Alcator C-Mod Run 930916 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Ian Hutchinson (shots 1-32)

Operators
Session leader(s):Ian Hutchinson
Physics operator(s):Steve Horne
Engineering operator(s):David Gwinn,Vinny Bertolino

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Kappa scan to determine RF antenna req'ts

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:08:600PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Summary for 930916

Leader Hutchinson
Asst Horne
Engineers Gwinn, Bertolino.

Plan:

Objective: map out the controllable boundaries of operation at high
elongation. Establish feasibility of matching shape to dipole antennas
while providing adequate inboard clearance.

Starting with a shot from 930817. Multiple changes.
1. Get reliable plasmas. Try to overcome the startup difficulties of
the last two days and get 0.5 MA plasmas for close to 1s.

2. Use the plasmas we have had recently, with kappa increasing as a
function of time. However, with the x-point kept in the correct position.
Either by hand or with the zxl controller.

3. Vary the OH2/EF2 contribution to this equilibrium.

4. Do this at higher current up to 1 MA to see if this affects the
stability.

5. Do it with more vertically centered plasmas.

Notes on control setup.
We are using OH2 average and difference controllers.
The Ip controller is OH1,2,EF1,3 in proportion to the turns ratio with
initial gain P=0.7.
RCUR S=0.67.
ZXL initially P=0.


Scorecard:

2 duds
3 PS tests
9 Fizzles
2 Early VDEs
16 Full Plasmas
32 Shots

Summary:

We achieved a fair fraction of the plan, no serious EF2 exploration, and
only 1 shot at higher current but the x-point was fairly well controlled by
hand (no zxl feedback) and some higher kappas were explored.

Shots 8 to 10 were influenced and 11 to 17 lost because of engineering
difficulties with OH1 phasing wrong on one phase. This problem returned
later in the run, but by then we had found a more robust current ramp
configuration which was not quite so sensitive to the bad ripple in the
current ramp so we kept going.

The solution to the current ramp problem (which has been with us all this
week) was primarily to lower the rate of ramp of Bz (negative). This was
done by making the OH1 voltage more negative. Eventually we reached the
limit of index where VDEs were experienced in the current rise. Then OH2
was used instead. It might be necessary to tweak this some more.

Shape improvement to give true single null plasmas was done and the plasma
was then moved back up after shot 25 to test more centered plasmas.
Everything we saw is consistent with the result that kappa = 1.6 is
stable but that significantly above is not. This is a problem for the
dipole antenna. More analysis is needed but the first result is not
encouraging.

Shots after 25 had a test blip introduced at .5s where the vertical
feedback gains were switched to zero for 10-20ms and then turned back on.
This seems to give both the passive growth rate and the active response
(after the turn back on). Sensible result were seen but will need complete
analysis.

Detailed log:

