Alcator C-Mod Run 1000627 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:262
Date Filed: 4/4/2000
Title:The Effect of Main Chamber Recycling on H-mode Confinement
First Author:Spencer Pitcher
Session Leader:Spencer Pitcher (shots 1-21)

Operators
Session leader(s):Spencer Pitcher
Physics operator(s):Ron Parker
Engineering operator(s):Bill Cochran

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP #262 (CONT'D) The Effect of Main Chamber Recycling on H-Mode Confinem

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:24:553PM
Author: To Be Determined
MP 262 The Effect of Main Chamber Recycling on H-mode Confinement

SL S Pitcher
PO R Parker

This run follows from 1000511, where we performed a left gap scan
with fixed right gap.

Initial Discharges:
Left gap scan, 800 kA, nl04 = 1.0, 5.4 T, D and E antenna
power ramps, right gap fixed at approx 15 mm, fixed Xpt geometry.

We will first touch base with the results from 1000511 (i.e. left
gaps, 2.0, 1.0, 0.3 cm). Determine the threshold powers.
Following this will will run discharges on the inner wall and
shot by shot push the effective left gap to negative values looking
for the effect of threshold power.

If time permits we will explore the effect of varying the right-gap
on threshold power.


Results:
A very frustrating day! Slow to get started, problems with arcing
on D antenna, general power failure, etc. The thresholds we found
more or less fell on top of the data from 1000511. The discharges
with lgap = 0.0 and negative did not show a convincing H-mode
transition. We were hampered by problems with the RF traces, which
were not always accurate. They need to be double checked.

Conclusion:
Unfortunately, we still cannot say what the H-mode threshold power
is in a inner wall limited discharge.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Shot by shot notes:

********
shot 3

right gap too large >>>> reduce next shot
no H-mode

********
shot 4

gaps are reasonable
RF problem....no H-mode

********
shot 5

RF a little ratty
H-mode
lgap = 1.4 cm

********
shot 6

RF problem
no H-mode
lgap = 1.4 cm

********
shot 7

no plasma

********
shot 8

no H-mode

********
shot 9

no H-mode

********
shot 10

no H-mode

********
shot 11

no H-mode

********
shot 12

increase right gap to rgap = 1.5 cm
H-mode!...faults stopped on D antenna!
clearly we should not have reduced the right gap before!

********
shot 13

no plasma

********
shot 14

H-mode!
problem with RF signals


********
shot 15

reduce lgap....lgap = 0.5 cm
(actually, it looks like we attempted to increase lgap)
disrupt t = 0.45 s

********
shot 16

reduce lgap....lgap = 0.5 cm
good shot H-mode
problem with RF signals

********
shot 17

reduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
no H-mode
problem with RF signals
estimated max RF power was 2.0 MW

********
shot 18

reduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
no plasma

RF signals for shots 14-17 now look fixed

********
shot 19

reduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
H-mode!

RF signals suspect!

********
shot 20

reduce lgap....lgap = -0.5 cm
no H-mode!

RF signals suspect!

********
shot 21

lgap = -0.5 cm
no H-mode!

RF signals suspect!














Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:11:520PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Plan and Engineering Setup for 1000627

MP262 (CONT'D) The Effect of Main Chamber Recycling on H-Mode Confinement

Session Leader: S. Pitcher
Physics Operator: R. Parker
Engineering Operators: B. Cochran

Engineering Setup:

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping 2 hours before run.

Run begins at *** 8:00 *** NOTE!!! and ends at 16:00.

Power system setup: Same as for 1000511001

Set OH1, OH2U and OH2L fizzle delays at 300ms
Set TF fizzle delay at 400 ms


Gas setup: B-Top 6 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
B-side lower 1 psi Argon Hybrid DISABLED
B-side upper leave as is Hybrid DISABLED
C-side 30 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
J-bottom leave as is Hybrid DISABLED

The following Gate Valves should be ENABLED, assuming no vacuum problems:

ECE, VUV

DNB gate valve should be DISABLED

RF Setup:

RF should ramp from 0.4 MW @ t=0.55 s to 2.0 MW @ t=1.1 s
Higher total power at same ramp rate will be requested as run proceeds.
Only D&E antennas will be required.

Run Plan:

This run continues the program initiated on 1000511, where a left gap scan
with fixed right gap was performed and the effect on H-Mode confinement
properties was investigated.

Initial discharges will be setup for a left gap scan @ 800 kA, n104=1.0,
B=5.4 T, RF setup as described above, and right gap fixed at approximately
15 mm, with fixed X-point geometry.

