Alcator C-Mod Run 1050629 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:417
Date Filed: 2/24/2005
Title:Plasma performance, boronization and ICRF heating effectiveness with high-Z antenna guards and all-m
First Author:Yijun Lin
Session Leader:Bruce Lipschultz (shots 1-33)

Operators
Session leader(s):Bruce Lipschultz
Physics operator(s):Jim Irby
Engineering operator(s):Andy Pfeiffer,Ed Fitzgerald,Gary Dekow,Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP 417: Boronization Evaluation Session leader: Lipschultz Physics opera

Session Leader Plans
Entered: Jun 29 2005 08:58:22:647AM
Author: Bruce Lipschultz
MP 417: 'Plasma performance, boronization and ICRF heating effectiveness with high-Z antenna guards and all-metal walls'

Boronization:

scan from 50 to 80 cm with dwell at 52 cm
use standard amount of diborane (120 psi)
4 hours Helium ECDC at 5e-5 Torr following boronization
1 hour of D2 ECDC at 2e-4 Torr following Helium ECDC

Start with reload of shot 1050620025 - modulo nl04 =0.8, outer gap > 1.5 cm

1) Initial shots all USN - try to make sure the strike point varies with time. Up to 12 shots. RF pulselength ~ 0.5 s unless longer pulses need to condition. Monitor core Mo and Ti for comparison to later shots.

2) When the RF is up to power (min 3 MW, but better up to 4) then switch to LSN, a shot like 1050622014. Check the strike point location. If too constant move it. Take 3-5 shots to evaluate performance. May request a full power on pulse with rf dropping from max to 1.5 MW after 0.5 seconds to evaluate confinement at different powers.

3) Move strike point down vertical plate shot to shot, looking for any changes in Mo sources and core Mo levels. Eventually end on the floor but still sweeping across the floor in time.

4) If the boronization is 'no good', switch to salt shaker evaluation.

Diagnostics:

NINJA and Chromex needed right away on 486nm, switching to 405 for upper null shot and for most LSN shots.
PCI with extended window of measurement for information on QC mode 'intensity' and frequency band width.
McPherson on Mo & Ti
gate valves closed unless an issue.

Physics Operators Plans
Entered: Jun 28 2005 01:15:02:793PM
Author: Jim Irby
Engineering setup for Wednesday, 29 June 2005

MP 417: Boronization Evaluation

Session leader: Lipschultz
Physics operator: Irby

Boronization:

scan from 50 to 80 cm with dwell at 52 cm
use standard amount of diborane (120 psi)
4 hours Helium ECDC at 5e-5 Torr following boronization
1 hour of D2 ECDC at 2e-4 Torr following Helium ECDC

Run begins at 09:00 and ends at 17:00.

Engineering setup as on 1050620025

The gatevalves should be setup to toggle closed --- bypass at 160 clicks

A-coil configuration: normal [+Dtop -Dbot -Jtop +Jbot] and enabled.

Gas Setup:
fill B-Top with 6 psi D2 Hybrid enabled (PG4)
fill B-side lower with 2 psi Ar Hybrid disabled (PG1)
leave B-side upper alone
fill B-main (C-side) with 40 psi D2 Hybrid enabled (PG3)

fill NINJA with 10 psi D2

Enable the following gate valves: ECE, VUV, Z-bolo shutters

ICRF Setup: All transmitters in run on at 8:30

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jun 29 2005 06:26:21:667PM
Author: Bruce Lipschultz
MP#417 'Plasma performance, boronization and ICRF heating effectiveness with high-Z antenna guards and all-metal walls'

The day was generally successful. We had difficulty getting going. The first half of the day was spent trying to get past fizzles, duds, and injections.

The second half of the day was very successful in that we achieved very steady state H-modes - some wwith H-factors in the 1.7-1.8 range.

