Alcator C-Mod Run 950601 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:105
Date Filed: 3/24/1995
Title:Dependence of Detachment Threshold and Radial Extent on Plasma Current & q
First Author:Bruce Lipschultz
Session Leader:Bruce Lipschultz (shots 1-26)

Operators
Session leader(s):Bruce Lipschultz
Physics operator(s):Ian Hutchinson
Engineering operator(s):Joe Daigle,Vinny Bertolino

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Hutch normal field

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:13:833PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run 950601

Engineering operator: V. Bertolino
Phyics operator: I. Hutchinson
Session leader: BLip

mp #105: Dependence of Detachment Threshold and Radial Extent on Plasma
Current & q. During this run we formed 1 MA
flat-plate plasmas. The run was hampered by the lack of
interferometer, but nevertheless, we did not observe pressure detachment
at the outer divertor even at the highest densities. We will have to
analyse the Bremsstrahlung and Thomson data to determine the correspondence
to the usual scaling paramter, nl04, with which we usually run discharges.
The second aspect of this run that was interesting was that even
though there did not appear to be pressure detachment at the highest densities
the temperature on probe 8 was low, 3 eV. To maintain the high pressures the
density there was very high - 2-3 e21 m^-3. This argues against a hard limit
of 5-6 eV below which the plasma is detached.
Overall this was run was successfull in developing the flat-plate
geometry at 1 MA. We have not determined the detachment threshold for this
current.
The shot summary follows:

shot 1: 800 kA. No interferometer so the density feedback is on the
raw bremsstrahlung signal. The estimated density is nl04=1.e20. The
scaling used based on yesterday's data was brem (volts) = (nl04 in 10^20/1.74)^2.
The sweep went alright around outer div. probe 8.

shot 2: disruption shortly after inversion. Otherwise the sweep is
slightly better. Again the density roughly equivalent to nl04=1., in this
case we got the Thomson - central density of 1.6e20.

shot 3: 800 kA, no disruption. Ne0 (YAG) varies from 1.5 - 2 during shot.
Sweep has been slowed down but still covers full range around probe 8.
Probe 9 still working (knock on wood!).

shot 4: same shot but with FSP scan. We are experiencing strong Mo
injections every shot.

shot 5: 1 MA, no FSP scan or YAG. Unusual shot in that brems. drops
around .7 seconds along with sawteeth stopping. We will repeat with
FSP.

shot 6: disruption of unknown origin.

shot 7: disruption at .51 seconds preceded by enormous injection.

shot 8: 800 kA and everything fine. No FSP, domed probes
7 and 9 working!

shot 9: 1 MA shot, disruption at 1.1 seconds. FSP scan ok. Ne0 = 1-1.5
e20 over the shot.

shot 10: disruption at .52 seconds due to VDE.

shot 11: shot went fine - Ne0=2.e20. No FSP scan. repeat with FSP.

shot 12: Ne0=2 - 2.3e20. FSP scan ok.

shot 13: STRIKEOUT, 280 kA halo current. There seems to be an enormous
number of problems. At 500 ms the density drops out as the MARFE ends.
The gas valve opens wide to compensate however the plasma density does not rise
further aggravating problems that have occurred simultaneously with the
power supplies. We will back off the programming in a number of areas
and try again.

shot 14: disruption

shot 15: dud

shot 16: fine at 800 kA. some small changes to make.

shot 17: 800 kA, next shot 1MA.

shot 18: 1 MA, Ne0=1.6 rising to 2.2e20. No FSP scan.

shot 19: dud, power supply turned off.

shot 20: Ne0 varies from 2 to 2.7e20, 1 MA, FSP scan.

shot 21: Ne0=2.3-2.8e20. FSP scan ok.

shot 22: Ne0 varying from 2.2 - 3.2e20, FSP scan. Looks like beginnings
of detachment during latter part of shot.

shot 23: Ne0=2.8-3.8e20. FSP scan ok. Still no clear detachment.

shot 24: disruption at .64 seconds. MARFE early on.

shot 25: shot went fine but no FSP scan. The divertor probe data
shows low temperatures on probe 8 (below 5 eV) but very high densities
(3e21 m^-3)) such that the pressure is still peaked at the separatrix and
no obvious detachment. No Thomson but guess Ne0 > 3e20 by end of shot.

shot 26: disruption due to very large injection shortly after .4 seconds.


Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:36:54:630PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physop 950601 Horizontal Plate Divertor

SL Blip
PO Hutch
EO Bertolino/Daigle

Summary
_______
A rather difficult run, trying for high density, 1MA horizontal plate plasmas.
No interferometer so relying on nl_zmeter for density feedback control.
The plasmas started well all day after overnight ECDC, but there were a lot
of Moly injections, slowly seeming to clean up over the day.

The plasma current rise was maintained at a higher than previous ramp rate
by delaying the crowbars to 1.7s. This worked fine and had no problems.
Up till shot 13, EF2s were allowed to kiss their current limits. The OUT on
13 shows that this was a bad idea because when EF2 exceeds its current limit
for any time it develops the integral error problem that means it then comes
out of current limit only substantially later. That was the cause of 13's
OUT. Again we see that PS problems, horizontal plate and OUTs go together.

From 13 till 17 were used to develop a plasma with some clearance of EF2 from
its limits. Thereafter plasmas seemed much more satisfactory. We obtained
central (YAG) density of 3e20. Trying to go beyond this got much harder.
Shot 24 had a big marfe because of too much early gas. Power supplies then
reached astonishing voltages before the disruption caused by EF2 rail.
It recovered fine on 25 but on the last shot, 26, a brick fell from the top,
visible on TV.

Scorecard
_________
Shot,Duration(s),Ipmax(MA) Shot,Duration(s),Ipmax
1 1.457 0.820 2 1.024 0.853
3 1.551 0.817 4 1.548 0.815
5 1.480 1.019 6 0.423 0.822
7 0.514 1.081 8 1.553 0.822
9 1.126 1.016 10 0.529 1.050
11 1.460 1.001 12 1.462 1.006
13 0.771 1.009 14 0.537 0.802
15 0.000 0.021 16 1.481 0.822
17 1.468 0.817 18 1.497 1.014
19 0.000 0.019 20 1.452 1.003
21 1.434 1.003 22 1.431 1.001
23 1.390 1.001 24 0.660 1.078
25 1.421 1.001 26 0.446 0.905

Finished summary for 950601 Total of 26 shots.
26 shots. 24 plasmas. 2 duds.

Details
_______
Previous nights events:
Recovery from the broken TCI window.
Load segment 2 from 950509023.
Import wire 14 950519005, the old Zmeter feedback for density.
Gain zero till 0.25s then at 5.
Add 100A to OH1 (to 16.6kA).
Put nl_zmeter to 0.33. This should be

950531

12 Fiz Lot of Carbon radiation. 30kA.

Bz to 7.0mT from 7.5mT.
13 Fiz 28kA current. Breakdown at 0.55 ms.

Fill to 1.8 (from 2.3)
14 Fiz Over 30kA. Just too radiative.

Do overnight ECDC.

Adjusted early Ip programming to put points at (400kA,.1), (600kA,.16).
Removed the voltage steps at crowbar from OH1 and OH2. (Left EF1, no big
step). All this is segment 2.
Moved crowbar times 50ms later to EF1:.15s, OH1,2:.17s.
Hence we are attempting a more rapid current rise.

Fill pressure 1.8e-5.
nl-zmeter is .33

Got the yag ne trace. It reads 1.8 when nl04 read 1.0e20.

1 CAMAC failure. Eventually found to be a wrong value for the fizzle
detector probably typed in because of a focus error.

1 Pla The current rise goes fine. EF2 rails at .31-.4s

Delayed the clearin increase at about .3s.
2 Pla Disrupts at 1.04s a vertical jerk apparently caused by the gain switch
of the strkpsi at 1s. Got some unpeasant Mo injections.

Added more gas (40V at .12s) in the rise.
Stepped teh strkpsi gain down at 1s. Moved the sweep earlier.
Dropped clearin some more at .35s. Speeded up the clearin rampdown.

3 Pla Ramped down OK but still had a bit of a jerk. EF2s just kissing.

Tweaked the strkpsi turn-off some more. Added more early gas:
30V in segment 1. Increased ZXu to try to improve ssep.
4 Pla Cooled the early rise but still getting Mo injections later.

Go to 1 MA. Ease off the gas at .03s. Tweak zxu some more.
5 Pla Ran ok but with injections.

Tweak Ip gain up during .2-.3s. Raise NL_zmeter gain to 7 from 5.
6 Pla Disrupts at .41s. Caused by a very resistive rise at .15 to .2s.
Really dirty early. Runaways apparently.

Set early Ip gain to 2. from .1s, removing the step.
7 Pla Disrupts at 0.5s. Appears to be caused by a brick.

