrid Wave heating in HT—6M Tokamak

Lower hybrid heating (LHH) has been successfully carried out in the HT-6M tokamak.The H-mode has been obtained with a power threshold of 50kW under a boronized wall condition.Both energy and particle confinements have been improved along with a dropped edge plasma density and an increase electron temperature during the LHH phase.A negative Er well plays a key role of triggering and sustaining the good confinement.Both electrostatic fluctuation of the plasma potential and the density fluctuations dropped to an ultra-low level.The observation of an enhanced Er shear before the reduction in turbulence level is consistent with an increased Er shear as the cause of turbulence suppression.     

Modification of Boundary Parameters and Fluctuations by IBW and LHCD in the HT-7 Tokamak

Measurements of boundary parameters and their fluctuations have been performed in ohmic (OH) plasma and Ion Bernstein Wave (IBW) and Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) enhanced confinement plasma using a pneumatically driven Langmuir probe array on HT-7 toka-maX. In the enhanced confinement plasma~ the gradients of electron density and temperature become higher and a transport barrier comes into being in the vicinity of the limiter. The boundary potential shows a clear modification in the same region. The fluctuation levels are significantly depressed and the coherences between fluctuations are reduced evidently in the enhanced plasma.Meanwhile, we obtained the spectral features and the poloidal phase velocity of fluctuations us-ing a two-point correlation technique and found obvious modifications of the turbulence and the poloidal flow. The results suggest that the improved confinement in the IBW and LHCD enhanced plasma is at least partially due to the modification of the boundary parameters and the suppression of the boundary fluctuations and fluctuation induced fluxes.     

Lower hybrid heating and current drive system for a tokamak reactor

A lower hybrid heating system has been designed for heating a tokamak reactor to ignition and for sustaining steady-state operation by driving the toroidal plasma current. The power spectrum from an active/passive waveguide grill is computed, and the resulting equilibrium current density profile is computed from a full electromagnetic WKB analysis of wave propagation in a cylinder. The corresponding toroidal current profile is a low-current equilibrium which is stable to various ideal modes at an economically acceptable beta. The electronic circuitry is designed to minimize the electric power required for current drive, and the resulting design appears to provide reliable operation in a reactor environment. The same system can drive current during reactor startup if some of the waveguides are modified slightly. A typical sequence of startup equilibria is calculated.     

A Consideration on Increasing Current Density in Normal Conducting Toroidal Field Coil for Spherical Tokamak Power Plant

The center post is the most critical component as an inboard part of the toroidal field coil for the low aspect ratio tokamak. During the discharge it endures not only a tremendous ohmic heating owing to its carrying a rather high current but also a large nuclear heating and irradiation owing to the plasma operation. All the severe operating conditions, including the structure stress intensity and the stability of the structure, largely limit the maximum allowable current density. But in order to contain a very high dense plasma, it is hoped that the fusion power plant system can operate with a much high maximum magnetic field BT ≥12 T-15 T in the center post. A new method is presented in this paper to improve the maximum magnetic field up to 17 T and to investigate the possibility of the normal conducting center post to be used in the future fusion tokamak power plant.     

Investigation of the Energy Confinement in Ohmic and LHCD Plasmas in HT-7

Investigation of the energy confinement in ohmic and lower hybrid current drive （LHCD） plasmas in HT-7 has been performed. In ohmic discharges at low densities the global energy confinement time rE increases almost linearly with the density, saturates at a critical density （2.5×10^13/cm^3 for HT-7） and is nearly constant at higher densities. The energy confinement time is in good agreement with the Neo-Alcator scaling law at different densities and currents. In the LHCD plasmas the global energy confinement time similar to that of the L-mode discharges has been observed to be in good agreement with the low confinement mode （L mode） scaling law of ITER89-P in higher electron density and plasma current.     

Analysis of Charge-Exchange Spectrum during Lower Hybrid Current Drive on HT-7 Tokamak

1. IntroductionUsually the ion temperature is determined in magnetically confined plasmas by measurements of theenergy distribution of the fast neutral particles.The tokamak experiments have been devoted to thestudy of high-power additional heating. Accordingto the theory and many tokamak experimental results, plasmas that are additionally heated usuallyhave non-Maxwellian high-energy component (highenergy tail) with a concomitant bulk ion heating bycollision energy exchange between the ion ta…     

Current drive operation in a tokamak

Three modes of current drive operation in a tokamak — continuous, cyclic, and rfinitiated-are studied for air core and iron core transformer. It is found that the air core transformer is in general more flexible than the iron core transformer for current drive operation. For continuous operation, the shutoff time of the Ohmic heating circuit of the air core transformer can be reduced to zero by using a bias current. On the other hand, the shutoff time of the iron core transformer remains finite even if the bias current is used, because of hysteresis. For cyclic operation, methods of shortening the recharging time are investigated for both types of transformer. The effects of the transformer on rf-initiated operation are investigated. A model design of a saturable iron core tokamak for current drive experiments is also presented.     

