Alcator C-Mod Run 1020621 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:298a
Date Filed: 5/20/2002
Title:C-Mod Plasma Startup
First Author:Jim Irby
Session Leader:Steve Wolfe (shots 1-25)

Operators
Session leader(s):Steve Wolfe
Physics operator(s):Ron Parker
Engineering operator(s):Ed Fitzgerald,Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Continuation of MP 298A, SL: Wolfe, PO: Parker, EO: Dekow/Fitzgerald

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:14:897PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physop Summary for Run 1020621

Engineering Setup for FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2002

Continuation of MP 298A
SL: Wolfe
PO: Parker


ECDC in D2 overnight, stopping 2 hours before the run

Run Begins at 9:00 and ends at 17:00

Power systems setup the same as for Shot 1020620002
Gas setup:

B-Top 6 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled (PG4)
B-side lower 1 psi Ar Hybrid Enabled (PG1)
B-side upper 10 psi D2 Hybrid DISABLED (PG2, for ECDC)
C-Side 30 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled (PG3)
J-Bottom leave as is

Enable the following gate valves, assuming no vacuum problems:

ECE, DNB

RF Setup:

None


RUN PLAN:

We'll continue startup/cleanup efforts

Run Summary

The objective was to continue startup and cleanup discharges. The first
shot after two power test shots was loaded from the previous day and it
ran perfectly. But then began a series of 9 shots which were either fizzles
or duds. As usual, each shot, or non-shot, was followed by a number of
small tweaks to the Bv, BR or fill pressure. Finally, Shot 13 again
ran perfectly. No obvious cause for the difficulty or for the unexpected
success on shot 13 could be identified. Once again there ensued a spate of
duds and fizzles. It was suspected that perhaps the shot had to end in 3
in order for it to run, but this did not prove to be the case as shot 23
was a dud. Finally, in desperation, a small amount of argon was added to the
prefill, the idea being that this would facilitate breakdown if not startup.
Somewhat surprisingly, it worked! Shot 25 again ran perfectly. Unfortunately
this was the last shot of the day so the breakdown-startup problem could not
be pursued further.

Clearly this was a very frustrating run with only 3 shots produced. The other
20 shots were either duds (8) or fizzles (12).

Peculiar is that the machine ran very well when the discharge "went". This
would suggest that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the internals.
One would expect a certain amount of trouble with succesive shots if the machine
is still dirty, which it probably is. But this would not explain the duds,
unless some electron attaching gas was produced. Also curious is that the
fill pressure for breakdown had to be relatively high,just over 1.e-4 T.

The funtioning of the sparker was called into question. It is not clear as of
this writing if the sparker was or was not functioning properly. It is in
process of being checked and should be available for the next run. Meanwhile,
the argon trick could be also exploited as a backup or supplement. The argon
injected on shot 25 was quite small, the fill pressure being 1 psi, compared to
6 psi of D2. The same pulse width (40 ms) was used for the two valves.



Session Leader Comments
Jun 21 2002 10:07:40:120AM1020621003Jim IrbyVery nice shot --- reload from last shot from yesterday
Still very high fill

H/D less than 30% during most of shot

Gas puff required to control density at a higher level than yesterday

Next shot Ron will reduce NL04 request to 5e19 from 7e19 /m^2
Jun 21 2002 10:13:58:720AM1020621004Jim IrbyFizzle

Carbon II level.005 --- not bad

Jun 21 2002 10:53:10:200AM1020621005Jim Irby10 minutes of ECDC at 2e-4 Torr D2 before shot --- bp at 1.1e-6 Torr before shot

Fizzle

Jun 21 2002 11:37:29:860AM1020621006Jim IrbyNo ECDC

Dud

Jun 21 2002 11:38:03:580AM1020621007Jim Irby10 minutes ECDC

Dud
Jun 21 2002 11:38:36:470AM1020621008Jim IrbyECDC

Dud
Jun 21 2002 12:47:54:607PM1020621011Jim IrbyDud
Jun 21 2002 01:47:55:970PM1020621012Jim IrbyJim's new camera at f-hor see first light.

Very late breakdown, 14 ms, with very little light seen on CII.
Jun 21 2002 01:54:54:770PM1020621013Jim IrbyNice plasma

No density control (at 5e19/m^2 request)

H/D 25%

CII .006
Jun 21 2002 01:52:38:520PM1020621014Jim IrbyFizzle
Jun 21 2002 02:17:14:187PM1020621015Jim IrbyDud

Ron will be going the other way on Bz0
Jun 21 2002 03:07:50:860PM1020621017Jim IrbyDud
Jun 21 2002 04:13:55:200PM1020621018Jim IrbyDud

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 21 2002 09:51:22:867AM1020621002Ron ParkerPlan for this run is to continue conditioning of machine.

Run start was delayed due to repair of OH2 Lower power supply, which had
faulted during the 1020620 run.

Shots 1 and 2 were test shots.
Jun 21 2002 10:12:37:827AM1020621003Ron Parker
This shot ran well. Due to operator error, the last shot from 1020620
was setup. This was a nearly double null shot.
Jun 21 2002 10:35:20:523AM1020621004Ron Parker
Shot 4 was a fizzle. This shot had been set up the same as shot 1020620009,
but with the density programmed waveform set at 0.5e20 m-3.