We will first touch base with results from 1000511 run (left gap scan: 2.0,
1.0, 0.3 cm). The threshold powers will be determined.

Then, we'll run discharge on the inner wall and effectively push the left gap
to negative values, again looking for the effect on threshold power.

If time permits, we will explore the effect of varying the right gap on the
threshold power.

Run Summary

The run started auspiciously with two duds on the first two shots. These were
mainly due to a low fill pressure (0.045 - 0.05 mT), even though the pulse
length was 20-22 msec. After increasing up to 26 msec, the fill pressure rose
to about 0.065 mT and normal breakdown and startup were obtained. Thereafter,
there was no further problem with breakdown, although two fizzles were
encountered. These fizzles seem to have more to do with the EF4 current than
fill pressure, although the fill pressure can be used to control the rate of
ramp of the current relative to that of the EF field.

Unfortunately the RF did not perform reliably today, which gave difficulty
in reaching the goals of the run plan. Thus shots 4-11 were programmed
identically but failed to produce good data because of RF trips. In retrospect
at least part of the RF problem was due to setting the right gap to 1 cm,
which has presented coupling problems in the past. In shot 12, the
right gap was increased by 0.5 cm, and the RF responded favorably, although the
plasma remained disruptive. After shot 12, there was a brief power interruption
which caused the UPS to cut in. The delay caused by this event lasted over
1 hour. Shot 13 was then a no-power shot, and plasma operation resumed with
shot 14, which ran normally except without the magnetics data. For shot
15, the inner gap was supposed to be reduced from 1.5 to 0.5 cm, but the PO
blundered and actually increased the gap by 1 cm instead. This error was
corrected by S. Wolfe, who took over for R. Parker for the remainder of the
run. Shot 16 ran with the desired inner gap and shot 17 was setup for
the inner gap =0. The discharge ran, but disrupted. The settings for shot
18 were tweaked in an effort to improve startup and limited operation, but alas
shot 18 was a fizzle. On further inspection, Steve noticed that EF1U was not
following its demand, a pathology that was also observed yesterday. Trying to
compensate for this with EF4 probably led to the fizzle. After engineering
inspection and some tweaking of a pot, EF1U behaved and the rest of the shots
(19-21) at least started up normally. Shot 20 was full length, but without
H-mode, and shots 19 and 21 disrupted. A small bug was found in the clearin
program waveform, namely setting a point at -0.00000 causes it to disappear.
This is easily avoided by adding a nonzero digit after several zeros, but
should be fixed.

Overall a disappointing run: 21 shots, 2 duds, 2 fizzles, 1 no power, and
8 disruptions.


Session Leader Comments
Jun 27 2000 09:00:09:780AM1000627003Spencer Pitcherright gap too large >>>>>> reduce next shot
no H-mode
Jun 27 2000 09:33:39:670AM1000627004Spencer Pitchergaps are reasonable
RF problem....no H-mode
Jun 27 2000 09:34:03:937AM1000627005Spencer PitcherRF a little ratty
H-mode
lgap = 1.4 cm
Jun 27 2000 10:52:28:607AM1000627006Spencer PitcherRF problem
no H-mode
lgap = 1.4 cm
Jun 27 2000 10:52:46:547AM1000627007Spencer Pitcherno plasma
Jun 27 2000 10:53:01:840AM1000627008Spencer Pitcherno H-mode
Jun 27 2000 10:53:17:153AM1000627009Spencer Pitcherno H-mode
Jun 27 2000 01:53:19:467PM1000627010Spencer Pitcherno H-mode
Jun 27 2000 01:53:29:310PM1000627011Spencer Pitcherno H-mode
Jun 27 2000 01:53:51:747PM1000627012Spencer Pitcherincrease right gap to rgap = 1.5 cm
H-mode!...faults stopped on D antenna!
clearly we should not have reduced the right gap before!
Jun 27 2000 02:00:31:983PM1000627013Spencer Pitcherno plasma
Jun 27 2000 01:54:41:390PM1000627014Spencer PitcherH-mode!
problem with RF power signals
Jun 27 2000 01:55:38:263PM1000627015Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = 0.5 cm
(actually, it looks like we attempted to increase lgap)
disrupt t = 0.45 s
Jun 27 2000 02:44:27:000PM1000627016Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = 0.5 cm
good shot H-mode
problem with RF signals
Jun 27 2000 02:44:51:827PM1000627017Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
no H-mode
problem with RF signals
estimated max RF power was 2.0 MW
Jun 27 2000 04:05:21:403PM1000627018Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
no plasma

RF signals for shots 14-17 now look fixed
Jun 27 2000 04:05:34:420PM1000627019Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = 0.0 cm
H-mode!

