Alcator C-Mod Run 930722 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Ian Hutchinson (shots 1-26)

Operators
Session leader(s):Ian Hutchinson
Physics operator(s):Steve Fairfax
Engineering operator(s):David Gwinn

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Increase OH precharge for more volt seconds.

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:070PM
Author: To Be Determined
Summary of Run of 22 Jul 93 I.H.H.

26 shots total. 8 plasma. 11 fizzles, Various tuning and power supply
faults.

The purpose of the run was partially accomplished.
Plasma initiation was obtained at flux precharge of about 1.25 VS,
nominally 1.5 times the previous value. No attempt was made to proceed
to the higher (times 2) precharge because it was belatedly decided
that the MOVs were not safe enough at the required OH2 current.
Therefore some time was spent on increasing the plasma current.

The first 11 shots were tuning. 12 was a runaway including gettering.
Thereafter rather typical irreproducibility was experienced: about 50%
success.

The successful shots are fairly typical in most respects. It is
clearly not significantly more difficult to get these plasmas to go at
this precharge than at the lower value. However we have not solved the
reproducibility problems for these lower voltage, seriesed EF3
startups.

It is evident from the flux reconstructions that some, at least, of
the irreproducibility is caused by power-supplies. For all plasma shots
today, the OH1 was run with only 1 cabinet because the oscillations
that appear due to the OH1/OH2 interaction have not been fixed,
despite the correction of the regulator oscillation problem that was
done yesterday by lowering its gain.

With only 1 OH1 cabinet, 300Hz oscillations due to the power-supply
phasing are all too evident on the currents and fields. These are
potentially sufficient to cause the problems we have seen, although
they are not yet proven to be the problem. However, it is becoming
very clear that

IT IS URGENT TO FIX THE OH SUPPLY OSCILLATION PROBLEMS

A new current record of 0.44MA was obtained. Pushing the current up was
hampered by the observation that the R-position controller was not
performing as expected. When the demand from the feedback was large,
the voltage applied to OH2 was out of proportion to the OH1 (and EF3).
This had the effect of producing some strongly D-shaped plasmas with
the x-points on the inner wall.

It is not understood why we now find better performance with the
nominal OH1 gain 10 times higher than that on OH2. The first guess at
the right ratio is something like the turns ratio, which is
approximately 5 to 1. The present controller works OK and indeed quite
well during a steady flat top but does not succeed in maintaining as
good a position control as we would like during the current ramp. It
would perhaps be fine if there were a painless way to copy the
previous voltage into the voltage program. At the moment, we fear to
do this automatically because the whole time history gets replaced,
not just some selected time.

It is recommended that shot 26 be used as a basis for future discharge
development. It has low elongation and a q of about 4.



Physics Operator Summaries

Session Leader Comments
Jul 22 1993 08:55:33:620AMSteve FairfaxThe session leader is Ian Hutchinson. Physics Assistant is Fairfax. Engineering Operator
is Gwinn. Fridberg on power systems, Orvosh on state, Sorci on Aux. systems.
This run is devoted to Ian Hutchinson's Mini-Proposal 003, raise Plasma Initiation with
greater OH precharge. The OH prechage currents will be raised in two steps. The first
step will be approximately 1.5x the present "standard" precharge. The OH1 current will
be increased from 11.1 to 16.6 kA, the OH2 from 14.8 to 22.2, and the EF1 from 3.2 to
14.8. The commutation resistors have been lowered to keep the plasma initiation
voltage approximately constant.

The initial plan was to then raise the currents to 2x the initial levels, but this would
result in currents of 29.5 kA in OH2U. The varistor protection networks for OH2, will
designed for 50 kA, have only 25 kA installed capacity as an economy measure. The
Engineering Operator (Gwinn) strongly recommends against exceeding the rating.

Jul 22 1993 09:11:29:220AM930722001Steve FairfaxFill pressure set 1.4e-5.

No pulse. Acknowledge failure in engineering control system blocked start pulse to
timing highway. This interlock had been disabled for some time and was re-enabled
last night. The interlock is designed to block a pulse of any of the engineering PLC/PC
systems fail to acknowledge the transition from CHECK to PULSE state in 2 seconds.
The engineering operator has elected to disable the interlock again and monitor the
system to determine which PLC/PC is not acknowledging the transition.

