Conceptual design of Remote Control System for EAST tokamak

The international collaboration becomes popular in tokamak research like in many other fields of science, because the experiment facilities become larger and more expensive. The traditional On-site collaboration Model that has to spend much money and time on international travel is not fit for the more frequent international collaboration. The Remote Control System (RCS), as an extension of the Central Control System for the EAST tokamak, is designed to provide an efficient and economical way to international collaboration. As a remote user interface, the RCS must integrate with the Central Control System for EAST tokamak to perform discharge control function. This paper presents a design concept delineating a few key technical issues and addressing all significant details in the system architecture design. With the aim of satisfying system requirements, the RCS will select rich Internet application (RIA) as a user interface, Java as a back-end service and Secure Socket Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL VPN) for securable Internet communication.     

Plan of ITER remote experimentation center

Plan of ITER remote experimentation center (REC) based on the broader approach (BA) activity of the joint program of Japan and Europe (EU) is described. Objectives of REC activity are (1) to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, (2) to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for the remote experiment by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities in order to make the future experiments of ITER and JT-60SA effectively and efficiently implemented, and (3) to test the functions of REC and demonstrate the total system by using JT-60SA and existing other facilities in EU. Preliminary identified items to be developed are (1) Functions of the remote experiment system, such as setting of experiment parameters, shot scheduling, real time data streaming, communication by video-conference between the remote-site and on-site, (2) Effective data transfer system that is capable of fast transfer of the huge amount of data between on-site and off-site and the network connecting the REC system, (3) Storage system that can store/access the huge amount of data, including database management, (4) Data analysis software for the data viewing of the diagnostic data on the storage system, (5) Numerical simulation for preparation and estimation of the shot performance and the analysis of the plasma shot. Detailed specifications of the above items will be discussed and the system will be made in these four years in collaboration with tokamak facilities of JT-60SA and EU tokamak, experts of informatics, activities of plasma simulation and ITER. Finally, the function of REC will be tested and the total system will be demonstrated by the middle of 2017.     

The Development of Data Acquisition and Remote Real-Time Display System for EAST NBI

The data acquisition and remote real-time display system for the neutral beam injectors (NBI) on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) are described in this paper. Distributed computer systems including local data acquisition (DAQ) facility, remote data server (DS), real-time display terminal are adopted with Linux and Windows operating system. Experimental signals are gathered by DAQ device at local working field. On the one hand, these gathered data will be sent to DS which runs on remote server main control layer on EAST NBI control network for saving and processing; on the other hand, these data will be sent to real-time display terminal which runs on remote monitoring layer on EAST NBI for displaying and monitoring experimental signals real-timely. Another point needs to be mentioned is that the real-time display software can call back historical data from DS for querying. The software of data acquisition and DS are programmed by C language while the real-time display software is programmed by Labview flow chart. The hardware mainly includes DAQ cards, server, industrial personal computer and others auxiliary hardware. Now the system proved to be performed well through experiments on NBI testing bed.     

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.     

Concept for a vertical maintenance remote handling system for multi module blanket segments in DEMO

The anticipated high neutron flux, and the consequent damage to plasma-facing components in DEMO, results in the need to regularly replace the tritium breeding and radiation shielding blanket. The current European multi module segment (MMS) blanket concept favours a less invasive small port entry maintenance system over large sector transport concepts, because of the reduced impact on other tokamak systems – particularly the magnetic coils. This paper presents a novel conceptual remote maintenance strategy for a Vertical Maintenance Scheme DEMO, incorporating substantiated designs for an in-vessel mover, to detach and attach the blanket segments, and cask-housed vertical maintenance devices to open and close access ports, cut and join service connections, and extract blanket segments from the vessel. In addition, a conceptual architectural model for DEMO was generated to capture functional and spatial interfaces between the remote maintenance equipment and other systems. Areas of further study are identified in order to comprehensively establish the feasibility of the proposed maintenance system.     

