Alcator C-Mod Run 1020625 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:298a
Date Filed: 5/20/2002
Title:C-Mod Plasma Startup
First Author:Jim Irby
Session Leader:Jim Irby (shots 1-27)

Operators
Session leader(s):Jim Irby
Physics operator(s):Joseph Snipes
Engineering operator(s):Bill Cochran,Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP 298A, Plasma Conditioning; PO: Snipes; SL: Irby; EO:Dekow/Cochran

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:28:803PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Summary for 1020625 Plasma Startup

PO: Snipes
EO: Cochran/Dekow
SL: Irby

We had no duds today indicating at least to me that the sparker is
neccessary to produce "reliable" fizzles. On the other hand, fixing
flux loop 25 was neccessary to produce plasmas. There is no indication
that argon in the prepuff does us any good at all. It was turned off
early in the run without affecting plasma startup.

We continued development of the double null configuration today with
very good results. Plasmas with triangularites of 0.8 were produced and
used to help cleanup the machine. The carbon II levels are now
very low, however the H-to-D levels are still very high. Since we are
turning off all gas puffs beyond 200 ms, the high H-to-D is probably
a result of low D rather than high H. We will run some higher density
shots during the next run to help verify this assumption. Even without
an external gas souce, the density continues to rise throughout the
shot (peaking at 6-7e19/m^2). As the machine cleans up, we should
eventually observe falling densities even from this low starting point.

On shot 26 we enabled the new pumping stack "gatevalve closed in
PULSE" feature. The pumping stack gatevalves closed as expected, but
unfortunately diagnostic valves closed also. The pressure rose to
about 4 mTorr after the shot. Some interesting things were going on
with the b-bottom, e-bottom, and e-top gauges during this shot that Brian
may want to look at. Since the TCI gatevalve closed in PULSE, the
density feedback turned the gas full on until 200 ms. So this shot
will not be easy to compare with shots under density control. The
4 mTorr pressure with a 4000 l volume indicates about 16 Torr-l of
gas was produced during the shot. Our gas valve injected about
60 Torr-l/s * 0.200 s or 12 Torr-l of gas; very approximately, indicating
about a 4 Torr-l wall inventory.

During ECDC following the run mass 3, 28, 32, among others were a factor
of 2 or 3 higher than after run 1020624, possibly indicating we were
moving material around the machine during our first cleanup attempts.

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:14:910PM
Author: To Be Determined
Engineering Setup for Tuesday, JUNE 25, 2002

Continuation of MP 298A
SL: Irby
PO: Snipes


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 1020621025
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 will attempt breakdown without the sparker using argon prepuffs as on
1020621025. If successful, we will continue plasma conditioning and develop
higher triangularity and double null equilibria. If clearly unsuccessful, we
may abandon plasma operation and do DNB into gas tests for MSE calibration
similar to 1010720012 or install a new sparker.

Summary: There were a number of computer problems, some subtle flux loop 25
discrepancies, and some density feedback problems, but we still managed to get
8 good plasmas. When the density worked, we got nice full length plasmas
with little or no disruptions much to Granetz' dismay. We succeeded in getting
very high triangularity double null plasmas with upper and lower
triangularities > 0.8 and kappa > 1.8. Good shots were 2, 16-18, 21, 24-26.
It seems that more gas was needed than last year with an optimum around 30 ms
duration prepuff.

