Alcator C-Mod Run 930813 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:013
Date Filed: 7/16/1993
Title:Discharge development
First Author:Steve Wolfe
Session Leader:Ian Hutchinson (shots 1-25)
Miniproposal:019
Date Filed: 7/22/1993
Title:Plasma current feedback control
First Author:John Goetz
Session Leader:John Goetz (shots 1-25)

Operators
Session leader(s):Ian Hutchinson,John Goetz
Physics operator(s):Robert Granetz
Engineering operator(s): Unknown

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP# 019 - Ip control. Also 013,010

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:507PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physics operator summary for 930813.

EO:
PO: Granetz
SL: Goetz, Hutchinson

This run was based on the discharge development mini-proposal. There
were two goals: 1) Explore Ip feedback, and 2) get true single null
diverted plasmas. Due to a faulty heater thermocouple, there was about
an hour delay in beginning the run. We started off trying Ip feedback,
with the initial shot being 930811014, since Ian had calculated
single-null x-point control based upon this shot (to be used later in
the run). The outer limiter was pulled back to 0.95 m. The Ip
controller we began with included OH1, OH2U & L, and EF3. The
coefficients were calculated using one of S. Wolfe's routines, which try
to form orthogonal controllers (i.e. create an Ip controller which has
minimal effect on the R-centroid). However, this algorithm is based on
vacuum magnetic fields, and today we confirmed that it is not
satisfactory for plasma shots. Attempting to control Ip caused problems
with the R-centroid position. The hybrid error signal and M-matrix
feedback voltages were proper, as brilliantly proven on shot #001, for
which the Ip demand had been loaded from a scope that displayed Ip in
MA, resulting in an Ip demand of only 0.5 amps. Both the first and
second shots had very hard disruptions, with #002 having a dI/dt=-0.9
MA! This may have caused a wall conditioning problem for the remainder
of the run, and also re-killed one of the Bp coils. After shot #007, we
decided to abandon the Ip feedback part of the run and switch to the
single-null task.

Here we had more success, although we were frequently plagued by the
"shark fin" phenomenon, which may have been causing most of the shots to
end in disruptions. Through a series of tweaks to OH2, EF1, EF2, and
especially to R-centroid and Z-centroid, we achieved an excellent single-null
configuration by late in the run. Shots #023, 024, and 025 (the best one)
had several centimeter separations between the plasma edge and the inboard
and outboard limiters, and the upper x-point was very far away from the plasma.
The inner strike point was just on the nose of the divertor, not quite low
enough to get to the low-impact angle section. Throughout the day we had to
tweak the gas puffing in a feable attempt to avoid hard x-rays, which were
generally high for much of the run.

Scorecard: 25 shots --- 21 plasmas + 3 fizzles + 1 dud (EF3 failed to fire)

Physics Operator Summaries

Session Leader Comments
Aug 13 1993 09:16:46:540AMJohn GoetzRun 930813 follows MP019 and MP013. Both these mini-proposals are discharge
development tasks. MP019 covers plasma current control and MP013 covers true single
null (SN) diverted discharges. The plasma current controllers from run 930630 will be
reinvestigated. A controller consisting of OH1, OH2U, OH2L, and EF3 will be the first one
tried. As time permits more controllers will be tries. Calculations have been performed
using 930811014 as a baseline to determine the coil current changes needed to achieve
true SN discharges. These changes will be applied and then tweaked up.

Aug 13 1993 09:22:33:800AMJohn GoetzThe run will start from shot 930811014. Changes made include:
-ZCUR controller consists of EFC, EF1U, EF1L, EF2U, EF2L, OH2U, and OH2L
D_ZCUR=0.5; P_ZCUR=5.0
-IP and RCUR controllers consist of OH1, OH2U, OH2L, and EF3; the relative
weights are calculated to keep the controllers orthogonal.
P_IP=2.0 and turns on @.15sec. D_RCUR increased to 2.0
-IP current trace copied in to S_IP and smoothed to give 500kA from 0.2 to 0.4

Changes for SN operation will be detailed when they occur.