Maintenance duration estimate for a DEMO fusion power plant,based on the EFDA WP12 pre-conceptual studies

The erosion and high neutron flux in a fusion power plant results in the need for frequent remote replacement of the plasma facing components. This is a complex and time consuming remote handling operation and its duration directly affects the availability and therefore the commercial viability of the power plant.A tool is needed to allow the maintenance duration to be determined so that developments in component design can be assessed in terms of their effect on the maintenance duration. This allows the correct balance to be drawn between component cost and performance on the one hand and the remote handling cost and plant availability on the other.The work to develop this tool has begun with an estimate of the maintenance duration for a fusion power plant based on the EFDA DEMO WP12 pre-conceptual design studies [1]. The estimate can be readily adjusted for changes to the remote maintenance process resulting from design changes. The estimate uses data extrapolated from recorded times and operational experience from remote maintenance activities on the JET tokamak and other nuclear facilities.The Power Plant Conceptual Study from 2005 [2] proposes that commercial viability of a power plant would require an availability of 75% or above. Results from the maintenance estimate described in this paper suggest that this level of availability could be achieved for the planned maintenance using a highly developed and tested remote maintenance system, with a large element of parallel working and challenging but feasible operation times.     

A small,novel, remote in-vessel inspection system for the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

A small robust system has been constructed for in-situ visual inspection of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The system consists of a small, light, wide-angle high definition camera and LED package housed in a nacelle on the end of thin, rigid, 3.5 m long support pole. The nacelle has two actuated degrees of freedom allowing the camera to observe nearly 4π steradians. The support pole has a specific slight curve that allows it to pass to either side of the center column of the tokamak to observe the entirety of the vessel interior, while still fitting through the small aspect ratio Alcator C-Mod vacuum port structure. The support pole and camera can enter the vessel through any horizontal vacuum port with an inner diameter greater than 4 cm, thus a dedicated port is not required. The inspection is typically undertaken during maintenance periods when the vessel is filled with a noble gas near atmospheric pressure thus minimizing the influx of water vapor and the concomitant loss of wall conditioning. The system is operated manually, producing photos and video which are reviewed in near real-time. Nearly the entire vessel, including the plasma facing components, can be carefully inspected in 3–5 h. The system provides improved characterization of the interior components and surfaces of the tokamak with a modest engineering and operational effort. Information gathered from the system has identified damage to plasma facing components that were interfering with tokamak operation, as well as damage to mechanical components which were redesigned during the remainder of the campaign, thereby enhancing program planning.     

Improving concept design of divertor support system for FAST tokamak using TRIZ theory and AHP approach

The paper focuses on the application of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) to divertor Remote Handling (RH) issues in Fusion Advanced Studies Torus (FAST), a satellite tokamak acting as a test bed for the study and the development of innovative technologies oriented to ITER and DEMO programs. The objective of this study consists in generating concepts or solutions able to overcome design and technical weak points in the current maintenance procedure. Two different concepts are designed with the help of a parametric CAD software, CATIA V5, using a top-down modeling approach; kinematic simulations of the remote handling system are performed using Digital Mock-Up (DMU) capabilities of the software. The evaluation of the concepts is carried out involving a group of experts in a participative design approach using virtual reality, classifying the concepts with the help of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).     

Plasma production and preliminary results from the ADITYA Upgrade tokamak

The Ohmically heated circular limiter tokamak ADITYA (R0 =75 cm,a =25 cm) has been upgraded to a tokamak named the ADITYA Upgrade (ADITYA-U) with an open divertor configuration with divertor plates.The main goal of ADITYA-U is to carry out dedicated experiments relevant for bigger fusion machines including ITER,such as the generation and control of runaway electrons,disruption prediction,and mitigation studies,along with an improvement in confinement with shaped plasma.The ADITYA tokamak was dismantled and the assembly of ADITYA-U was completed in March 2016.Integration of subsystems like data acquisition and remote operation along with plasma production and preliminary plasma characterization of ADITYA-U plasmas are presented in this paper.     

Remote Control for the HT-7 Distributed Data Acquisition System

HT-7 is the first superconducting tokamak device for fusion research in China. Many experiments have been done in the machine since 1994, and lots of satisfactory results have been achieved in the fusion research field on HT-7 tokamak^[1]. With the development of fusion research, remote control of experiment becomes more and more important to improve experimental efficiency and expand research results. This paper will describe a RCS (Remote Control System),the combined model of Browser/Server and Client/Server, based on Internet of HT-7 distributed data acquisition system (HT7DAS). By means of RCS, authorized users all over the world can control and configure HT7DAS remotely. The RCS is designed to improve the flexibility, opening, reliability and efficiency of HT7DAS. In the paper, the whole process of design along with implementation of the system and some key items are discussed in detail. The System has been successfully operated during HT-7 experiment in 2002 campaign period.     