Shot 1: Loaded shot 1020621025 with 0.04 s prepuff of Argon at -0.5 s
together with a similar D
prepuff. Fizzle!
Shot 2: Reduced Br0 from 1 mT to 0.5 mT. Good shot ramped all the way down.
Shot 3: Increased triangularity by moving RXL and RXU to the left (more
negative) by 1 cm. Fizzle!
Shot 4: Br0 and Bz were too negative on shot 3 for some reason. So, I've
returned Br0 to 1 mT and increased EF4 from -1311 A to -1280 A at
breakdown. Fizzle again!
Shot 5: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and it seems I slightly
overshot the desired Bz so I've reduced EF4 to -1295 A.
Shot 6: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and reduced EF4 to -1320 A.
Fizzle!
Shot 7: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 2.0 mT. Reduced prepuff from 40 ms
to 25 ms on both the argon and deuterium valves. Fizzle!
Shot 8: Reduced EF4 to -1340 A. Fizzle!
Shot 9: Reduced Br0 by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and turned off argon. Fizzle!
Shot 10: Reduced Br0 by another 0.5 mT to 1.0 mT. Fizzle!
Shot 11: Raised prepuff to 34 ms duration deuterium only. Increased Br0 by 1 mT
to 2.0 mT. Fizzle!
Shot 12: Raised EF4 current to -1310 A. Fizzle!
Shot 13: Raised Br0 by another mT to 3 mT and increased prepuff back to 40 ms
duration. Fizzle!
Shot 14: Reduced Br0 to 1.5 mT and increased EF4 to -1295 A. Dud! No gas!
Shot 15: Fizzle again.
Shot 16: Reduced EF4 current to -1310 A. Good shot. Got high triangularity
with a brief double null at 1.42 s.
Shot 17: Reduced prepuff to 28 ms duration. Increased lower triangularity
by reducing RXL by 1 cm to -2 cm. Also put in an outward ramp in RXU
to compensate for the increasing triangularity late in the shot.
Computer hang up but otherwise a nice full length shot. Some data
lost.
Shot 18: Try again with a slight change in the RXU ramp to increase the upper
triangularity a bit more. Good shot again ramps all the way down.
Shot 19: Reduced nl04 to 3 x 10^19 m^-2 after 0.5 s. Reduced ZXU by 1 cm down
to 2.0 cm during the flattop to increase the upper triangularity.
Computer hang up. No fields.
Shot 20: Fizzle!
Shot 21: Increased prepuff to 34 ms duration and reduced EF4 current to -1325 A.
Good shot. Upper triangularity 0.86, lower triangularity 0.82,
elongation 1.83 in double null briefly.
Shot 22: Density feedback failed causing large amounts of gas to enter the
plasma and a disruption at 0.38 s.
Shot 23: Density feedback turned off after 0.2 s to avoid another gas problem.
Fizzle!
Shot 24: Density feedback still off after 0.2 s to avoid another gas problem.
Reduced prepuff to 25 ms duration. Good shot.
Shot 25: Repeat. Good shot.
Shot 26: Repeat with the main pump gate valves staying closed after the pulse
to look for how much gas evolves from the walls by following the
neutral pressure gauges. Good shot despite the fact that the gate
valves closed on all diagnostics during the shot so the density
feedback failed again, but only until 0.2 s since the feedback was
turned off afterward.
Shot 27: Raised ZCUR to 0.01 to make an upper null plasma with high
triangularity. Fizzle!


Session Leader Comments
Jun 25 2002 09:11:22:310AMJim IrbyThis run will be a continuation of 298A

. continue vessel cleanup
. continue development of upper null configuration
. vacuum conditioning of j-port antenna if possible
Jun 25 2002 09:24:51:877AM1020625001Jim IrbyFizzle

Jun 25 2002 09:33:38:483AM1020625002Jim IrbyPlasma into rampdown

Looks like sparker is working

Problems with interferometer

H-to-D did not function on this or the last shot

Carbon at .004
Jun 25 2002 09:55:59:270AM1020625003Jim Irbyfizzle

Jun 25 2002 10:24:50:220AM1020625004Jim Irbyfizzle

Earl found power supply problem with H/D camac

Jun 25 2002 10:39:02:053AM1020625006Jim IrbyEarl has fixed H/D

Fizzle

CII is .004

Lost Earl's power supply again
Jun 25 2002 11:04:37:687AM1020625007Jim IrbyJoe reduced gas significantly, both Ar and D2.

Strong fizzle
Jun 25 2002 11:29:08:787AM1020625009Jim IrbyStong fizzle with bounce w/o argon.
Jun 25 2002 11:47:31:690AM1020625010Jim IrbyAnother fizzle.

