Advanced Control Scenario of High-Performance Steady-State Operation for JT-60 Superconducting Tokamak

Plasma control on high-βN steady-state operation for JT-60 superconducting modification is discussed. Accessibility to high-βN exceeding the free-boundary limit is investigated with the stabilising wall of reduced-activated ferritic steel and the active feedback control of the in-vessel non-axisymmetric field coils. Taking the merit of superconducting magnet, advanced plasma control for steady-state high performance operation could be expected.     

The Designed Operation of the Machine Control System on HL-2A Tokamak

The Ethernet and field-bus communications are used in the machine control system （MCS） of HL-2A. The control net, with a programmable logic controller （PLC） as its logic control master, an engineering control management station as its net server, and a timing control PC connected to a number of terminals, flexibly and freely transfers information among the nodes on it with the Ethernet transmission techniques. The PLC masters the field bus, which carries small pieces of information between PLC and the field sites reliably and quickly. The control net is connected into the data net, where Internet access and sharing of more experimental data are enabled. The communication in the MCS guarantees the digitalization, automation and centralization. Also provided are a satisfactory degree of safety, reliability, stability, expandability and flexibility for maintenance.     

Recent Progress of HT-7U Superconducting Tokamak

HT-7U is a superconducting tokamak. which is being constructed in Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The mission of the HT-7U project is to develop a scientific and engineering basis of the steady state operation of advanced tokamak.The engineering design of the device has been optimized. The R&D program is going on. Short samples of the conductor and a CS model coil were tested. All the TF and PF coils will be manufactured and tested in Institute of Plasma Physics. Therefore, a 600-meter long jacketing line for cable-in-conduit conductors along with two winding machines, a set of VPI equipment and a test facility for the TF and PF coils are ready in ASIPP now. In this paper, the recent progress of the HT-7U is described.     

Numerical analysis for the free-boundary current reversal equilibrium in the AC plasma current operation in a tokamak

In recent decades,tokamak discharges with zero total toroidal current have been reported in tokamak experiments,and this is one of the key problems in alternating current(AC)operations.An efficient free-boundary equilibrium code is developed to investigate such advanced tokamak discharges with current reversal equilibrium configuration.The calculation results show that the reversal current equilibrium can maintain finite pressure and also has considerable effects on the position of the X-point and the magnetic separatrix shape,and hence also on the position of the strike point on the divertor plates,which is extremely useful for magnetic design,MHD stability analysis,and experimental data analysis etc.for the AC plasma current operation on tokamaks.     

Initial high beta operation of the HBT-EP Tokamak

HBT-EP is a new research tokamak designed and built to investigate passive and active feedback techniques to control MHD instabilities. In particular, HBT-EP will be able to test techniques to control fast MHD instabilities occurring at high Troyon-normalized beta, _N Ba/I_p [Tm/MA], since it is equipped with a thick, close-fitting, and adjustable conducting shell. The major goals of the initial operation of HBT-EP have been the achievement of high beta operation (_N 3) using only ohmic heating and the observation of MHD instabilities. By using a unique fast startup technique, we have successfully achieved these goals. A variety of MHD phenomena were observed during the high beta operation of HBT-EP. At modest beta (_N 2), discharges have been maintained for more than 10 msec, and these discharges exhibit saturated resistive instabilities. When _N approaches 3, major disruptions occur preceded by oscillating, growing precursors. During start-up, one or more minor disruptions are usually observed. A 1-D transport code has been used to simulate the evolution of the current profile, and these early minor instabilities are predicted to be double tearing modes. The simulation also reproduces the observed high beta operation when saturated neo-Alcator energy confinement scaling is assumed.     

Static and Dynamic Mechanical Analyses for the Vacuum Vessel of EAST Superconducting Tokamak Device

EAST （experimental advanced superconducting tokamak） is an advanced steadystate plasma physics experimental device, which is being constructed as the Chinese National Nuclear Fusion Research Project. During the plasma operation the vacuum vessel as one of the key component will withstand the electromagnetic force due to the plasma disruption, the Halo current and the toroidal field coil quench, the pressure of boride water and the thermal load due to 250℃ baking by pressurized nitrogen gas. In this paper a report of the static and dynamic mechanical analyses of the vacuum vessel is made. Firstly the applied loads on the vacuum vessel were given and the static stress distribution under the gravitational loads, the pressure loads, the electromagnetic loads and thermal loads were investigated. Then a series of primary dynamic, buckling and fatigue life analyses were performed to predict the structure＇s dynamic behavior. A seismic analysis was also conducted.     