Aug 13 1993 10:14:56:560AM930813001John GoetzPlasma goes bad at .15sec when the IP controller is switched in. Problem traced to
drawing S_IP @ 0.5A not 0.5MA. Controller did work; it tried to lower the current
but radial position control was lost. For shot 002: draw S_IP to 500000A.

Physics Operator Comments
Aug 13 1993 09:56:04:780AM930813001Robert GranetzPre-fill for shot 001 was 1.2e-5

Aug 13 1993 10:25:45:870AM930813002Robert GranetzDisrupted at 0.268 s. dI/dt=-0.9 MA/ms ! Vertical position went to hell.
The Ip controller seemed to work well. Error was only about 30 kA. There
seemed to be a growing vertical instability starting at 0.15, which is when
we demand a rapid drop in Z from 0 to -2 cm.

Aug 13 1993 10:33:22:080AM930813002Robert GranetzFor the next shot (003) the Z-cur demand was changed from an instantaneous
lowering of the plasma, to a slower ramp down in the position. Start with
z=0 at 0.15 s and linearly move to z=-2 cm at t=0.2 s.

Aug 13 1993 10:41:37:130AM930813003Robert GranetzFizzle. Forgot to lower the gas. For the next shot the pre-fill will be
lowered from 1.2 to 1.1e-5. (Does it really matter?)

Aug 13 1993 11:06:29:220AM930813004Robert GranetzIpmax=0.494 MA, duration=0.4 s, terminated by a major disruption. Vertically
unstable. Z-cur goes to -4 cm even before the instability starts in.
Examination of the magnetics shows that BP17_BC broke again right at the
big disruption of shot 002.

Aug 13 1993 11:12:08:150AM930813004Robert GranetzWe are going to break now for 45 minutes so I can get into the cell and change
BP17_BC to BP17_DE into the hybrid.

Aug 13 1993 11:53:40:140AM930813005Robert GranetzIpmax=0.46 MA, duration=0.45 s. Current feedback down to 0.4 MA started
to work at 0.15 s, but then at 0.18 s it lost out in competition to the
R-cur controller. Apparently the two controllers are not orthogonal when
there is plasma current (Wolfe's algorithm does a vacuum calculation).

The plasma still terminated in a vertical disruption, and Z-cur had some
small oscillations. Horne made some tweaks to the EFC voltage programming,
and I tweaked the OH1 voltage to help keep the current from getting too
high early on.

Aug 13 1993 12:07:19:660PM930813006Robert GranetzDisrupted at 0.28 s. The chopper did not run because of an overcurrent
fault from the previous shot. Given that the elongation is 1.6, it's not
surprising that we got a vertical instability. Also, there was not much
of an indication of Ip feedback. For the next shot:

Lower EF3 coefficient in the M-controller for Ip to reduce cross-talk with
the R-CUR controller.

Lower EF1 demand currents from 3300 to 3000 to reduce the elongation a little.

Lower OH1 voltage from -160 to -150 to keep Ip from going to high.

Aug 13 1993 12:38:38:870PM930813007Robert GranetzBad shot. Disrupted at 0.33 s. The plasma started out 5 cm high for no
known reason. We've decided that we can't simultaneously feedback on Ip and
R-cur, so we are abandoning that part of today's run. For the next shot,
start the 2nd part of the run, i.e. attaining a true single-null diverted
plasma. Re-load 930811014. EFC will be disabled, since it was not working
for the reloaded shot.

Aug 13 1993 12:40:34:540PM930813008Robert GranetzStill a bad shot. Ipmax=0.40 MA, disrupted at 0.29 s. Z-position was
good, but R is not good. There were also some hard x-rays.

Aug 13 1993 12:44:06:140PM930813008Robert GranetzFor the next shot, re-enable the EFC chopper supply.