Jun 25 2002 02:24:15:853PM1020625016Jim IrbyVery nice plasma with high triangularity

H to D high at 48% at end of shot

Carbon very low .002

Jun 25 2002 02:26:40:310PM1020625017Jim IrbyAnother good plasma, but lost some of the data

H-to-D 50%

Jun 25 2002 03:09:20:733PM1020625019Jim IrbyVery nice discharge

H-to-D 50 to 60% ---
Jun 25 2002 03:20:54:767PM1020625021Jim IrbyGood plasma

H-to-D 50 to 70%

Density still rising during shot
Jun 25 2002 03:56:51:370PM1020625022Jim IrbyLost plasma because of density feedback problem

High density at end with corresponding low H-to-D
Jun 25 2002 04:09:56:687PM1020625023Jim IrbyFizzle -- CII way up at .015 following last disruption
Jun 25 2002 04:38:40:107PM1020625024Jim IrbyGood shot. No gas after .2 s per programming

H-to-D very high 50 to 90%

Jun 25 2002 04:58:21:563PM1020625026Jim IrbyEabled gatevalve closure on PULSE.

Got the pressure data, but the diagnostic gatevalves also closed in pulse.

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 25 2002 08:45:24:220AMJoseph SnipesEngineering Setup for Tuesday, JUNE 25, 2002

Continuation of MP 298A
SL: Irby
PO: Snipes


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 1020621025
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 will attempt breakdown without the sparker using argon prepuffs as on
1020621025. If successful, we will continue plasma conditioning and develop
higher triangularity and double null equilibria. If clearly unsuccessful, we
may abandon plasma operation and do DNB into gas tests for MSE calibration
similar to 1010720012 or install a new sparker.

Jun 25 2002 08:46:47:267AMJoseph SnipesHybrid initialized O.K.
rtnode -- data loaded, A matrix responds
rtnode -- data loaded, M matrix responds
rtnode -- data loaded, PID matrix responds
RT_NODE Done
25-JUN-2002 08:37:47.11 doing TCL command TYPE *************** END COL
Jun 25 2002 08:52:32:450AM1020625001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Loaded shot 1020621025 with 0.04 s prepuff of Argon at -0.5 s together with a similar D
prepuff.
Jun 25 2002 09:34:52:440AM1020625001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 09:35:26:783AM1020625002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Reduced Br0 from 1 mT to 0.5 mT. Good shot ramped all the way down.
Jun 25 2002 09:40:44:307AM1020625003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Increased triangularity by moving RXL and RXU to the left (more
negative) by 1 cm. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 09:59:29:447AM1020625004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Br0 and Bz were too negative on shot 3 for some reason. So, I've
returned Br0 to 1 mT and increased EF4 from -1311 A to -1280 A at
breakdown. Fizzle again!
Jun 25 2002 10:18:05:177AM1020625005Joseph SnipesShot 5: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and it seems I slightly
overshot the desired Bz so I've reduced EF4 to -1295 A. No fields
due to computer hang up.
Jun 25 2002 10:27:13:223AM1020625006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and reduced EF4 to -1320 A.
Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 11:02:00:853AM1020625007Joseph SnipesShot 7: Increased Br0 again by 0.5 mT to 2.0 mT. Reduced prepuff from 40 ms
to 25 ms on both the argon and deuterium valves. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 11:15:30:797AM1020625008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Reduced EF4 to -1340 A. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 11:23:46:980AM1020625009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Reduced Br0 by 0.5 mT to 1.5 mT and turned off argon. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 11:38:57:537AM1020625010Joseph SnipesShot 10: Reduced Br0 by another 0.5 mT to 1.0 mT. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 12:02:43:463PM1020625011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Raised prepuff to 34 ms duration deuterium only. Increased Br0 by 1 mT
to 2.0 mT. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 12:07:03:203PM1020625012Joseph SnipesShot 12: Raised EF4 current to -1310 A. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 12:24:11:247PM1020625013Joseph SnipesShot 13: Raised Br0 by another mT to 3 mT and increased prepuff back to 40 ms
duration. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 12:53:24:387PM1020625014Joseph SnipesShot 14: Reduced Br0 to 1.5 mT and increased EF4 to -1295 A. Dud! No gas!
Jun 25 2002 01:05:59:500PM1020625015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Fizzle again.
Jun 25 2002 01:33:59:900PM1020625016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Reduced EF4 current to -1310 A. Good shot. Got high triangularity with
a brief double null at 1.42 s.
Jun 25 2002 02:25:42:057PM1020625017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Reduced prepuff to 28 ms duration. Increased lower triangularity
by reducing RXL by 1 cm to -2 cm. Also put in an outward ramp in RXU
to compensate for the increasing triangularity late in the shot.
Computer hang up but otherwise a nice full length shot. Some data lost.