RF signals suspect!
Jun 27 2000 04:05:53:000PM1000627020Spencer Pitcherreduce lgap....lgap = -0.5 cm
no H-mode!

RF signals suspect!
Jun 27 2000 04:06:17:827PM1000627021Spencer Pitcherlgap = -0.5 cm
no H-mode!

RF signals suspect!

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 27 2000 08:18:36:140AM1000627001Ron Parker
Shot 1 was a dud. Startup settings were the same as 100062601.
The gas pressure was a little low (~.045 mT) and will be increased for the next shot.
Jun 27 2000 08:33:58:607AM1000627002Ron Parker
Shot 2 was also a dud -- pressure may be still too low, although it was increased
to 0.05 mT. The pulse gas duration will be increased by 4 ms on the next shot. Also
BR offset (-.0002 T) will be eliminated.
Jun 27 2000 08:57:35:750AM1000627003Ron ParkerShot 3 finally ran, with initial fill ~0.06 mT. However, it disrupted
at ~ 1.15 s. In the next shot, the right gap, which was 2.2 cm, will be reduced
toward 1 cm. This will be done by holding the inner gap constant at ~ 1.5 cm and
increasing RCUR by 7 mm.

Pulsed gas width decreased for next shot from 27 to 25 ms.
Jun 27 2000 09:14:34:937AM1000627004Ron Parker
Shot 4 ran as programmed. The initial fill pressure is drifting up and was
~ 0.07 mT for this shot. The fill pulse width will be reduced by 2 more msec for the
next shot. Also there was a 3-4 mm drift in the right gap, which we will try to compensate
for on next shot. There was a pretty strong Marfe during current rise, which we'll try
to mitigate by reducing rate of density rise.

Next Shot: repeat with above changes.
Jun 27 2000 09:33:08:750AM1000627005Ron ParkerShot 5 ran well, with the early Marfe mitigated and right gap stabilized.
No change for next shot (except -1 msec on gas pulse width) so RF can tune.
E port seems to be OK but D is tripping out.

Jun 27 2000 10:03:34:717AM1000627006Ron ParkerShot 6 ran well, no changes for next shot.
Jun 27 2000 10:11:19:340AM1000627007Ron ParkerShot 7 was a fizzle due to late ( 8 msec) breakdown.
Next shot: same thing, but increase pressure (2 ms on width) and go to
1290 on EF4 (from 1280)
Jun 27 2000 10:26:43:340AM1000627008Ron ParkerShot 8 came back. Today, the pressure seems to want to be
> 0.06 mT. RF (D port) still having problems and there will be
no changes for next shot.
Jun 27 2000 10:59:38:483AM1000627009Ron ParkerShot 9 ran well, but breakdown became late (no apparent reason).
Slightly less (-1295 to -1290 A) on EF4, otherwise no changes for next shot.
Jun 27 2000 11:35:49:340AM1000627010Ron ParkerShot 10 ran well, except it disrupted. Still problems with RF. No changes for next shot.
Jun 27 2000 11:33:24:607AM1000627011Ron ParkerShot 11 ran well, except it disrupted again.
For next shot, right gap will be increased by ~ 5mm.
Jun 27 2000 11:54:36:107AM1000627012Ron ParkerShot 12 ran as programmed, but again disrupted.
Shortly after the shot, there was a brief interuption of power with transfer to
the UPS (at ~ 11:45).
Jun 27 2000 01:03:02:577PM1000627013Ron ParkerDelay lasted ~ 1hour. We will rerun last shot to reestablish plasmas.
This was a no power shot. Repeat shot on shot 14.
Jun 27 2000 01:37:01:653PM1000627014Ron Parker
Shot 14 ran well, even after the long delay, but no magnetics.

For next shot, the inner gap will be reduced by 1 cm (from 1.5 to 0.5 cm). The right gap
will be held at the same value (RCUR decreased by 0.5 cm).
Jun 27 2000 03:58:58:700PM1000627015Ron ParkerFor this shot, the inner gap was reduced by 1 cm and RCUR was reduced by 5 mm, thus the outer
gap should have stayed constant.

Steve Wolfe takes over as PO.
Jun 27 2000 02:04:13:000PM1000627016Steve Wolfewolfe taking over for parker.
Thanks for the disruption Ron!

