Alcator C-Mod Run 940429 Information

Back to runs

Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Steve Horne (shots 1-16)

Operators
Session leader(s):Steve Horne
Physics operator(s):Robert Granetz
Engineering operator(s): Unknown

Engineering Operator Run Comment
power supply test, & M.P.41

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:36:50:990PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physics operator summary for Run 940429

Session leader: S. Horne
Physics operator: R. Granetz

Mini-proposal 041 (get machine going again)

Well, it was not the most successful run. Most of the shots were
spent trying to fix the OH2 supplies, which were not following the
voltage demand very well until shot 8. (There was a late breakdown
on shot 5, which was basically a fluke.)

On shot 9 we stumbled upon a very weird bug in the hybrid software: if
the value of +10 is entered for the PID proportional gain, it seems to
be loaded into the hybrid as -10 ! No indication of this is reflected
in the displayed waveform. Since we were programming BR, this caused
very confusing behavior of the OH2's. Unfortunately it took us three
shots to figure this out.

Shots 12-14 were serious attempts at plasma. BR and BZ and dBz/dr were
tweaked until we finally got a reasonable null on shot 14, with a flash
starting at 0.007 s. There was no current rise however.

Shot 15 was supposed to be an exact repeat of shot 14, but OH2U had a
2 kA difference between the two shots. The OH2's still do not seem to
be completely debugged. Shot 16 was also supposed to be an exact duplicate
of 14, but EF3 failed.

Summary: 1 good null/breakdown (shot 14)
1 weak breakdown (shot 5)
1 bizarre hybrid software bug found (shot 9)
And multiple power supply problems, especially with the OH2's

Session Leader Comments
Apr 29 1994 10:14:54:620AMSteve HorneContinuation of MP 41 -- Horne, Granetz

The OH supplies are suspect. Engineering wants
a PLC controlled OH1 only shot; we will
follow with a shot with OH only, hybrid controlled,
invert at 40 msec to test the stack.

Physics Operator Comments
Apr 29 1994 10:49:20:580AM940429001Robert GranetzPLC test of OH1 only.

Apr 29 1994 10:49:43:130AM940429002Robert GranetzAnother PLC test of OH1 (opposite polarity this time)

Apr 29 1994 11:00:17:730AM940429003Robert GranetzOne more PLC test of OH1, time time at full voltage.

Apr 29 1994 11:13:36:810AM940429004Robert GranetzTest of OH1, OH2U, and OH2L under hybrid control. We are trying to determine
if yesterday's problems with OH2L have been fixed. (It wouldn't get to the
requested voltage yesterday, resulting in a large imbalance between OH2U and
OH2L.)

Apr 29 1994 11:24:47:330AM940429004Robert GranetzExcellent. The OH2's were well-balanced, as demanded by the BR control.
Next shot will be a full plasma attempt.

Apr 29 1994 11:58:20:530AM940429005Robert GranetzAttempt at full plasma...no programming changes from the end of yesterday's
run.

Got a flash, but the problem with OH2 imbalance has resurfaced. Actually
neither supply reached its demand, but OH2L was significantly worse.

Presumably this problem must have something to do with a synergistic coupling
to the TF. My guess is that the TF causes the primary voltage to the OH2's
to droop too much.

Next shot: a test of the OH1, OH2's, and TF

Apr 29 1994 12:27:52:230PM940429006Robert GranetzThis shot is a test of the OH stack with the TF on.

Well, the OH2's did better, but still not good enough.

OH2 demand was 21 kA, and OH2U got to 19 kA, while OH2L got to 17 kA.

We're taking a 20 minute break to let the engineers go in and tweak things.

Apr 29 1994 12:47:46:770PM940429007Robert GranetzNot any better.

Apr 29 1994 01:44:55:280PM940429008Robert GranetzAnother test of OH1, OH2's and TF. This time the adjustments the engineers
made were much more successful.

OH2 demand was 21 kA, OH2U got to 21, OH2L got to 20.

Next shot will be an attempt at plasma.

Apr 29 1994 02:25:01:080PM940429009Robert GranetzFor this shot, the proportional gain on the BR feedback was doubled from
5 to 10. Somehow this really screwed up the OH2's. In fact, at the exact
time when BR feedback turns on, the OH2U suddenly turns around and quickly
goes positive. We checked the sign of the M-matrix elements for the
BR wire, and they are correct. We don't understand this at all. No hybrid
errors reported in the error log.

For the next shot, return the PID gain for BR back to 5.

Apr 29 1994 03:10:06:530PM940429010Robert GranetzThe SCR switches didn't close on either of the OH2's. They charged up
through the resistor and therefore didn't commutate. Next shot: repeat

Apr 29 1994 03:14:37:290PM940429011Robert GranetzVery good balance between the OH2's. All the power supplies basically
worked fine. There was no breakdown. BR and BZ were off by 5-10 mT each.

Next shot, up PID gain on BR from 5 to 7.

Apr 29 1994 03:25:18:090PM940429012Robert GranetzAll supplies worked. The extra gain on BR doesn't seem to have done
much. BR was +0.008 T at commutation, BZ was +0.003 T. No breakdown.

For the next shot, put in the value -0.005 for the "minus 1 volt" offset term in
the BR predictor.

Apr 29 1994 04:03:33:010PM940429013Robert GranetzAll supplies worked. No flash. Obviously we got the right amount and the
right sign for the BR offset, since BR=1-2 mT on this shot. Bz=0.000 mT.
It didn't breakdown because dBz/dr=-.020 to -.030 mT/m.

For the next shot, we will increase OH1 demand current by 500 amps, which
should increase dBz/dr by +0.020 mT/m.

Apr 29 1994 04:13:51:160PM940429013Robert GranetzWe've got about a 45 minute delay due to a communication problem with
the TORVAC rack, which requires getting into the cell.

In the meantime, we will increase the change to I(oh1) from 500 to 750 amps
so that dBz/dr will be about 0.000 mT/m rather than -0.030 mT/m. This will
also introduce a BZ of -0.008 T. Therefore EF4 will be increased by 125 amps.

Apr 29 1994 04:36:50:920PM940429014Robert GranetzGot a flash starting at about 0.007 s. The null, as calculated by Ian's
MFLUX program, looks pretty good. No current rise however.

No changes for next shot.

Apr 29 1994 04:51:59:570PM940429015Robert GranetzNo breakdown. OH1 faulted, but not until late in the pulse. For some
unknown reason, OH2U had 2 kA less than the previous shot, causing the
null to be badly screwed up.

For the next shot, no changes made to the hybrid programming, but
change the pre-fill from 1.4 to 1.3e-5 torr.

Apr 29 1994 05:13:50:880PM940429016Robert GranetzNo breakdown, no null. EF3 was completely screwed up. End of run.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
110:42:52:940AMTestOkoh1 only
210:49:36:930AMTestOkoh1 only
311:02:12:210AMTestOkoh1 only
411:15:38:630AMTestOkoh's only
511:40:08:130AMPlasmaOkno faults
611:57:01:640AMTestOkoh's and tf only
712:36:55:390PMTestOkno faults
801:28:05:020PMTestOkno faults
901:45:11:070PMPlasmaOkno faults
1002:23:19:020PMPlasmaBadCommutation did not operate on OH2 supplies
1102:54:56:290PMPlasmaOkno faults
1203:10:46:940PMPlasmaOkNo faults
1303:29:28:340PMPlasmaOkno faults
1404:19:59:560PMPlasmaOkno faults
1504:31:49:790PMPlasmaOkoh2u comm fault after shot
1604:56:29:670PMPlasmaOkef3 fault