Alcator C-Mod Run 930805 Information

Back to runs

Miniproposals
Miniproposal:014
Date Filed: 7/14/1993
Title:ICRF Antenna Loading Studies
First Author:Yuichi Takase
Session Leader:Yuichi Takase (shots 1-30)

Operators
Session leader(s):Yuichi Takase
Physics operator(s):Steve Horne
Engineering operator(s):Frank Silva,Vinny Bertolino

Engineering Operator Run Comment
bertolino/silva plasma

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:290PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run 930805000

Session Leader -- Takase
Physics -- Horne

The intent of this run was to begin RF loading experiments.
EFC cooling is broken so we couldn't run the chopper.

Results:


1) This run had only 3 fizzles -- no duds, and began with a string of 21 good shots.
I believe that the discharge cleaning and "bake" last night were responsible.
(As well as reliable power supplies.)

Here's Frank's description --

System baked overnight at 35 C., ECDC started at 05:00 with machine warm (no cooling). Imin
set to 1700 A, Imax set to 3800 A. EFc lower cooling only. Coil and Wall temp set to 10 C.
ecdc stopped at 07:30. full cooling started at 06:30.

2) The RF requirement was for a plasma at -2. cm with shape matched to the antenna.
We began with last shot of run 930804 with some minor tweaks. By adjusting
voltage programming in OH1 and OH2 and adding the EF2 to the Z_Cur controller,
by shot 11 we had a well-controlled plasma. One key seems to be the OH1 current.
When it goes to zero, the radial control changes, and typically the plasma moves
out. This causes the OH2 current to decrease (OH2 is included in the radial position
controller) and when it hits zero we loose vertical control and the shot dies.
The time at which we loose radial control was advanced from 360 msec (shot 18)
to 420 msec (shot 27) by a series of tweaks to oh1 and oh2 voltage programming.

3) Runs 930804 and 930805 show a much broader range of BZ vs IP for the first 30 msec, than
earlier runs. It looks like the magic wall conditioning allows a faster current ramp.

4) The cause of the fizzles seems to be some noxious effect of opening the pellet injector's
gate valve. Current opinion is that 1 - 2 10^(-6) of D2 comes in at -2 sec when the
valve opens. One fix would be to weld it shut.


Shot Gas Fill change nl Result
1 1.2e-5 1.5 Good
2 1.1 good
3 1.1 ef2 in z_cur good
4 1.1 +100 volt change
in oh1 voltage GOOD

5 1.1 +200 V oh1
late puff on GAS 3 good
more on GAS 2

6 more +v OH1 good
late puff on 3 later (.4 sec)
slightly less gas2


7 more OH2 current good
(voltage prog)

8 1.1 z controller ef2 from 3e-3 -> 5e-3
more early gas
oh2 v prog adjusted (glitch at .32?) good
Unstable plasma -- elongation too high.

9 1.2 less early gas
more negative oh2 V good
less negative oh1 V
RF at -.5 sec. good

10 more positive oh2 v
Loose vertical control when oh2 L dies. good

11 oh2 v +10 .2 to .3 good
Good control 0n R and Z

12 repeat good

13 move late puff on gas 3 later, shorter good

14 tweak oh1 V (+10v at .2)

15 extend r_cur pid past .5 sec good

16 Radial pos ramps in starting around
.35 sec ramps in. Possibly ef4?
Try tiny tweak to keep ef4 current up. good
No obvious effect.

17 1.3 Adjust ef2 p gain and drawn I.

18 Tiny tweak to oh1 V -- + 2 v-sec or so. good
r ramp starts at .362.

19 another +15v x .25 x 1/2 vs change good
r ramp at .4 --

20 try another tiny tweak +v in oh1. good


21 invert at .6 on pf good
further tweak in oh1 v
10*.25*.5 v s
bit of hard xrays

22 1.4 extend programming in time
another 10*.25*.5 v s
try pellet at .4
fizzle
23 1.1 pellet off. good
got it back --

24 pellet on at .4
another 10*.25*.5 v s fizzle

25 same fizzle

26 1.0 close pellet valve good
It appears that the IGT ion gauge filament was damaged
by the big gas puff from the pellet injector. This
changed the calibration by nearly a factor of 2,
which caused our fill pressure to be high by the same factor.