Results:

- The RF appeared to condition up more quickly than usual (opinion of Wukitch and Lipschultz). We did the conditioning at nl04=0.8e20.

- The ramp on the rf power did appear to help both in terms of impurities and getting the RF up to full power without faults.

- Slightly smaller outer gap and higher density increased the reliability of the RF power (reduced faults) by lowering the antenna voltage.

- the slightly higher density (nl04=1.2 as opposed to nl04=1.0) led to a dramatic drop in total radiation and Mo radiation. For example from shot 22 to 23 the density went up from 1. to 1.2 and the Mo radiation dropped by a factor of 2. The total radiation (foil array) dropped from 1.5 to 1.0 MW, so not as much as the Mo. I note that the radiation on shot 23 rose much slower than on 22 as well.

- Raising the density before H-mode even more had no deleterious effect. Shot 25 actually had slightly higher stored energy than shot 23 but had the initial density of 1.4 (nl04).

- Adding Ar did seem to lead to degradation in confinement and increases in radiation. Shots 26 - 27 followed a great shot (25) and were much poorer. Shots 28 & 30, after the Ar was turned off, were better, although not quite all the way back to 25 (same density). Injections took time to recover from.

- QC modes were observed in all H-mode shots with pre-H-mode densities >=1. The QC characteristics (intensity, width of the QC peak) should be correlated with 'goodness' of H-mode.

- The boronization of just the divertor was similar to that obtained on 6/22 and 6/10 for similar densities. Namely, the H-modes were generally not so steady state (e.g. shot 17). Shot 19 was at nl04 =1 and the confinement was H slightly > 1. Unfortunately, we have not done a density scan on those previous post-boronization days. Generally it would seem we should be aiming our operation to higher density. This may be helpful in keeping the Mo down by affecting the transport (the pedestal) and/or the source. Given the pumpout of impurities today it appeared that impurity confinement times were of order 100 ms (e.g. shot 24). This seems short and beneficial.

- After the impurities pump out, following an injection, the stored energy still needs at least a confinement time to recover - e.g. shot 24.

- strike point on the floor does not seem to be very good for impurities or confinement - e.g. shots 15, 31 & 33. This may be due to the fact that moving the x-pt in to get the strike point on the floor leads to more interaction with the inner divertor nose. Some intermediate step should be tried.

- Strike point in USN had a lower than ususal H mode threshold (as low as 2.3 MW total power was seen) today. The H-modes appeared to be ELM-free but we did not try higer density and so we do not know whether the confinement might have rivaled LSN. I note that shot 14 had high H factor ~ 2 - 2.2. So this should be explored further.

To do

- We need to do more with the strike point position, taking into account the interaction with the inner nose. USN plasmas at high density are needed. It would be good to repeat one of the previous boronizations (e.g. outer limiter but full boronization time) and look at confinement at higher densities.

- Analyze QC mode characteristics for today (and other post-boronization runs) for correlation with H-mode characteristics.

- Since these good confinement shots are at higher density (before H-mode) than years ago we need to compare both the final and pre-H--mode densities with those achieved years ago. Also compare the midplane and divertor pressures. Aside - certainly the compression ratios are lower now and we could look at fixing this during the next break.

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jun 29 2005 06:01:24:153PM
Author: Jim Irby
Boronization recovery was not easy today. It took several tries to get the pressure right by shot 4 which finally ran (upper null discharge). The nl_04 request was 8e19/m^2 but the density continued to rise to 1.3e20/m^2. It took two more discharges and a couple of fizzles to gain density control (after shot 8). A couple of disruptions also helped remove some gas. The prefill pressure continued to rise during a large fraction of the run and I had to drop it on most shots, eventually working my way down to an 18 to 20 ms pulse. The rf antennas conditioned pretty quickly in an upper null configuration. When we went to lower null discharges and raised the density to 1.2e20/m^2 we began to get very good sustained h-modes with Wp of up to 203 kJ.

