Alcator C-Mod Run 930727 Information

Back to runs

Miniproposals
Miniproposal:011
Date Filed: 7/13/1993
Title:Investigation of the Effects of Rapid Gas Puffing
First Author:Jim Irby
Session Leader:Tom Luke (shots 1-30)

Operators
Session leader(s):Tom Luke
Physics operator(s):Earl Marmar
Engineering operator(s):Vinny Bertolino

Engineering Operator Run Comment
fast gas valve

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:070PM
Author: To Be Determined
The purpose of this run was to accomplish the tasks set out in MP011:
the study of the effects of gas puffing. Namely, we wish to examine the
sensitivity of the TCI to perturbations in density and to investigate the charac
teristics of the new gas valve on A-side. To do this we hoped to establish a
consistent baseline shot and puff gas out of the new valve as perturbations.
We would then vary the duration, amplitude and frequency of the puffs.

As stated by Earl Marmar in the run summary, we did not have many good
shots during the run. In total, we had 8 shots that had a sustained plasma. Of
these 7 can be associated with the experiment. We prefilled the machine with
B-Side Upper and puffed through A-Side. We didn't vary the amplitude of the
puffs (i.e. max voltage to the piezovalve was a constant 100 V) but we did
vary the pulse duration and the number of puffs. We found that the time
reponse of the plasma to the valve is about 20 ms;
we see the density start to rise 20 ms after we open the valve.
On shot 19, we opened the valve from 0V to 100 V directly. The
pulse was nominally 40 ms long. However, because we were starting with
zero offset, it was effectively a shorter pulse and its effect unnoticeable.
A better way to run the valve is to put an initial DC level of 35V before
opening. On latter shots we put this offset on to get a faster valve response.

The first few shots had one puff of varying lengths. The duration of
the pulses were as follows: Shot 19 ( 40 ms but no 35 V offset),
shot 21 ( 60 ms), shot 23 (20 ms), shot 24 ( 30 ms).
It is clear that the 60 ms pulse was too big and lead to small disruptions
and a final one at 305 ms. The 20 and 30 ms pulses were fine and are clearly
seen in the density and H-alpha signals.

Shots 25, 27, 29, were attempts to puff in 2 pulses of varying lengths.
In shot 25 the pulses were 30 ms each and resulted in a disruption. The second
puff puts more gas in than the first. We therefore shortened the second puff
to 20 ms and then 15 ms. 20 ms was still too long but 15 ms was ok.

Overall, the run made good progress to achieving the goals of the MP.
Even though we didn't get to vary the puff amplitude and increase
puff frequency further, this is a good start to doing some transport measurement
s. We can continue to piggyback on other experiments (ex. on Wednesday we
got several shots with gas puffs) and hopefully we can fill in the gaps in our
data.


Physics Operator Summaries

Session Leader Comments
Jul 27 1993 07:57:43:490AMTom LukeSession leader: Thomas Luke, Physics Operator: Earl Marmar, Engineer: Vince Bertolino.
Today's run follows mainly Miniproposal 011. The goal is to examine the sensitivity of
the two color interferometer to density perturbations and to characterize a new gas
valve on A-Side. We will initially try to establish a good baseline shot with a current
flattop ot 300-400 kA of greater than 200 ms duration. The line integrated density signals
should be smoothly rising during this flattop. Gas puffs will then be introduced to
perturb the density . Variation of the puff amplitude, duration and frequency will
be varied.

Jul 27 1993 09:28:42:850AM930727001Tom LukeFirst shot. We will reproduce shot 16 from July 23. Minor changes . Gas fill is at -6 ms
instead of -10 ms. Inversion time is .5 s instead of .45 s. Fill pressure is 1.6E-5 torr and
there is no argon nor EFC.

Jul 27 1993 09:37:58:910AM930727001Tom LukeFirst shot. We will reproduce shot 16 from July 23. Minor changes . Gas fill is at -6 ms
instead of -10 ms on B-Side upper. Inversion time is .5 s instead of .45 s. Fill pressure is 1.6E-5 torr and
there is no argon nor EFC. Fizzle. Didn't have any of the OH's.