27 1.1 Long shot. good



Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:477PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physics summary of run 930805

This was day 1 of a three-day mini-proposal MP014 (ICRF Coupling).
The goals for this run was to:

1) Produce a well-controlled (in R and z positions) reproducible plasmas
with moderate elongation with good match to the rf limiter.

2) Try to tune to plasma load.

The run was very productive, with 27 total shots. 24 shots were good
plasmas (including mild runaway shots). 3 shots were fizzles,
but it is believed that they are attributable to pellet injection valves
(see Steve Horne's summary). Well-controlled reproducible plasmas were
obtained by shot 11, which were used for both rf tuning and other piggy-back
topics. Notably, the ECE vertical alignment MP018 was accomplished.
See the logbook for other activities.

The RF system had several control and data acquisition problems, but they
have been solved and a reliable operating window was found by the end
of the run. On shot 027, a 400msec pulse starting at -20msec and ending
at +365msec was injected successfully into the plasma (and before plasma).
The tuning is still not set for plasma loading. The power is set low
(less than 1kW) to avoid high reflection faults. Firing RF after the plasma
is gone was not successful because of high neutral pressure. Getting the
right tuning for plasma load will be the major objective for tomorrow's run,
with improved rf diagnostic data and improved tuning algorithm.
If successful, we will switch over to deuterium gradually.

Physics Operator Summaries

Session Leader Comments
Aug 5 1993 08:59:34:380AMYuichi TakaseToday is day 1 of a 3-day miniproposal MP014 (ICRF Coupling).
We will start by establishing the plasma (moderately elongated, good match
to the rf limiter) to couple into, and try to tune to the plasma loading.
This will probably consume most of today's run.
We will start with 930804029 plus some edits.
Start with H, then if successful we will switch to D gradually (D/H concentration scan).

Session Leader: Takase
Physics Operator: Horne
Eng. Operator: Silva/Bertolino

Aug 5 1993 09:24:41:370AM930805001Yuichi TakaseShot 001
Good shot for the first shot of the day.
Need to fix the z position oscillation.

Aug 5 1993 09:38:43:320AM930805002Yuichi TakaseShot 002
Higher current, disrupted at the end.

Aug 5 1993 09:56:42:050AM930805003Yuichi TakaseShot 003
Good shot, a little higher density, dies after 0.4sec.

Aug 5 1993 10:20:50:070AM930805004Yuichi TakaseShot 004
Good shot, a little lower density.
Raise gas for the next shot.
Changed OH1 on this shot, again for the next shot.

Aug 5 1993 10:31:38:550AM930805005Yuichi TakaseShot 005
Good shot, good position control 260-320msec.

Aug 5 1993 10:46:07:080AM930805006Yuichi TakaseShot 006
Better R position control, not as good on z.
Lower current (trying to save OH for position control for longer time).

Aug 5 1993 11:08:57:140AM930805007Yuichi TakaseShot 007
R_cur looks great, but oscillations on z_cur.
Elongated too much? kappa around 1.6.

Aug 5 1993 11:42:16:470AM930805008Yuichi TakaseShot 008
Big oscillations on z.
Kappa still large.

Aug 5 1993 11:43:48:190AM930805009Yuichi TakaseShot 009
Kappa much lower (<1.2).
z_cur drifting down.

Aug 5 1993 11:59:12:120AM930805010Yuichi TakaseShot 010
RF fired into vessel before commutation (-50msec).

Aug 5 1993 12:07:20:470PM930805011Yuichi TakaseShot 011
First attempt to fire RF into plasma (250-300msec).
Transmitter crowbarred before the shot.

Aug 5 1993 12:16:18:590PM930805011Yuichi TakaseShot 011
Plasma position stable for 250-350msec (R and z).
Kappa ramping up slightly 1.2-1.25.

Aug 5 1993 12:23:51:920PM930805012Yuichi TakaseShot 012
RF fired but faulted on high reflection.
The antenna is tuned now for vacuum loading, and not plasma loading.
Need to find the right tuning for plasma load.