Engineering systems were very reliable today and most problems can be blamed on the physics operator.

Session Leader Comments
Jun 29 2005 09:25:16:877AM1050629001Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 09:43:40:040AM1050629002Bruce Lipschultzdud
Jun 29 2005 10:10:15:727AM1050629003Bruce Lipschultzdud
Jun 29 2005 10:11:45:790AM1050629004Bruce LipschultzGot USN plasma. Density ramping up with no gas injection.
Got very little power.
Next shot we hope the density is lower.
Jun 29 2005 10:17:13:070AM1050629005Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 10:37:34:580AM1050629006Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 10:55:43:957AM1050629007Bruce LipschultzAnother USN plasma. More RF power - 1.5 MW. Density rising beyond our control.
The midplane pressure is steadily rising after the RF start. The upper divertor pressure exactly tracks the midplane pressure. It should be higher (USN) indicating that the gas is generated at the midplane - even though we did not boroniza the antennas!
Jun 29 2005 11:21:10:690AM1050629008Bruce LipschultzAnother USN plasma. More RF power - 2.5 MW. Plasma disrupted at ~ 1.3 seconds. It appears we had 2 major injections at 1.15 and at the end.
Jun 29 2005 11:47:42:020AM1050629010Bruce LipschultzDisruption again due to an injection. Had an early injection as well at .12s.
Jun 29 2005 12:05:33:280PM1050629011Bruce LipschultzHad an early injection again but the plasma made it. Plasma goes into H-mode at 2.5 MW ehich causes E port antenna to trip.
Jun 29 2005 12:22:06:397PM1050629012Bruce LipschultzEarly injection again but smaller. Large injection at 0.9s kills the plasma.
Jun 29 2005 12:33:19:410PM1050629013Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 12:45:06:607PM1050629014Bruce LipschultzOK last shot at USN. 2 H-modes. First 166 kJ at 2.5 MW (H-factor >2). Second H-mode of 155 kJ at the same power (H~2). Each H-mode ended by radiation.
Jun 29 2005 01:23:32:577PM1050629015Bruce LipschultzLSN H mode. Strike point down in the slot. 130 kJ at 2.5 MW RF so poorer confinement (H ~ 1.3). Radiation was not high for this case! Next shot to strike point on outer divertor.

Poor confinement with low radiation.
Jun 29 2005 01:19:46:450PM1050629016Bruce LipschultzLSN H mode. Strike point on the outer divertor. 130 kJ at 2.5 MW RF with numerous injections. Best shot so far USN H-mode.
Jun 29 2005 01:50:17:140PM1050629018Bruce LipschultzLSN H mode. Strike point on the outer divertor. 160 kJ at 3 MW until injection kills it. H factor ~ 1.5. Very little or no QC modes according to PCI.
Jun 29 2005 02:17:04:123PM1050629019Bruce Lipschultznl04 changed to 1.0. Fairly steady state H-mode with 3 MW RF. Stored energy and confinement drop as radiation rises. SOme QC mode 0.9 - 1.2 sec according to PCI.
Jun 29 2005 02:18:02:717PM1050629020Bruce Lipschultznl04=1 before H-mode.
Changed the outer gap by 2 mm to increase the loading on the RF and decrease voltages (less trips is the hope). This seems to have helped.
Fairly steady state H-mode again with 3 MW RF. Stored energy drops slightly from 163-153 kJ. H-factor comes down to 1.4. SOme QC mode 0.85 - 1.2 sec according to PCI.
Jun 29 2005 02:47:35:403PM1050629021Bruce LipschultzVery steady state H-mode again with 3.3 MW RF. Got QC mode the entire time. Ramped down the power starting at 1.2 s. The stored energy of course comes down (along with the radiation) but the H-factor, which had been very constant at 1.4, comes down too.