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.     

Using Poloidal Flux as Feedback Control Signal for Injected Power of LHCD in Long Pulse Discharge on HT-7 Tokamak

Long pulse discharge is one of the important goals of HT-7 superconducting tokamak experiments. For ITER （International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor） or a tokamak reactor, carrying out a steady operation is one of the main techniques. For long pulse discharges on HT-7 the poloidal flux is used as the feedback signal to control the injected power of LHCD （Low Hybrid Current Drive） system. Experimental results are presented.     

The Compression Algorithm for the Data Acquisition System in HT－7 Tokamak

HT-7 superconducting tokamak in the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is an experimental device for fusion research in China. The main task of the data acquisition system of HT-? is to acquire, store, analyze and index the data. The volume of the data is nearly up to hundreds of million bytes. Besides the hardware and software support, agreat capacity of data storage, process and transfer is a more important problem. To deal with this problem, the key technology is data compression algorithm. In the paper, the data format in HT-7 is introduced first, then the data compression algorithm, LZO, being a kind of portable lossless data compression algorithm with ANSI C, is analyzed. This compression algorithm, which fits well with the data acquisition and distribution in the nuclear fusion experiment, offers a pretty fast compression and extremely fast decompression. At last the performance evaluation of LZO application in HT-7 is given.     

Study of Plasma MHD Equilibrium in HL-2A Tokamak

EFIT（Equilibrium Fitting） code is successfully transplanted for HL-2A tokamak parameters. The evolution of the equilibrium configurations for shot 2898 is simulated. It is shown that the discharge starts with a limiter configuration and develops into a divertor configuration gradually after t = 200 ms. The latter lasts until the end of the discharge at t = 900 ms. The evolution of the major plasma shape parameters such as the boundary magnetic fluxes, the positions of the x-point and magnetic axis, and the minor radii obtained are calculated and compared with the experimental results. The agreement between the simulation and experiments are shown to be reasonable. The possibility for discharge quality improvement is discussed.     

Design of Amplifier Circuit for the HT-7 Tokamak Thomson Scattering System

Thomson scattering diagnostic is important for measuring electron temperature and density profiles. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio, a silicon avalanche photodiode （APD） with high quantum efficiency, high sensitivity, and high gain up to 100 was adopted to measure the Thomson scattering spectrum. A preamplifier, which has low noise, high bandwidth, and high sensitivity, was designed with suitable transimpedance. Using AD8367 as the post-amplifier, good performance of the APD readout electronics have been obtained. A discussion is presented on the performance of the amplifier using a laser diode to simulate the Thomson scattering light. The test results indicate that the designed circuit has a high amplifying factor and fast rising edge. So reduction of the integral gate of the CAMAC ADC converter can improve the signal-to-noise ratio.     

A Molecular Dynamics Study on the Dust-Plasma/Wall Interactions in the EAST Tokamak

The interactions between the W nano-dust and deuterium plasma at different locations of the EAST tokamak are simulated using a molecular dynamics code. It is shown that nano-dust particles, with the radius, R d , ～5 nm, can exist for at least several nano-seconds under the interactions from the ions without being ablated in some specific places of the tokamak edge plasma, while those with R d ≥25 nm may be ablated if the plasma temperature T～ 50 eV and density n～10 19 m 3 . In addition, the collisions of tungsten nano-dust grains with a tungsten wall at 100 m/s or 1000 m/s impinging speeds are simulated. It is demonstrated that the dust will stick to the wall, and the collision will not cause substantial damage to the wall, but it may be able to cause partial destruction of the dust grains themselves depending on their incident speeds.     