Nitrogen event after the shot. Base pressure did not change significantly, but partial
pressure of 28 peak increased an order of magnitude. The AUX systems operator shut
off the LN2 pump almost immediately and the partial pressure of 28 quickly dropped.
No increase in the He peak was observed.

Jul 22 1993 09:29:02:090AM930722002Steve FairfaxNo hybrid. It appears that MDS-Plus maintenance set most of the nodes to /noinclude
last night for testing, then forgot to turn the nodes back on. The hybrid was not
included in the pulse file, along with most of the diagnostic nodes.

Jul 22 1993 09:45:01:640AM930722003Steve FairfaxHybrid OK now, but EF2s did not fire. EF2 switch was fired when there was no voltage
available.

Jul 22 1993 09:56:22:830AM930722004Steve FairfaxStill no EF2's. EF1L crowbar at +10 msec.

For shot 5, PID gain on EF4 raised from 2.5 to 5.0

Jul 22 1993 10:55:56:120AM930722005Steve FairfaxEF2 OK.

For shot 6, Raised the OH2 voltage to 20 V prior to commutation; also raised EF4
current to 1100 A

Jul 22 1993 11:02:20:740AM930722005Steve FairfaxEF2 OK.

For shot 6, Raised the OH2 voltage to 20 V prior to commutation; also raised EF4
current to 1100 A. Delayed the toroidal field by 150 msec.

Jul 22 1993 11:17:11:580AM930722006Steve FairfaxEF2 OK.

For shot 6, Raised the OH2 voltage to 20 V prior to commutation; also raised EF4
current to 1100 A. Delayed the toroidal field by 150 msec.

got closer but no flash.

Jul 22 1993 11:50:27:650AM930722007Steve Fairfaxincrease pid gain on ef2s from 1 to 2

got the flash.
still not reaching full voltage on ef2s

Jul 22 1993 12:11:19:640PM930722008Steve Fairfaxincreased ef2 voltage demands to 200V before commutation.

Got almost as much EF2 current as desired.
Flash; less than 10 kA plasma current.

Jul 22 1993 12:24:28:480PM930722008Steve FairfaxLowered EF4 to 1050 amps. Started EF3 1 second earlier.

No pulse. Init cycle seemed very short.

Jul 22 1993 12:43:49:220PM930722010Steve FairfaxLowered EF4 to 1050 amps. Started EF3 1 second earlier.

No pulse. Init cycle seemed very short.

This entry may be logged erroneously under shot 8 or shot 10.
Shot 9 was a dud; no power supplies fired at all due to a camac problem.
Apparently shot 9 did not meet the MDS-Plus standard for a shot.
Shot 10 is next.

Entry after shot 10:
Flash, 20 kA plasma current.

For shot 11:
Removed 100 point in OH1 V program at 6 msec
Raised Br demand from 7e-3 to 8e-3 Tesla

Jul 22 1993 12:58:46:400PM930722011Steve FairfaxNo flash on shot 11. Changes did pretty much exactly what was asked for.
Lack of flash on this shot is puzzling.
Moved EF4 S demand from 1050 to 1080 amps at commutation.

Jul 22 1993 01:18:22:820PM930722012Steve FairfaxShot 12. 180 kA runaway discharge.

For shot 13: Lower voltage on OH1 and OH2; added points just before commutation
and raised voltage demand 20 volts on OH2 and 80 volts on OH1

Jul 22 1993 01:20:08:390PM930722012Steve FairfaxShot 12. 180 kA runaway discharge.

For shot 13: Lower voltage on OH1 and OH2; added points just before commutation
and raised voltage demand 25 volts on OH2 and 70 volts on OH1

Jul 22 1993 01:37:03:300PM930722013Steve FairfaxShot 13: 370 kA for almost 400 msec. Very low elongation.
Low density; 4e19 for much of shot.
Shot 14 will be an attempt to repeat shot 13

Jul 22 1993 01:54:00:390PM930722014Steve FairfaxShot 14 very similar to shot 13.
For shot 15: Increased voltage drive to plasma using OH1, OH2 (decreased voltage prog)
Decrease current feedback demands on OH1 and OH2 after commutation.
Set Ip controller for 500 kA but PID gain still at 0.