Jun 29 2005 02:48:44:747PM1050629022Bruce LipschultzAnother very steady state H-mode again 3.3 MW RF. Got QC mode the entire time. Very constant H-factor at 1.4.
Jun 29 2005 03:05:50:543PM1050629023Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.2 target density. Density drops to 1.0 when the RF comes on - RF pumpout.
Stored energy =195 kJ. H=1.7. P_RF=3.7MW.
So higher density lowers the radiated power and allows better confinement.
Again, we get dropping H-factirs as the RF power is ramped down.
Jun 29 2005 03:22:46:993PM1050629024Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.2 target density. Density drops to 1.1 when the RF comes on - RF pumpout.
An early injection takes till 1.1 s to pump out. The energy rises at the same time. The H-factor rises more slowly reaching 194 kJ and H=1.7. A final injection (Mo) knocks it out of H-mode.
Jun 29 2005 03:30:32:977PM1050629025Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.4 target density. Density deos not drop when the RF comes on - No RF pumpout.
Radiated power about the same.
Stored energy over 200 kJ and H~ 1.8.
Jun 29 2005 03:44:17:493PM1050629026Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.4 target density. An initial injection keeps the confinement down. But this time it does not recover. So an aaexample of poor confinement with low radiated power. Note that the Ar was turnd on this shot by the radiated power late in the shot was low so it should not be a factor.
Jun 29 2005 04:10:49:383PM1050629027Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.2 target density. Radiation higher, stored energy lower (155 kJ) and H factor lower - 1.35. Repeat again without Ar.
Jun 29 2005 04:16:18:053PM1050629028Bruce Lipschultznl04 =1.2 target density. No Ar puff. Radiation dropped back a bit (1.25 MW), stored energy higher (180 kJ) and H factor higher - 1.55. Repeat again to see if the stored energy goes back up again.
Jun 29 2005 04:35:20:820PM1050629029Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 04:46:06:570PM1050629030Bruce Lipschultznl04 ~ 1.2. Radiation dropping through shot after initial injection and stored energy appraching 175 kJ. Need loonger shot. Next shot strike point on the floor.
Jun 29 2005 05:14:54:180PM1050629032Bruce Lipschultzfizzle
Jun 29 2005 05:16:17:100PM1050629033Bruce LipschultzLSN with strike point in the slot again (by accident). Radiation high and confinement poor.

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 29 2005 09:22:24:287AM1050629001Jim Irbyloaded shot 1050620029 into PCS --- upper null shot enabled in seg 3
loaded shot 1050628031 into seg 1
adjusted density to 0.8e20 / m^2

pg1 (argon) should be disabled, but I also dropped request to 10 from 100 V

I have asked that the RGA be online for the first shot, but we could lose the filament very soon.

fizzle ---

breakdown early compared to yesterday, but in fact more normal --- broad h-alpha spike --- no burn out

very low CIII signal

pressure good, fields look good
Jun 29 2005 09:40:58:440AM1050629002Jim IrbyDropped prefill from 26 to 24 ms

dud!

gas now too low
Jun 29 2005 09:53:45:767AM1050629003Jim Irbyprefill to 27 ms

dud again ---
Jun 29 2005 10:11:31:087AM1050629004Jim Irbyprefill increased another 2 ms to 30

plasma at last

slow but uneventful current rise

density not under control --- got to 1.4e20
NINJA makes small blip at 0.7 s

1.5 MW injection at 1.2 s or so, otherwise prad < 200 kW

ssep 1.5 to 1.0

right gap a little large, around 1.6 to 1.7 cm

left gap good at 1.5 cm

h/(h+d) between 0 and 2%

polarimeter NL looks great.