Jun 25 2002 02:34:26:523PM1020625018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Try again with a slight change in the RXU ramp to increase the upper
triangularity a bit more. Good shot again ramps all the way down.
Jun 25 2002 03:08:53:860PM1020625019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Reduced nl04 to 3 x 10^19 m^-2 after 0.5 s. Reduced ZXU by 1 cm down
to 2.0 cm during the flattop to increase the upper triangularity.
Computer hang up. No fields.


Jun 25 2002 03:09:13:827PM1020625020Joseph SnipesShot 20: Fizzle!

Jun 25 2002 03:47:23:607PM1020625021Joseph SnipesShot 21: Increased prepuff to 34 ms duration and reduced EF4 current to -1325 A.
Good shot. Upper triangularity 0.86, lower triangularity 0.82,
elongation 1.83 in double null briefly.

Jun 25 2002 03:56:04:133PM1020625022Joseph SnipesShot 22: Density feedback failed causing large amounts of gas to enter the
plasma and a disruption at 0.38 s.
Jun 25 2002 04:03:13:880PM1020625023Joseph SnipesShot 23: Density feedback turned off after 0.2 s to avoid another gas problem.
Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 04:41:05:343PM1020625024Joseph SnipesShot 24: Density feedback still off after 0.2 s to avoid another gas problem.
Reduced prepuff to 25 ms duration. Good shot.
Jun 25 2002 04:42:43:550PM1020625025Joseph SnipesShot 25: Repeat. Good shot.
Jun 25 2002 04:56:56:577PM1020625026Joseph SnipesShot 26: Repeat with the main pump gate valves staying closed after the pulse
to look for how much gas evolves from the walls by following the
neutral pressure gauges. Good shot despite the fact that the gate
valves closed on all diagnostics during the shot so the density
feedback failed again, but only until 0.2 s since the feedback was
turned off afterward.
Jun 25 2002 05:05:42:560PM1020625027Joseph SnipesShot 27: Raised ZCUR to 0.01 to make an upper null plasma with high
triangularity. Fizzle!
Jun 25 2002 05:17:44:390PM1020625027Joseph SnipesSummary: There were a number of computer problems, some subtle flux loop 25
discrepancies, and some density feedback problems, but we still managed to get
8 good plasmas. When the density worked, we got nice full length plasmas
with little or no disruptions much to Granetz' dismay. We succeeded in getting
very high triangularity double null plasmas with upper and lower
triangularities > 0.8 and kappa > 1.8. Good shots were 2, 16-18, 21, 24-26.
It seems that more gas was needed than last year with an optimum around 30 ms
duration prepuff.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:07:05:070AMPlasmaOk
209:19:54:917AMPlasmaOk
309:39:25:103AMPlasmaOk
409:56:47:787AMPlasmaOk
510:10:49:430AMTestBad
610:25:26:737AMPlasmaOk
710:49:16:943AMPlasmaOk
811:04:51:610AMPlasmaOk
911:18:58:210AMPlasmaOk
1011:35:54:703AMPlasmaOk
1111:49:27:067AMPlasmaOk
1212:03:52:620PMPlasmaOk
1312:18:32:363PMPlasmaBadPF Breaker Opened
1412:47:06:110PMPlasmaOk
1501:02:51:307PMPlasmaOk
1601:23:53:620PMPlasmaOk
1702:01:07:037PMPlasmaOk
1802:25:55:980PMPlasmaOk
2002:56:08:387PMPlasmaOk
2103:11:44:707PMPlasmaOk
2203:29:41:983PMPlasmaOk
2303:56:32:917PMPlasmaOk
2404:09:40:047PMPlasmaOk
2504:28:19:200PMPlasmaOk
2604:48:47:763PMPlasmaOk
2705:02:54:290PMPlasmaOk