In the next shot, the inital settings will be the same as in shot 1020621003,
again with density at 0.5e20 m-3.
Jun 21 2002 10:40:38:337AM1020621005Ron ParkerShot 5 was also a fizzle.
Jun 21 2002 11:05:21:957AM1020621006Ron ParkerShot 6 was a dud. The fill pressure will be increased for the next shot.
Jun 21 2002 11:21:42:917AM1020621007Ron ParkerShot 7 was also a dud. Fill pressure was .09 mT.
Stray fields look fine. Next shot: Fill lowered to .07 mT.
Jun 21 2002 11:36:52:593AM1020621008Ron ParkerShot 8 was another dud. Bz has become slightly positive at 5 ms.
For next shot, we'll decrease EF4 current by 20 A (to -1340 A).
Jun 21 2002 11:53:55:397AM1020621009Ron ParkerShot 9 was another dud. The trimming of EF 4 curent by -20 A had
the desired effect -- BZ decreased by 1 mT. Both stray fields are
in the good breakdown/ startup range according to Jim's histogram.
For the next shot the pressure will be increased, to ~ 0.1 mT.
Jun 21 2002 12:19:11:000PM1020621010Ron ParkerProgress! Shot 10 was a fizzle, with the current reaching about 40 kA.
The fill pressure was 0.1 mT, quite high for normal operation. Stray fields
still seem to be well within the optimum ranges according to Jim's histogram.
JT is installing an H alpha camera to get better view in the machine during ECCD.
Jun 21 2002 12:42:20:510PM1020621011Ron ParkerShot 11 was a dud, same conditions as 10.

ECDC will be turned on to view inside vessel with JT's camera.
Jun 21 2002 01:29:46:153PM1020621012Ron ParkerShot 12 was a peculiar fizzle, late breakdown ~ 15 ms.
No sign of protusions from the camera. Bz at breakdown ~ 3 mT.
Next: Repeat shot with BR reduced from 1.5 to 1.0 mT.
Jun 21 2002 01:45:03:453PM1020621013Ron Parker
Shot 13 actually ran! Bz(0) was ~ +1 mT (most shots until this one
had slightly negative Bz. Also BR ~ - 1.25 mT (by design)
Jun 21 2002 01:55:13:070PM1020621014Ron ParkerShot 14 was a fizzle. Bz was slightly less by ~ 1mT than in previous shot.

Bz will be increased by 1 mT for shot 15.
Jun 21 2002 02:29:10:470PM1020621015Ron ParkerShot 15 was a dud -- so much for the higher Bz cure. On the next shot, we'll
go the other way on Bz to bracket the range of Bz for which we get breakdown.
Jun 21 2002 02:39:20:897PM1020621016Ron Parker
Shot 16 was a dud. EF 4 was set at 1360. We'll go back to the
settings in the last shot that ran, shot 13.
Jun 21 2002 02:59:49:077PM1020621017Ron Parker
Shot 17 was another dud. The stray fields are very nearly identical
to those in shot 13, which ran. It doesn't look like the stray fields
are the issue. We'll start a pressure scan, beginning at ~ 0.05 mT
with shot 18.
Jun 21 2002 03:13:45:350PM1020621018Ron Parker
Shot 18 was a dud. The fill pressure had been reduced to 0.05 mT.

For shot 19 the fill pressure will be set at ~ 0.075 mT.
Jun 21 2002 03:30:15:480PM1020621019Ron Parker
Shot 19 was another dud. The pressure will be set back to
the value in shot 013, i.e., 0.1 mT.
Jun 21 2002 03:49:22:003PM1020621020Ron ParkerAt last, a fizzle! Back to 0.1 mT.
For the next shot, we'll continue to increase the pressure. The
next setting will be 0.12 mT.
Jun 21 2002 04:13:12:307PM1020621021Ron Parker
Shot 21 was a very late breakdown fizzle.

Fill pressure was ~0.12 mT

Next shot, fill pressure will be ~0.11 mT
Jun 21 2002 04:31:22:840PM1020621022Ron Parker
Shot 22 again fizzled with late breakdown.
For next shot, gas set back to 40 ms and BR(0) set at .0005.

Jun 21 2002 04:54:07:917PM1020621023Ron ParkerShot 23 was a dud. For the next to last "shot", we'll reload segment 1 from
the last successful shot, shot 13.
Jun 21 2002 04:58:19:400PM1020621024Ron Parker
Shot 24 was another dud. We'll try a last shot with Ar added to the prefill to
help breakdown. Same waveform for Ar valve as used for the D2 prefill.
Jun 21 2002 05:07:00:493PM1020621025Ron ParkerShot 25 went! Ar help? Sparker working? ECDC off?

Tune in next week!

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:08:28:427AMTestOkCycle Test
209:37:44:987AMTestOkOH Supplies and Commutation Test
309:51:31:537AMPlasmaOk
410:06:42:263AMPlasmaOk
510:36:18:053AMPlasmaOk
610:51:47:153AMPlasmaOk
711:09:07:537AMPlasmaOk
811:29:06:683AMPlasmaOk
911:42:18:393AMPlasmaOk
1012:04:43:057PMPlasmaOk
1112:35:00:537PMPlasmaOk
1201:05:20:503PMPlasmaOk
1301:27:36:120PMPlasmaOk
1401:47:54:080PMPlasmaOk
1502:06:56:433PMPlasmaOk
1602:28:40:893PMPlasmaOk
1702:47:23:730PMPlasmaOk
1803:05:53:313PMPlasmaOk
1903:23:21:320PMPlasmaOk
2003:40:58:267PMPlasmaOk
2103:58:53:350PMPlasmaOk
2204:20:22:893PMPlasmaOk
2304:37:59:050PMPlasmaOk
2404:50:30:407PMPlasmaOk
2505:04:03:903PMPlasmaOk