Jul 27 1993 10:02:30:860AM930727002Tom LukeTry Again. We will reproduce shot 16 from July 23. Minor changes . Gas fill is at -6 ms
instead of -10 ms on B-Side upper. Eliminate gas fill at .8 s and .25 s ( quneching pulse).
Inversion time is .5 s instead of .45 s. Fill pressure is 1.6E-5 torr and
there is no argon. EFC is back. Flash and got all the power supplies but only 10 kA of
plasma current. Slight radial field due to to current mismatch in upper and lower OH2's.

Jul 27 1993 10:13:13:720AM930727003Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727002. Fizzle. Flash but no current.

Jul 27 1993 10:13:22:150AM930727003Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727002. Fizzle. Flash but no current.

Jul 27 1993 10:28:45:660AM930727004Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727003 but with lower fill pressure 1.4e-5. Fizzle.

Jul 27 1993 10:37:07:640AM930727005Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727003 but with lower fill pressure 1.2e-5. Fizzle with flash.

Jul 27 1993 10:58:23:420AM930727006Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727004 but with lower fill pressure 1.0e-5. Changed EF2 lower from 1700 A
to 1650 A . No flash at all.

Jul 27 1993 11:10:48:290AM930727007Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727006. Fill pressure back to 1.2e-5. Changed BR programming
from 8.5 mT to 8.0mT. The flash is back.

Jul 27 1993 11:22:52:580AM930727008Tom LukeTry Again. Same as 930727007. Undo change in EF2 back to 1700 A in EF2 lower.
Flash but no plasma.

Jul 27 1993 11:33:49:640AM930727009Tom LukeSwitch to 930723036. Fill pressure at 1.2e-5. Timing of pulsed gas is back to -10 ms
and later pulses in the gas pulse have been eliminated. Flash but no plasma

Jul 27 1993 11:49:25:660AM930727010Tom LukeSame as shot 9 except we are lowering BR demand by 1 mT. Same fill pressure.
About the same. Flash but no plasma. Plasma seems to have broken down 1 ms earlier.

Jul 27 1993 12:05:53:670PM930727011Tom LukeSame as shot 10 except lowered OH2 voltage demand by 20 V from 0. Same fill
pressure. Didn't help.

Jul 27 1993 12:17:20:470PM930727012Tom LukeMove EF3 slightly earlier by 2 ms. Fill pressure is still 1.2e-5. Flash again but no plasma
again. Broke down later ( couple of ms)

Jul 27 1993 12:29:14:510PM930727012Tom LukeAdd back 1 mT to BR demand. No flash.

Jul 27 1993 12:49:09:830PM930727014Tom LukeIncrease EF4 by 30 A to give you an increase of 2 mT in Bz. Flash

Jul 27 1993 01:09:20:890PM930727014Tom LukeLower OH2 by another 10 V. Same. Flash but no plasma.

Jul 27 1993 01:12:57:830PM930727015Tom Luke Same flash.

Jul 27 1993 01:12:31:130PM930727016Tom LukeChanged EF4 current by another 30 to increase Bz. NO change in fill pressure. Same
flash.

Jul 27 1993 01:32:19:090PM930727017Tom Luke Drop fill to 1.0e-5. Got a plasma. 400 kA. HARD X-rays at the end of the shot.
Density is 4.0e19 m-2.

Jul 27 1993 01:45:56:420PM930727018Tom LukeSame background as last shot. Puff at 200 ms from A-Side. ( 20 ms duration,
100 V height). Fizzle.

Jul 27 1993 02:01:10:210PM930727019Tom LukeChange the duration of the gas puff to 40 ms at 200 ms. Height is still 100 V. Fill pressure
lowered to 9e-6. Got plasma. 4E19 density. No noticeable rise at 200 ms from puff.

Jul 27 1993 02:11:52:030PM930727019Tom LukeAdded 100 A on EF2 lower to pull the plasma down. Change the duration of the gas puff to
60 ms at 180 ms. Height is still 100 V. Put 35V pedestal from 30 ms to start opening valve.
Fill pressure lowered to 8.5e-6. Add Argon puff at 50 ms ( width of 10 ms and 80 V high)
Fizzle.

Jul 27 1993 02:14:44:850PM930727020Tom Luke100 A on EF2 were added at 100 ms so shouldn't have affected the initial breakdown.