Analysis of Charge Exchange Spectrum During Lower Hybrid Current Drive on HT-7 Tokamak

This paper presents the experimental results by charge-exchange fast neutral particle measurements with neutral particle energy analyzer (NPA) in lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) experiments, which firstly show ion heating of LHCD on HT-7 superconducting tokamak. The LHCD experiments on HT-7 tokamak were carried out with the following paramenters: B_t=1.8 T, I_p=110～150 kA, n_e=(0.8～2)×10~(13)cm~(-3). The lower hybrid wave (LHW) had a pulse duration of 360ms and power of about 300 kW with an peak of parallel refractive index of N_〃=2.9.     

Sawtooth Activity during Lower Hybrid Current Drive Experiment in HT-7 Superconducting Tokamak

1.IntroductionSawtoothoscillationisoneofthemosttypicalmagnetohydrodynamic(MHD)phenomenaobservedintokamakplasmaunderavarietyofexperimentconditions[l],especiallyinhigh-powerauxiliaryheatingexperiment.IthasattractedmuchattentionbecauseofitsstrongimpactonplasmaconfinementandprovidesagoodexamplefOrthedemonstrationofvariousMHDtheories.Forthisreasonthestabi-lizationofsatttoothhasbecomeacriticalproblemfortokamakplasma.Lowerhybridcurrentdrivethroughitschangeofthectlrrentprofilecanradicallyaltertl1e…     

Fully Implicit Iterative Solving Method for the Fokker-Planck Equation in Tokamak Plasmas

A three dimensional bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck (FP) numerical code has been newly developed based on fully implicit iterative solving method,and relativistic effect is also included in the code.The ...     

Commissioning of 3.7 GHz LHCD system on ADITYA tokamak and some initial results

To drive plasma current non-inductively, a lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system has been designed, fabricated and successfully installed on ADITYA tokamak. The system is designed to launch 120 kW of RF power, at a frequency of 3.7 GHz. The system mainly consists of a high power CW klystron source, a long waveguide transmission line of about 100 m length, a UHV compatible modular waveguide line of about 2.65 m, and a conventional grill type antenna. Independent phase shifters, one each in the eight lines, are used to adjust the antenna phasing and also provides the flexibility to launch a composite spectrum. The antenna is designed to launch lower hybrid waves (LHW) with parallel refractive index (N_||), in the range, 1 < N_|| < 4.5, by appropriately phasing the antenna. Antenna is positioned in the shadow of the poloidal limiter and is provided with 100 mm radial movement to achieve optimum coupling conditions.The complete system development includes design, fabrication and testing of number of waveguide components, modular waveguide lines and their integration. Different cost effective fabrication techniques are adopted to achieve good RF performance. Special attention is paid on the flanged joint seals in the long transmission line to minimize the RF losses. The entire LHCD system is calibrated, especially, in terms of phase, insertion loss and return loss measurements.After the successful integration of the system on ADITYA tokamak, some initial experiments have been carried out to assess the system commissioning and its performance. The experiments were done with a plasma (hydrogen) density of 2-5 × 10¹² cm⁻³ at a toroidal magnetic field of 0.8 T with 10-25 kA of plasma current. Initial results indicate that, good coupling is achieved in the presence of proper edge density. Measurements obtained from second harmonic electron cyclotron emission (ECE) and hard X-ray diagnostics suggest generation of suprathermal electrons in the presence of LH pulse. Plasma current pulse elongation with LH power is observed but needs further investigation to derive conclusions.This paper presents the design, fabrication, testing and integration of the waveguide lines, waveguide components and UHV compatible modular transmission lines of the LHCD system on ADITYA tokamak and discusses some of the initial results.     

Measurement of Current Profile in a Tokamak Through AC Modulation

The plasma current is modulated with an alternating current （ac） component in a frequency range of 90 Hz - 900 Hz in the plateau discharge phase in the CT-6B tokamak. A plasma electric conductivity profile in a form of （1 - r^2/a^2）^α with a parameter α which is fitted with the experimental data, can be determined. The effects of magnetic shear in a tokamak field configuration on the current penetration are taken into account in the numerical simulation. The measurement method and obtained results are discussed.     

Initial Experiments at High Normalized Current in the Pegasus Toroidal Experiment

Initial experiments in the Pegasus ST exhibited an operational limit of I _p ∼ I _tf at A ∼ 1.15. With new power supplies, discharge control has greatly increased. Equilibria and stability modeling of the high I _p/I _tf regime has produced stable equilibria with I _p/I _tf up to 2 while values of I _p/I _tf approaching 3 show a potential upper bound on stability. A new operating regime has been accessed in recent experiments with the addition of electrostatic plasma sources. Using the sources as a pre-ionization technique, I _p/I _tf values of 1.5 have been accessed at very low toroidal fields. Using the sources as a means for non-inductive startup, values of I _p/I _tf up to 2.3 are attained. The MHD activity in these discharges is characteristically different than ohmic discharges, suggesting the new current sources are modifying the current profile to allow stable discharge evolution at minimal toroidal field.