Alternate Data Acquisition and Real-time Monitoring System on HT-7 Tokamak

1 Introduction There are many tokamak devices over the world. Be- cause the tokamak device is based on the principle of a transformer, almost all tokamaks are pulse-operated and most of their discharge duration is within one or two minutes. A conventional data acquisition and anal- ysis system would be good enough for such devices. However, recent lower hybrid current-drive (LHCD) ex- periments such as those on the HT-7 and Tore Supra have generated discharges lasting several hundred sec- …     

Soft real-time EPICS extensions for fast control: A case study applied to a TCV equilibrium algorithm

For new control systems development, ITER distributes CODAC Core System that is a software package based on Linux RedHat, and includes EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) as software control system solution. EPICS technology is being widely used for implementing control systems in research experiments and it is a very well tested technology, but presents important lacks to meet fast control requirements. To manage and process massive amounts of acquired data, EPICS requires additional functions such as: data block oriented transmissions, links with speed-optimized data buffers and synchronization mechanisms not based on system interruptions. This EPICS limitation turned out clearly during the development of the Fast Plant System Controller Prototype for ITER based on PXIe platform.In this work, we present a solution that, on the one hand, is completely compatible and based on EPCIS technology, and on the other hand, extends EPICS technology for implementing high performance fast control systems with soft-real time characteristics. This development includes components such as: data acquisition, processing, monitoring, data archiving, and data streaming (via network and shared memory). Additionally, it is important to remark that this system is compatible with multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and is able to integrate MatLab code through MatLab engine connections. It preserves EPICS modularity, enabling system modification or extension with a simple change of configuration, and finally it enables parallelization based on data distribution to different processing components.With the objective of illustrating the presented solution in an actual tokamak application, we have implemented fundamental tokamak equilibrium quantities such as plasma position, Shafranov shift or internal inductance. The algorithms have been parallelized and implemented for its execution on CPU, GPUs and Matlab, and have been tested using actual magnetic data from the TCV tokamak fast control system.     

Commissioning the ICRF system and an ICRF assisted discharge cleaning at the KSTAR

Korean superconducting tokamak advanced research (KSTAR) is a national superconducting tokamak with the aim of a high beta operation based on advanced tokamak (AT) scenarios, and an ion cyclotron ranges of frequency (ICRF) heating is one of the essential tools to achieve this goal. The fabrication and high voltage (HV) test of the antenna and the matching system were finished in 2006 and the installation of the antenna, matching system and the transmitter at the KSTAR site was completed in 2007. Antenna conditioning was carried out to improve the HV holding condition of the antenna installed on the KSTAR and to check on the electro-magnetic (EM) interference with other equipments such as the superconducting magnet monitoring system and other machine and/or plasma diagnostic systems. The first KSTAR tokamak experimental campaign started by a vacuum pumping, a cryostat cooling and an ICRF system contributed to the successful tokamak shots through an ICRF assisted discharge cleaning of the vacuum vessel. In this paper, the installation processes of the ICRF system (with an emphasis on the quality assurance procedures of KSTAR), as well as the results from the first RF discharge experiment for the discharge cleaning and FWEH (fast wave electron heating) experiment for the KSTAR 1st experimental campaign are outlined.     

Data Acquisition System of Neutral Beam Injector on EAST

In order to supervise the elements of the neutral beam injector (NBI) spatially located at several places, a distributed NBI data acquisition system (NBIDAS) on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) is developed in this paper. NBIDAS consists of field instrument and measurement devices, servers and remote data processing terminals. In order to remotely manage and monitor the field devices of the NBI system, a device management client software is also developed as the human–machine interfaces between the field devices and remote system administrators. A control signal acquisition system is developed for diagnosing these generated analog and digital signals from the NBI control system. NBIDAS based on network technologies is capable of extending system functions and upgrading devices. The detail of the architecture and implementation of the NBIDAS on EAST is discussed in the paper.     