BIII up a factor of 3 relative to yesterday, but much higher density
Jun 29 2005 10:20:12:090AM1050629005Jim Irbyno DCPS changes

fizzle --- I'm sure this was predictable

pressure too high now?

fields are good
Jun 29 2005 10:37:16:360AM1050629006Jim Irbyprefill reduced by 1 ms

back to shot 4 prefill pressure but it was a fizzle


Jun 29 2005 11:12:57:300AM1050629007Jim IrbyNo DPCS changes

plasma into rampdown

polarimeter Bragg cell was off --- water cooling issue, should be okay now

still no density control --- density slightly less on this shot
gas valve off at 0.4 s, but density continues to rise

cell entry to tune up TCI --- should be better




Jun 29 2005 11:26:36:877AM1050629008Jim Irbyno DCPS changes

plasma for 1.37 s --- then big injection

density much more under control

breakdown a littler earlier --- Br0 drifting down a little shot to shot
Bz0 looks great

still no polarimeter CO2 signal --- Bragg cell again




Jun 29 2005 11:36:16:690AM1050629009Jim Irbyno DCPS changes

fizzle --- didn't reduce pressure after the disruption

pressure was high, breakdown later

firewire camera timing off today


Jun 29 2005 11:51:43:050AM1050629010Jim Irbyno DCPS changes

another disruption at 0.8125 s

injections at 120 ms and right before disruption


Jun 29 2005 12:11:01:480PM1050629011Jim Irbyreduced prefill by 1 ms to account for disruption (I hope)

plasma into rampdown

still early injections (Matt says Ti) --- dust seen on j-port camera

BIII signal coming down

polarimeter signal back, but more noisy??


Jun 29 2005 12:18:54:993PM1050629012Jim Irbyno DPCS changes

plasma for 0.912 s, rf up to 3 MW, then injection

density rise begins with application of Rf

gatevalve toggling enabled --- 160 clicks on bypass

pressure high, but still went okay (gatevalves)


Jun 29 2005 12:29:43:473PM1050629013Jim Irbyprefill decreased another ms to account for disruption and gatevalves

fizzle

pressure way too high!


Jun 29 2005 12:42:27:950PM1050629014Jim Irbyreduced prefill by 2 ms

plasma into rampdown

165 kJ at 2.5 MW

2.2 MW prad
Jun 29 2005 01:01:34:183PM1050629015Jim Irbysegment 3 off, segment 2 on: LSN, 1 MA

reduced prefill by 1 ms

lsn plasma into rampdown

srike-point in slot --- will load 1060622014 for next shot
Jun 29 2005 01:18:10:590PM1050629016Jim Irbyloaded shot 1050622014
loaded seg 1 from 1050629015
prefill reduced another ms (23 ms total)

plasma into rampdown

126 kJ

gaps okay
Jun 29 2005 01:33:24:233PM1050629017Jim Irbyprefill reduced another ms --- 21 ms

plasma into rampdown

RF to 3.25 MW for 155 kJ


Jun 29 2005 01:46:17:747PM1050629018Jim Irbyreduced prefill by 1 ms

plasma for .961 s

160 kJ at 3.3 MW right before disruption


Jun 29 2005 02:02:21:747PM1050629019Jim Irbychecked that a-coils are running and they are

nl04 request to 1e20 / m^2

reduced prefill by 1 ms

plasma into rampdown --- single extended h-mode

144 kJ for 3.1 MW, 1.77 MW on prad_main

nice polarimeter NL


Jun 29 2005 02:19:39:327PM1050629020Jim Irbyincreased RCUR a little starting around 0.7 s

reduced prefill by 1 ms

plasma into rampdown --- a little hesitation in current rise; gas too low at last