A Research Program of Spherical Tokamak in China

The mission of this program is to explore the spherical torus plasma with a SUNIST spherical tokamak. Main experiments in the start phase will be involved with breakdown and plasma current set-up with a mode of saving volt-second and without ohmic heating system, equilibrium and instability, current driving, heating and profile modification. The SUNIST is a university-scale conceptual spherical tokamak, with R = 0.3 m, A 1.3, Ip -50 kA, BT < 0.15 T, and PRF- 100 kW. The only peculiarity of SUNIST is that there is a toroidal insulating break along the outer wall of vacuum vessel. The expected that advantages of this arrangement are helpful not only for saving flux swing, but also for having a deep understanding of what will influence the discharge startup and globe performances of plasma under different conditions of strong vessel eddy and ECR power assistance. Of course, the vessel structure of cross seal will be at a great risk of controlling vacuum quality, although we have achieved positive results on sim     

The Spectroscopic Systems for the Study of Light Impurity Particle Transport in the HT-7 Tokamak

Three spectroscopic systems have been developed for the study of light impurity particle transport in the HT-7 tokamak. A visible multi-channel spectroscopic system （VIS） is used to obtain the brightness distribution of the line emission from ionized light impurities. The profile of Zeff（r） has been obtained from the visible multi-channel bremsstrahlung measurement （VB）. The system with a rotating hexahedral mirror for space-time resolved spectroscopy measurement from ultraviolet to visible （UV） can provide the brightness distribution of two different emission lines of the light impurities simultaneously. The emissivities by these multi-channel measurements can be obtained by Abel inversion. The measurement was performed in typical OH discharges in the HT-7 tokamak. The carbon particle transport was analyzed. The feasibility of these diagnostic systems for the impurity particle transport study is clearly demonstrated.     

The Study of Heat Pulse Propagation on HT—7 Tokamak

The propagation of heat pulses originating from sawtooth activity has been studied on the HT-7 tokamak.Two theoretical models are used for determining electron heat diffusivity from the experimental data measured by a diagnostic system of soft x-ray diode-array.The results show that one model caaled dipole model is more suitable for HT-7 tokamak.In order to improve the signal-to-noise(S/N) ratio of the original signals,over a few tens of sawteeth are averaged to generatc nicc wavcforms.The apace-time evolution is found to be diffusive in character,which is consistent with the theoretical model.The electron heat diffusivity determined from heat pulse propagation is larger than determined from background plasma power balance.The variation of Xe in different discharge phases has been also discussed.     

Ions Measurement at the Edge of HT-7 Tokamak

A reliable method of measuring ions and ion temperature in tokamak plasma is necessary, for which an omegatron-like instrument has been developed on the HT-7 tokamak. The basic layout of the omegatron-like instrument is shown in this article. The measurement of working gas ion has been performed in the last experimental campaign on HT-7 tokamak. The relations among ion current, the electron repeller voltage and trap voltage have been investigated. This omegatron-like instrument has also provided the edge-plasma ion temperature.     

A Web-Based System for Remote Data Browsing in HT-7 Tokamak

HT-7 is the first superconducting tokamak device for fusion research in China.Many experiments have been performed on the HT-7 tokamak since 1994 with numerous satisfactory results achieved in the fusion research field. As more and better communication is required with other fusion research laboratories, remote access to experimental data is becoming increasingly important in order to raise the degree of openness of experiments and to expand research results. The web-based remote data browsing system enables authorized users in geographically different locations to view and search for experimental data without having to install any utility software at their terminals. The three-tier software architecture and thin client technology are used to operate the system effectively. This paper describes the structure of the system and the realization of its functions, focusing on three main points： the communication between the participating tiers, the data structure of the system and the visualization of the raw data on web pages.     

托卡马克HT-7U低温超导磁体的绝缘系统

主要介绍低温超导托卡马克HT-7U中磁体的绝缘结构,绝缘材料的特性,绝缘结构形成的工艺,绝缘层的电性能和力学性能等。     

Experimental Study of Diagnosis Neutral Beam for HT-7 Tokamak

Parametrical effect on plasma discharge and beam extraction in the diagnosis neutral beam （DNB） system for HT-7 tokamak was studied experimentally. Useful results with an improved beam quality were obtained.