Aug 13 1993 12:51:03:750PM930813009Robert GranetzFizzle. Prior to this shot we had increased pulse-gas2 a little bit. Might
have been a mistake.

Aug 13 1993 12:54:29:830PM930813009Robert GranetzFor the next shot, reduce the gas puffing a little bit.

Aug 13 1993 12:59:18:700PM930813009Robert GranetzAlso for the next shot:

Substantially reduce the derivative gain on Z-cur from 10.0 to 0.5, since
EFC has now been enable, and

Raise EF4 current from 1050 to 1070 amps at commutation.

Aug 13 1993 01:07:18:520PM930813010Robert GranetzGetting there. Ipmax=0.39 MA, shot terminates with a major disruption at
0.39 s. Lots of hard x-rays. For the next shot, add back a little puffed
gas.

Aug 13 1993 01:26:07:910PM930813011Robert GranetzAnother disruptive shot. Ipmax=0.42 MA, terminates with a major disruption
at 0.36 s. Hard x-rays are greatly reduced, but still finite. The current
rise has been ratty all day.

For the next shot, raise the pre-fill from 1.2 to 1.3e-5 torr, and also
tweak the EF4 programming to remove a dip that Ian put in earlier today.

Aug 13 1993 01:28:09:530PM930813011Robert GranetzCorrection: the pre-fill is being changed from 1.3 to 1.4e-5 torr for the
next shot.

Aug 13 1993 01:40:54:340PM930813012Robert GranetzFizzle. For next shot reduce the pre-fill from 1.4 to 1.3e-5 torr. Also
I lowered some of the later gas puff spikes a little.

Aug 13 1993 01:55:21:870PM930813013Robert GranetzFinally, a good shot. Ipmax=0.52 MA, duration=0.51 s. Position control
is okay. There was a small amount of hard x-rays. Shark fin started at
0.46 s and may have had something to do with terminating the shot.

Aug 13 1993 02:16:15:290PM930813014Robert GranetzNot as good as the last one. Ipmax=0.44 MA, terminated by a disruption
at 0.395 s. The plasma position before 0.15 s was about 3 cm high, for some
unknown reason. Changes for next shot:

EF4 current tweaked by Ian, and

PID on Z-cur EFC increased from 6 to 8.

Aug 13 1993 02:28:39:940PM930813015Robert GranetzIpmax=0.40 MA, duration=0.42 s. Diverted at 0.17 s and stays that way for the
rest of the shot. Another shark fin starting at 0.32 s. There was a minor
disruption at 0.1 s, possibly due to too much density.

For the next shot:

Lower EF1U current by 1500 amps (from 1600 to 100),

Raise EF2U current from 1700 to 2400 amps

Remove and lower some of the gas puff spikes on pulse_gas3.

Aug 13 1993 02:45:56:380PM930813016Robert GranetzNice shot. Ipmax=0.52 MA, duration=0.66 s. There was a natural injection
at 0.470 s. A bit of hard x-rays, and they rise precipitously after 0.6 s.
The position control was okay. The density was a little low, so we're going
to add a little bit to pulse-gas3 for the next shot.

Aug 13 1993 03:02:33:670PM930813017Robert GranetzGood shot. Ipmax=0.53 MA, duration=0.64 s. No natural injection this
time. Hard x-rays were high. For the next shot:

Increase pulse-gas3 during the first half of the shot, and

Decrease OH2U and L voltage preprogramming (from -30 to -10 volts).

Aug 13 1993 03:25:41:780PM930813018Robert GranetzIpmax=0.51 MA, terminates with a disruption at 0.44 s. Radiated power starts
to climb after 0.32 s. Lower x-point, but still not well separated from the
inner wall. Therefore, for the next shot:

Change R-CUR demand from 0.69 to 0.70 m (required scale-bit change), and

Reduce one of the pulse-gas3 spikes a teeny bit.