Looks like the previous adjustment went the wrong way.
Clearin to -.022, rcur to .661
drop pre-puff by 1msec

plasma, full length, but rf faulted. got an h-mode at 0.8sec
left gap~ 6-7mm, right gap~1.8cm
Jun 27 2000 02:29:20:013PM1000627017Steve Wolfeshot 17: go for zero left gap
clearin more negative by 7mm, reduce early times by 8mm
rcur more negative by 3mm
breakdown was a little late on 16, but leave it for now

disruption at 1.17sec, no h-mode.
looks like an injection 1.098sec
left gap between .4 and 0cm, right gap around 2cm

next shot, try for better limited before .8 sec, a little smaller outer gao.
Jun 27 2000 02:58:30:390PM1000627018Steve Wolfeshot 18: 2mm more negative on clearin before .8sec,
1mm more POSITIVE on rcur
icef4 from -1297->-1305; 1msec less pre-puff.
I'm tempted to make Br0 more positive, but leave it for now

fizzle. Did I tweak too soon?
early bd 5.3ms, faster current rise 45kA@15msec.
Bz may now be too negative.
Raise the fill 2msec and repeat
Wait, EF1U is not following its demand again.
Less bad than yesterday, maybe 50V of lossage, but it isn't quite making it to current


Jun 27 2000 03:19:18:797PM1000627019Steve Wolfeshot 19:It looks like the EF1U problem was worse on 17 than on 18.
I'm going to assume they have fixed it, and put the ef4 back to -1297.
leave increase in gas by 2ms.

disrupted, 0.8sec
h-mode at .77sec, lgap and dsep ~0.00

next shot, try for -1cm

Jun 27 2000 04:06:05:577PM1000627019Steve WolfeThere seems to be a corrupted point in the clearin trace in
segment 2 on shot #19. The plasma ran ok, but I was unable to
edit the clearin trace for the next shot.

The symptom is a gap in the trace when displayed in all-p's or
edit_wire. I also see invalid arithmetic op in the decterm output,
so it may have a NaN in it.
Jun 27 2000 04:39:34:903PM1000627019Steve WolfeOn shot 19, I accidentally put in a spurious point at time .792 of "-0.0" in
the CLEARIN trace.
This seems to have been interpreted 'correctly' by the waveform generator,
and caused the plasma to come off the wall, which was observed just before
the disruption. The RF power and other signals also responded, as noted by CSP,
before the putative H-mode transition on this shot.

Apparently the -0 bug that Josh thought he had fixed is still there in PCS,
and this is why I subsequently had a gap in the waveform.
Jun 27 2000 03:47:59:483PM1000627020Steve Wolfeshot 20: Something wrong in the PCS CLEARIN trace. Can't change values
with add. Reload from 1000627019. Same problem, it shows up as a gap in
the waveform.

quit pcs and start again. Still there, something is corrupted.
reload from shot 17 and try to fix up

clearin to -.041, rcur from .659(on 19) to .657
dnb will fire, reduce puff to 18msec

plasma, (it's a miracle!). Full length, no h-mode
dsep =-1, right gap ~2.3cm
Jun 27 2000 04:03:30:500PM1000627021Steve Wolfeshot 21: Move rcur out 2mm to .659, zxu from .058 to .04
I don't see the dnb puff, set pre-puff back to 21msec

disrupted, 1.3sec. no h-mode. right gap at 1.9cm, may have still been too big.
D faulted, max power of 1.5MW.
Elongation did not increase, dsep around -0.8cm

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
108:03:10:670AMPlasmaOk
208:21:53:390AMPlasmaOk
308:38:24:607AMPlasmaOk
408:57:36:170AMPlasmaOk
509:17:32:903AMPlasmaOk
609:37:53:340AMPlasmaOk
710:00:00:810AMPlasmaOk
810:16:28:903AMPlasmaOk
910:37:19:077AMPlasmaOk
1010:58:47:090AMPlasmaOk
1111:19:47:123AMPlasmaOk
1211:40:23:327AMPlasmaOk
1312:53:10:077PMPlasmaBadIgor failure during Init, shot cont'd without power
1401:14:51:623PMPlasmaOk
1501:41:58:543PMPlasmaBadOH1 Self Powered Circuit Fired
1601:58:37:310PMPlasmaOk
1702:21:33:590PMPlasmaOk
1802:44:23:750PMPlasmaOk
1903:13:09:780PMPlasmaOk
2003:36:18:030PMPlasmaOk
2103:55:39:107PMPlasmaOk