Jul 27 1993 02:33:08:070PM930727021Tom LukeRepeat of shot 20. Argon valve was not open. Got plasma. 8e19 density on inside channels
Definitely saw the rise after 200 ms from the pulse. Disrupted at 300 ms.

Jul 27 1993 02:34:11:770PM930727022Tom LukePut puff of 20 ms duration at 180 ms. Turned argon valve on. Fizzle.

Jul 27 1993 03:01:33:580PM930727023Tom LukeSame as shot 22 but EF2 has extra 100 A after 100 ms. This is an attempt to move the
plasma by 1 cm. Lowered fill pressure to 8.0E-6. There is a 35 V DC offset at 30 ms to
start the valve. There was plasma . Pulse is not noticeable on the z_meter.

Jul 27 1993 03:46:38:020PM930727024Tom LukeFill pressure down to 7.5e-6. Argon pulse increased 1ms in length. Gas puff is now 30 ms
long starting at 180 ms. EF2 has a has a 100 ms uptick of 200 A added at 300 ms. Got
plasma and see pulse clearly on the H-alpha. Pulse shows up clearly on the density signals.

Jul 27 1993 04:04:03:770PM930727025Tom LukePut in 2 30 ms puffs at 180 and 233 ms. On EF2 lower current comes up at 200 ms rather
than 300 ms. Wire4(Z_cur) pid gain set to 5 at 30 ms. No change in the fill pressure.
Got plasma. First puff is the same as shot 24 but the second puff is too big and disrupts
the plasma at 265 ms. Can definitely see the 2 separate rises.

Jul 27 1993 04:12:14:730PM930727026Tom LukePut in 30 ms puffs at 180 and 20 ms at 233 ms. Argon is earlier . Fill was the
same at 7.5e-6. Dud. No Flash.

Jul 27 1993 04:31:05:230PM930727027Tom LukeIdentical to shot 26 except fill has been raised to 8.0e-6. Got plasma. Clearly see
the 2 pulses and it begins to disrupt after 250 ms. Final disruption at 360 ms.

Jul 27 1993 04:35:12:340PM930727028Tom LukePut in 2 pulses. Shorten first pulse to 25 ms starting at 180 ms and put second puff of 15 ms
at 225 ms. Shot was a dud. No flash

Jul 27 1993 04:50:09:200PM930727029Tom LukeSame as shot 28. Raise fill pressure to 8.3e-6. Got plasma. See puffs on H-alpha and
on all the density traces. No disruption from the puffs.

Jul 27 1993 04:54:59:400PM930727030Tom LukeTurned off the puffs and put fill pressure at 8.0e-6. Scanning probe is set to see
plasma at 350 ms. Dud no flash.

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:27:46:660AMPlasmaOkno pf switches closed
209:42:55:310AMPlasmaOkno faults -- plasma
310:04:30:460AMPlasmaOkno faults
410:19:31:170AMPlasmaOkno faults
510:34:16:940AMPlasmaOkno faults
610:46:22:930AMPlasmaOkno faults
711:01:34:460AMPlasmaOkno faults
811:15:43:910AMPlasmaOkno faults
911:27:37:310AMPlasmaOkno faults
1011:42:03:010AMPlasmaOkno faults
1111:53:52:660AMPlasmaOkno faults
1212:09:58:510PMPlasmaOkno faults
1312:21:33:520PMPlasmaOkno faults
1412:37:37:550PMPlasmaOkno faults
1512:52:30:440PMPlasmaOkno faults
1601:08:46:630PMPlasmaOkno faults
1701:24:11:580PMPlasmaOkno faults -- good plasma shot finally
1801:38:30:410PMPlasmaOkno faults
1901:52:27:060PMPlasmaOkno faults
2002:07:34:100PMPlasmaOkno faults
2102:18:51:840PMPlasmaOkno faults
2202:29:04:660PMPlasmaOkno faults
2302:43:42:760PMPlasmaOkno faults
2403:07:48:580PMPlasmaOkno faults
2503:52:22:830PMPlasmaOkno faults
2604:04:30:720PMPlasmaOkno faults
2704:17:23:780PMPlasmaOkno faults
2804:30:09:580PMPlasmaOkno faults
2904:39:38:610PMPlasmaOkno faults
3004:52:17:150PMPlasmaOkno faults