163 kJ for 3.1 MW, nice long eda h-mode

h/(h+d) 3 to 4%


Jun 29 2005 02:25:37:733PM1050629021Jim Irbyno DPCS changes

plasma into rampdown

163 kJ for 3.2 MW
Jun 29 2005 02:43:01:013PM1050629022Jim Irbyrcur increased by 0.5 mm

plasma into rampdown

did decrease right gap a little

nice long h-mode with constant stored energy

164 kJ for 3.3 MW, 1.4 MW prad_main


Jun 29 2005 03:00:49:937PM1050629023Jim Irbynl04 request to 1.2e20 / m^2

plasma into rampdown

195 kJ, 3.6 MW, 1 MW prad_main, nice constant Wp
Jun 29 2005 03:14:41:497PM1050629024Jim Irbyno DPCS changes

plasma into rampdown

j-port trips but still got to 195 kJ at 3.5 MW

injection at 1.37 s
Jun 29 2005 03:34:39:350PM1050629025Jim Irbynl_04 request to 1.4e20 / m^2

plasma into rampdown

nice steady h-mode again

203 kJ, 3.6 MW, rad about 1 MW

Jun 29 2005 03:41:44:053PM1050629026Jim Irbyargon enabled from 300 to 345 ms

IGT at 4e-6 in check

plasma into rampdown

139 kJ, neutral rate way down, injections


Jun 29 2005 03:58:27:290PM1050629027Jim Irbynl_04 request back down to 1.2e20 /m^2

plasma into rampdown

148 kJ, clean 3.7 MW of rf, but 1.5 MW of radiation


Jun 29 2005 04:13:50:710PM1050629028Jim Irbydisabled argon --- otherwise repeat

IGT 5.6e-6 in check

plasma into rampdown

parameters look much better
Jun 29 2005 04:22:36:087PM1050629029Jim Irbyreduced gas puff by 2 ms -- no other changes
see if we can get back to 200 kJ

IGT at check 4.0e-6

fizzle --- gas too low, fields good


Jun 29 2005 04:42:15:913PM1050629030Jim Irbyprefill increased by 2 ms (where we were on shot 28)

3.1e-6 Torr at pulse

plasma into rampdown


higher radiated power early, only 175 kJ
Jun 29 2005 04:54:53:273PM1050629031Jim Irbychanged RXL to be the same as 1050629015 --- should put us on the floor

IGT in check 4.4e-6 Torr

plasma to 1.15 s


Jun 29 2005 05:05:21:007PM1050629032Jim Irbyloaded shot 14 seg 3 into seg 3 (upper null shot)
increased rcur by 1.5 m
reduced prefill by 1 ms (disruption control)

fizzle
Jun 29 2005 05:21:10:337PM1050629033Jim Irbyef4 from -1285 to -1320 A

didn't turn on seg 3 to get the upper null!!

disruption at 1.14 --- still in the slot


Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:16:51:947AMPlasmaOk
209:30:21:250AMPlasmaOk
309:44:46:010AMPlasmaOk
409:57:28:847AMPlasmaOk
510:12:27:400AMPlasmaOk
610:25:12:763AMPlasmaOk
710:38:05:563AMPlasmaOk
811:11:05:487AMPlasmaOk
911:25:01:143AMPlasmaOk
1011:37:34:940AMPlasmaOk
1111:55:01:433AMPlasmaOk
1212:11:00:510PMPlasmaOk
1312:23:41:833PMPlasmaOk
1412:36:39:750PMPlasmaOk
1512:52:40:450PMPlasmaOk
1601:09:49:260PMPlasmaOk
1701:23:16:763PMPlasmaOk
1801:36:12:187PMPlasmaOk
1901:49:54:967PMPlasmaOk
2002:05:31:030PMPlasmaOk
2102:18:23:123PMPlasmaOk
2202:31:54:857PMPlasmaOk
2302:48:01:780PMPlasmaOk
2403:04:43:687PMPlasmaOk
2503:20:16:150PMPlasmaOk
2603:35:50:180PMPlasmaOk
2703:49:51:587PMPlasmaOk
2804:02:23:790PMPlasmaOk
2904:17:52:993PMPlasmaOk
3004:30:28:257PMPlasmaOk
3104:44:53:337PMPlasmaOk
3204:58:40:243PMPlasmaOk
3305:11:56:290PMPlasmaOk