A new remote control room for tokamak operations

This paper presents a summary of a new remote tokamak control room constructed near the offices of DIII-D's scientific staff. This integrated system combines hardware, software, data, and control of the room (R-232) into a unified package that has been designed and constructed in a generic fashion so that it can be used with any tokamak operating worldwide. The room is approximately 300 ft² and can accommodate up to 12 seated participants. Mounted on the wall facing each scientist are five 52″ LCD televisions and mounted to the wall on their right are six 24″ LCD monitors. Each seat has associated with it a 24″ monitor, network connection, and power and the scientist is either provided with a computer or they can use their own. The room has been used for operation of DIII-D, EAST, and KSTAR. Due to the long distances, data from EAST and KSTAR was brought back to local DIII-D computers in one large parallel network transfer and subsequently served to scientists in the remote control room to other US collaborators. This parallel data transfer allowed the data to be available to US participants between pulses making remote experimental participation highly effective.     

The web-based user interface for EAST plasma control system

The plasma control system (PCS) plays a vital role at EAST for fusion science experiments. Its software application consists of two main parts: an IDL graphical user interface for setting a large number of plasma parameters to specify each discharge, several programs for performing the real-time feedback control and managing the whole control system. The PCS user interface can be used from any X11 Windows client with privileged access to the PCS computer system. However, remote access to the PCS system via the IDL user interface becomes an extreme inconvenience due to the high network latency to draw or operate the interfaces. In order to realize lower latency for remote access to the PCS system, a web-based system has been developed for EAST recently. The setup data are retrieved from the PCS system and client-side JavaScript draws the interfaces into the user's browser. The user settings are also sent back to the PCS system for controlling discharges. These technologies allow the web-based user interface to be viewed by authorized users with a web browser and have it communicate with PCS server processes directly. It works together with the IDL interface and provides a new way to aid remote participation.     

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.     

The design of the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX)

The Tokamak Physics Experiment is designed to develop the scientific basis for a compact and continuously operating tokamak fusion reactor. It is based on an emerging class of tokamak operating modes, characterized by beta limits well in excess of the Troyon limit, confinement scaling well in excess of H-mode, and bootstrap current fractions approaching unity. Such modes are attainable through the use of advanced, steady state plasma controls including strong shaping, current profile control, and active particle recycling control. Key design features of the TPX are superconducting toroidal and poloidal field coils; actively-cooled plasma-facing components; a flexible heating and current drive system; and a spacious divertor for flexibility. Substantial deuterium plasma operation is made possible with an in-vessel remote maintenance system, a lowactivation titanium vacuum vessel, and shielding of ex-vessel components. The facility will be constructed as a national project with substantial participation by U.S. industry. Operation will begin with first plasma in the year 2000.     

Design,Construction, and Installation of Movable Electrode Biasing System on Tokamak

The first results of the movable electrode biasing experiments performed on the IR-T1 tokamak are presented. For this purpose, a movable electrode biasing system was designed, constructed, and installed on the IR-T1 tokamak, and then the positive voltage applied to an electrode inserted inside the tokamak limiter and the plasma current, poloidal and radial components of the magnetic fields, loop voltage, and diamagnetic flux in the absence and presence of the biased electrode were measured. Results compared and discussed.     

A precision control method for plasma electron density and Faraday rotation angle measurement on HL-2A

The precision of plasma electron density and Faraday rotation angle measurement is a key indicator for far-infrared laser interferometer/polarimeter plasma diagnosis.To improve the precision,a new multi-channel high signal-to-noise ratio HCOOH interferometer/polarimeter has been developed on the HL-2A tokamak.It has a higher level requirement for phase demodulation precision.This paper introduces an improved real-time fast Fourier transform algorithm based on the field programmable gate array,which significantly improves the precision.We also apply a real-time error monitoring module (REMM) and a stable error inhibiting module (SEIM) for precision control to deal with the weak signal.We test the interferometer/polarimeter system with this improved precision control method in plasma discharge experiments and simulation experiments.The experimental results confirm that the plasma electron density precision is better than 1/3600 fringe and the Faraday rotation angle measurement precision is better than 1/900 fringe,while the temporal resolution is 80 ns.This performance can fully meet the requirements of HL-2A.