Aug 5 1993 12:40:37:360PM930805013Yuichi TakaseShot 013
RF fired but faulted on high reflection.
RF on for about 15msec starting at 264msec.
Low power and almost all reflection.

Aug 5 1993 01:10:15:500PM930805014Yuichi TakaseShot 014
No RF.
Will be running nearly constant shots from now on.

Aug 5 1993 01:10:51:090PM930805015Yuichi TakaseShot 015
No RF.

Aug 5 1993 01:21:13:830PM930805016Yuichi TakaseShot 016
No RF.
Transmitter crowbarred.

Aug 5 1993 01:27:05:170PM930805016Yuichi TakaseShot 016
Nonthermal shot.
Increase gas on the next shot.

Aug 5 1993 02:05:08:390PM930805017Yuichi TakaseShot 017
Mo injection at 350msec.
No RF (trying to fix transmitter crowbar problem).

Aug 5 1993 02:06:12:940PM930805018Yuichi TakaseShot 018
Transmitter back on, but no RF.

Aug 5 1993 02:17:37:710PM930805019Yuichi TakaseShot 019
Short RF pulse.
Moved tuners for the next shot (guessing how much to move).
Stub tuner at 333.
Phase shifter at 454.

Aug 5 1993 02:37:46:030PM930805020Yuichi TakaseShot 020
Short RF pulse, still faulting on high reflection.

Aug 5 1993 03:05:14:570PM930805022Yuichi TakaseShot 021
No RF (wrong level on BiRa?)

Aug 5 1993 03:06:17:420PM930805022Yuichi TakaseShot 022
First shot with pellet.
First fizzle of the day.
RF fired OK (but a lot of reflections).

Aug 5 1993 03:28:44:930PM930805023Yuichi TakaseShot 023
Got plasma back.
No pellet.
RF fired.

Aug 5 1993 03:43:34:580PM930805024Yuichi TakaseShot 024
Fizzle.
Pellet enabled.
RF fired multiple pulses starting from -20msec.

Aug 5 1993 04:13:41:130PM930805024Yuichi TakaseBack to vacuum tune.

Aug 5 1993 04:32:11:740PM930805026Yuichi TakaseShot 026
Got plasma back.
RF still firing from -20msec to 380msec.
Pellet gate valve closed.
Set BiRa output to 0.6V for the next shot.

Aug 5 1993 05:10:59:710PM930805027Yuichi TakaseShot 027
Good long RF pulse -20msec to 365msec.
Data acquisition is taking a long time.
This is the last shot of the day.

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:02:42:800AMPlasmaOk4.2KA on time
209:21:57:870AMPlasmaOkplasma
309:39:38:420AMPlasmaOksparks
409:58:05:560AMPlasmaOkplasma
510:15:37:620AMPlasmaOkplasma
610:36:11:820AMPlasmaOkplasma
710:52:36:060AMPlasmaOkplasma
811:14:59:120AMPlasmaOkGood Shot
911:31:57:120AMPlasmaOkplasma
1011:47:43:620AMPlasmaOkplasma/
1112:00:55:600PMPlasmaOkplasma
1212:14:50:370PMPlasmaOkplasma
1312:28:56:040PMPlasmaOkplasma/rf pulse
1412:47:50:650PMPlasmaOkplasma
1501:03:48:560PMPlasmaOkplasma
1601:18:14:270PMPlasmaOkGood Shot
1701:38:33:880PMPlasmaOkplasma
1801:51:59:830PMPlasmaOkGood Shot
1902:06:21:680PMPlasmaOkplasma
2002:21:29:040PMPlasmaOkGood Shot
2102:35:14:760PMPlasmaOkplasma invert on all increase 0.1 sec
2202:53:59:270PMPlasmaOkfizzle
2303:07:33:230PMPlasmaOkGood Shot
2403:26:13:840PMPlasmaOkfizzle
2503:49:09:290PMPlasmaOkfizzle
2604:15:05:220PMPlasmaOkgood shot
2704:41:23:670PMPlasmaOkplasma
2805:31:46:360PMTestOktesting data system
2906:07:06:370PMTestOkworked again
3006:24:56:910PMTestOkworked again