Shot Result
1 p=1.2e-5 Null looked so-so. Dud
2 p=1.5e-5 EF4 raised to 1075 from 1050A. Dud
3 EF4 to 1100. BR to 7.0 from 7.5 mT. 400kA .8s Plasma
4 BR to 6.5 mT, Gas puff to 0s from .02, EF4 S to -1000 during shot
Good shot. radiation less. Plasma
5 Gas to -.01, EF1 S to 0A from 1000 at end. Ip P=2 Plasma.
6 EF1 S to 1500from 500 @.4s, OH2 V to 25V from 20V. Gas to 30V Fizzle
from ~20. Fizzle not caused by any changes.
7 Repeat. Runaways. Poor bkdwn and rise. Plasma
8 p=1.8e-5, EF1l S raised to 2700/2000 during flattop. Plasma
still poor breakdown. Shape is quite good late.
9 Raise chopper bias 200V. EF4 to 1075. EF1Ls=3000 EF1U=1800 (-300),
EF2U=1050 @ .15, Fizzle
10 Gas pulse to -.02. OH1 V to -60 (was -70) @ 5ms. OH2s V to -30
@ ~20ms. EFC gain P=5. Poor current rise. Higher elongation.
Growing oscillations. Plasma
11 OH2s V=0 @.8s. OH1 V to -150 @24ms, and to -40 from 0 at 70ms. Fizzle
OH1 PS wrong phasing discovered. Might be cause of irreproducibility.
Problem happened between shots 7 and 8.
12 Repeat but p=1.6e-5. Fizzle
Breakdown fields are obviously bad. This seems to be the PS.
13 Switch off one OH1 bridge, Fizzle
14 Switch off the other. TF crowbar. OH ripple terrible. Fizzle
15 Power supply test. Put OH1 V back to -70 at 24ms. Test
16 PS test after turning power to gate board off. Fixed! Test
17 OH only. Engineering failed to switch stuff back on Test
18 Runaway with disruption. Otherwise OK. Plasma
19 Gas to -0.03s, EF1U to 1000A, EF2U to 1500 for shaping later. Fizzle
20 Gas to -.025s, OH1 to -100V @5ms, OH2s to -20V @24ms. Fizzle
21 Gas to -15ms, Oh1 to -130 V @ 5ms. Ef1U to -500 EF2U to 1500 @.8s.
p=1.3e-5. Current hesitation gone! Slowed the Bz rise. Plasma
22 EFC extra wire to P=10, off at .7s. OH2s to 0/-20 V at crowbar,
from -20/-40 to increase early elongation. Plasma
Runaways. Current pause. Horrid little 250-300 kA plasma.
23 Gas to -.02, OH1 to -160V at 5ms. Good. Plasma
Switching off EFC extra gain clearly led to instability.
24 OH1 to -190V and 5ms. EFC kept on. VDE at same time. Plasma
25 EF1u reduced more later. All zcur feedback off 0.500 to 0.520s.
Increased gas. All channels at 30 during shot. Plasma
The growth rate should be readily measurable during the blip.
26 Put zcur to -1cm from -3 cm. EF1u reduced later some more. Plasma
Runaways. Bad current rise.
27 Gas to -30ms. OH1 -220 V at 5ms. Plasma
VDE at 37ms. Too much gradient. 70kA
28 OH1 to -200V, OH2s to -10 (from 0) @5ms. Oh2 kept at -10. Plasma
Slow current rise. Turnoff blip killed EFC.
29 Tweaked the EFC turn off blip to make it less drastic. Gas to -25ms.
Oh2 to -15V at 5ms, 5V at 24ms. No current pause. Plasma
Survived the blip.
30 Raised Ip demand to 800kA. Blip to 15ms duration. Ip P set to 2
as before but at 130ms vs 200ms, i.e. feedback on earlier. Plasma
OH1 has been single phasing during the last few shots. This is
a VDE up at 42ms. EFC is known to cause such an excursion.
31 EFC turn-on delayed to 60ms. That fixed the excursion Plasma
680kA lasted 0.8s.
32 Increase the Ip P to 4. zcur to 0. OH1's problem got us. Fizzle


Physics Operator Summaries

Session Leader Comments

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:16:55:370AMPlasmaOkno plasma
209:30:43:670AMPlasmaOkno plasma
309:43:32:980AMPlasmaOk435 ka plasma
409:59:44:510AMPlasmaOk440 ka
510:13:54:720AMPlasmaOk490ka
610:28:11:000AMPlasmaOkfizzle
710:44:07:520AMPlasmaOkno faults
810:59:41:720AMPlasmaOk460 ka
911:12:36:500AMPlasmaOkfizzle
1011:26:52:840AMPlasmaOk440 ka
1111:43:08:850AMPlasmaBadfizzle, oh1 60 hz, looks like one gate turning on early
1211:56:02:900AMPlasmaBad60 hz oh1
1312:11:28:180PMPlasmaOkfizzle, oh1 east convertor only ok
1412:27:47:500PMPlasmaOkplasma shot OH1 60 Hz on pulse tf c-bar.
1512:46:06:310PMTestBadOH1 60 Hz
1601:30:40:850PMTestOkOH1 good
1701:40:54:270PMPlasmaBadoh1 only all other supplies off in camac
1801:51:01:200PMPlasmaOkno faults
1902:04:14:380PMPlasmaOkno faults
2002:23:57:730PMPlasmaOkno faults
2102:36:34:030PMPlasmaOkno faults
2202:50:22:510PMPlasmaOkoh1 >1scr not conducting late in shot
2303:02:55:270PMPlasmaOkno faults
2403:15:56:520PMPlasmaOkno faults
2503:29:55:400PMPlasmaOkno faults
2603:44:14:450PMPlasmaOkno faults
2703:58:44:740PMPlasmaBadfizzle -- oh1 60Hz again
2804:11:52:390PMPlasmaOkoh1 still has 60Hz
2904:27:18:740PMPlasmaOkoh1 60Hz
3004:40:23:630PMPlasmaOkoh1 >1scr not conducting, 60Hz
3104:55:21:780PMPlasmaOkno faults -- 60Hz on oh1 still
3205:08:13:370PMPlasmaOkoh1 60Hz