Jul 22 1993 02:04:46:490PM930722015Steve FairfaxShot 15 was an early fizzle.
For shot 16: raised OH2 voltage program after commutation from 24 to 30 volts
raised OH1 voltage program after commutation from 70 to 100 volts

Jul 22 1993 02:28:23:760PM930722016Steve FairfaxShot 16: New plasma current record: 410 kA
Major position excursion at 100-200 msec, divided opinion as to cause.

For shot 17:
Removed S demand pulse on EF2 (left over from earlier run's elongation experiments)
No other changes

Jul 22 1993 02:45:10:660PM930722017Steve FairfaxShot 17 was a fizzle.
No changes for shot 18

Jul 22 1993 03:03:19:920PM930722018Steve FairfaxShot 18 was a fizzle.
Several minutes delay trying to make changes for shot 19: PCS zoom, pan, etc broke.
Shot 19: Raised OH2 at commutation from 30 to 35 volts

Jul 22 1993 03:13:55:270PM930722019Steve FairfaxShot 19 was a fizzle.
For shot 20: Raised Br demand from 8 to 8.5 mTesla

Jul 22 1993 03:26:19:900PM930722020Steve FairfaxShot 20 was a fizzle.
For shot 21: Reduce OH1 Voltage program from +100 to +90 volts after commutation

Jul 22 1993 03:42:30:180PM930722021Steve FairfaxShot 21: 400 kA . Change is field structure is hard to see, but can't argue with results.
For shot 22: Move OH1 crowbar from 70 to 100 msec.
Change OH1 program to invert -600 volts from 72 to 98 msec
Reduce fill pressure from 1.4e-5 to 1.1e-5 Torr.

Jul 22 1993 03:58:46:210PM930722022Steve FairfaxShot 22: 390 kA
For shot 23: Increased step in OH2 from -50 to -60 volts at 60 msec (was 70 msec)
Increase EF3 voltage to 1000 volts at 100 msec

Jul 22 1993 04:19:11:240PM930722023Steve FairfaxShot 23 was a fizzle.

Changes for shot 24: Changed OH1 programming at 1 and 6 msec from 90 to 80 volts

Jul 22 1993 04:34:56:330PM930722024Steve FairfaxShot 24 430 kA. Radiated power >300 kW for much of shot.
Changes for shot 25: Changed OH2 gain in R_CUR controller from -2e-3 to -1e-3
Changed Prop. Gain in R_CUR PID from 1 to 2
Changed Deriv. Gain in R_CUR PID from .5 to 1

Jul 22 1993 04:55:47:980PM930722025Steve FairfaxShot 25: Fizzle
Changes for Shot 26: Move pulse gas from -5 mSec to -10 mSec

Jul 22 1993 05:01:59:340PM930722026Steve FairfaxShot 26: 440 kA
Field structure at beginning substantially different but why?
Position control with better; stays circular instead of elongating when position changes

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
108:57:00:510AMPlasmaBadack failure on state , no pulse
209:12:24:300AMPlasmaOkno pf comp.prob
309:30:45:160AMPlasmaOkno ef2
409:46:41:590AMTestBad
510:37:05:220AMPlasmaOkno breakdown
610:56:28:990AMPlasmaBadef1,oh1, fault ?
711:38:43:030AMTestBad
811:57:17:070AMTestBad
1012:28:36:570PMPlasmaOkbreakdown
1112:46:27:780PMPlasmaBadno bd
1201:01:24:300PMPlasmaOk
1301:20:57:730PMPlasmaOkgood
1401:38:08:710PMPlasmaOkgood shot 340 KA plasma current.
1501:54:37:520PMPlasmaOkGood shot
1602:05:40:750PMPlasmaOkgood shot 410 KA plasma current.
1702:28:43:540PMPlasmaOkGood shot plasma fizzled.
1802:45:38:660PMTestOkplasma shot no faults.
1903:06:07:400PMPlasmaOkNo faults plasma fizzled
2003:15:58:520PMPlasmaOkplasma shot no faults.
2103:28:35:330PMPlasmaOkPlasma shot no faults.
2203:43:56:880PMPlasmaOk390 ka
2304:03:11:690PMTestOkfizzle
2404:20:04:900PMPlasmaOkgood shot plasma current 435KA.
2504:36:58:190PMPlasmaOkfizzle
2604:49:53:100PMPlasmaOkrecord high plasma current!