Aug 13 1993 03:47:45:960PM930813019Robert GranetzBad shot. Short and disruptive. Lots of hard x-rays starting at 0.1 s.
For the next shot:

Don't change anything to do with the gas. In fact, no changes were made.

Aug 13 1993 03:50:43:130PM930813020Robert GranetzNot bad. Ipmax=0.50 MA, duration=0.50 s. Moderate hard x-rays, but much
better than the last shot, with no changes made to anything. A shark fin
starts at 0.4 s.

For the next shot:

Increase pulse-gas2 a little, and

Increase EF2L from 775 to 1200 amps.

Aug 13 1993 04:00:16:540PM930813021Robert GranetzNo breakdown, due to no EF3

Aug 13 1993 04:29:59:060PM930813022Robert GranetzIpmax=0.51 MA, terminated by a disruption at 0.415 s. Moderate hard x-rays
again, as well as a shark fin starting at 0.31 s.

For the next shot, increase pulse-gas2 a little, and

Decrease the OH1 and OH2's voltage preprogramming demand around 0.15 s in
order to lower the plasma current a little and thereby give a more elongated
plasma. The hope is that this will separate the LCFS from the inner
wall a little more.

Aug 13 1993 04:47:38:390PM930813023Robert GranetzShorter shot. Ipmax=0.43 MA. Disrupted at 0.34 s. Elongation increased
slightly from 1.4 to 1.45, resulting in a little more clearance on the
inboard wall. Shark fin again, starting at 0.26 s. Hard x-rays are nearly
gone.

For the next shot, change the Z-cur demand from -3 to -4 cm. This required
a change of scale bit.

Aug 13 1993 05:01:31:420PM930813024Robert GranetzIpmax=0.41 MA, disrupted at 0.43 s, and there was a minor disruption at
about 0.275 s. Plasma position did indeed move down from -1.5 to -2.5 cm,
resulting in strike points that are nearly where we want them to be.

For the next shot:

Lower the pulse-gas3 spikes during the 2nd half of the shot, and

Move the plasma another 0.5 cm down.

Aug 13 1993 05:20:16:360PM930813025Robert GranetzIpmax=0.47 MA, terminated by a disruption at 0.36 s. Looks like a shark
fin began to start at 0.32 s. Plasma position moved down another 0.5 cm,
as programmed, from -2.5 to -3.0 cm. The resulting diverted plasma was
strongly single null, with good clearance to the inner wall and outer
limiter. The strike point was nearly past the inner nose of the divertor.
The same can be said for the previous shot also.

This was the last shot of the day.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:53:38:210AMPlasmaOkFirst shot at 0955. Delayed by heater problems. All systems ok -- plas
210:14:30:030AMPlasmaOkplasma
310:35:33:930AMPlasmaOkplasma
410:49:45:390AMPlasmaOkno faults
511:32:57:570AMPlasmaOkno faults
611:51:08:030AMPlasmaOkchopper did not run -- disruption
712:08:18:400PMPlasmaOkno faults -- chopper ok
812:33:13:860PMPlasmaOkno faults
912:46:38:530PMPlasmaBad
1001:00:47:980PMPlasmaOkno faults
1101:16:44:380PMPlasmaOkchopper ioc -- no faults on supplies
1201:31:25:230PMPlasmaOkno faults - dud
1301:43:34:440PMPlasmaOkno faults
1401:58:16:600PMPlasmaOkchopper over current
1502:13:54:750PMPlasmaOkno faults
1602:28:03:750PMPlasmaOkno faults
1702:50:15:170PMPlasmaOkno faults
1803:05:21:150PMPlasmaOkchopper over current
1903:26:28:270PMPlasmaOkno faults
2003:41:44:180PMPlasmaOkno faults
2103:57:14:490PMPlasmaBadack failure on transition to init -- cleared on transition to check -- n
2204:15:23:330PMPlasmaOkchopper over current
2304:31:03:430PMPlasmaOkchopper over current
2404:47:38:420PMPlasmaOkno faults
2505:02:28:610PMPlasmaOkno faults