Lower Ip to .8MA.
8 Pla Survives. Mo monitor drops to 8e14 from middle 15s during the earlier
shots. Apparently this is gain changes on the monitor.

RXU to -.02 from -.01 at .3s to try to help the railing.
Ip to 1 MA.
9 Pla Disrupts at 1.1s. Appears to be caused by an injection.

Repeat
10 Pla Disrupts at .52s. Appears to be a VDE. Caused by low chopper TMX
voltage. But I did not see it in time for the next shot.

ZCUR to -.9 from -.5cm. ZXU to .036 from .05. Try to make more
stable vertically. Add more gas .05 to .1 s, keep Mo down.
11 Pla Good shot, high density ramp-down sharkfin. Flat-top: ne0=2e20.
Still lots of little MO injections.

12 Pla Repeat for FSP.

nl_zmeter to 1.
Add gas at .15s. Delay nl_zmeter feedback to .27s.
Lower clearin to 0 from .005. RCUR to .664 from .6658.
Put ZXU back up to .05m.
TF games prove to be a problem. Go back on the timing.
13 Pla Disrupts at .76s. EF2_u rails for rather a long time.
VDE. gives us an OUT.
Diagnosis of EF2U indicates that it dlearly does not follow the
voltage demand after the supply has exceeded the current limit.
This is one of these internal integrator problems.

Back away from this.

Reload 11. Lower Current to 0.8MA.
Delay the first half of the sweep to keep EF2 away from the rail.
Lower nl_zmeter gain to 2, because the effective gain is larger
at higher density.
14 Pla Disrupts at .52s. Horrid disruption recovery shot.

Delay the clearin ramp still more. Lower segment 1 gas.
15 PSdud EF3 breaker had pulled out and was not reset.
We got +3kA at commutation.

16 Pla EF2s still kiss 4kA at .3s, this corresponds with the end of the
OH1 crossover.

Keep clearin at -.02 till after .3s.
17 Pla Ef2s now peak at 3300A. Thus we have some clearance at last.
This demonstrates that a big part of the problem is that one
simply cannot divert the plasma much before .4s without pushing
on EF2s. If EF4 were quicker, this would be less of a problem.

zxu to .05 late.
Ip to 1MA. Clearin to .002 from .005.
18 Pla Fine

19 PSDud Paranay did the EF2 fix diose is the wrong direction. No EF2.

20 Pla Still save on EF2 current.

nl_zmeter to 1.3 added a pulse gas 1 (bsidelower) of 60V .4 to .5s.
21 Pla Not much more density. 2.3-2.7e20 central.

B-side puff to 100V, .4s to .55s. nl_zmeter to 1.5.
22 Pla Got 2.3-3.0e20.

Raise ICEF4 to 2kA to help the EF2s.
Raise OH1 Voltage to 175V at shot end to help current droop.
Bside puf to 100V .35 to .55s. nlzmeter to 1.7 and ramped earlier.
23 Pla

nlzmeter to 2.0 ramped earlier.
pulse gas 3 raided in the .2-.3s time.
bside puff to .35-.55s 100V.
24 Pla Disrupts at .65s after a big marfe. Ef2 is current railed
Phenomenally high voltages seens on OH2U=150v, OHL=170V.
and EF1 about 350V!

Back way off nlzmeter early, bside to .4-.55s.
25 Pla Good shot but FSP not fired. Some Mo injections. No Yag.

26 Pla Disrupts at .43 s. Brick injection at .405s. Clear on the wide angle
TV in the vicinity of H-port.

Session Leader Comments
Jun 1 1995 08:15:41:740AMBruce LipschultzRun 950601

Engineering operator: V. Bertolino
Phyics operator: I. Hutchinson
Session leader: BLip

mp #105: Dependence of Detachment Threshold and Radial Extent on Plasma
Current & q. During this run we plan to try to achieve the 1 MA
flat-plat plasmas required for this mp. The plan is to start at 800
kA to tuneup and cleanup from yesterdays vent. We will probably take
data at several different densities at 800 kA (5-10 shots). Then,
we will switch to 1 MA and try for the same density scan. If this
proves to be impossible then we will switch to part 2 of this mp, the
q scan.

Jun 1 1995 08:53:12:660AMBruce LipschultzRun 950601

Engineering operator: V. Bertolino
Phyics operator: I. Hutchinson
Session leader: BLip

mp #105: Dependence of Detachment Threshold and Radial Extent on Plasma
Current & q. During this run we plan to try to achieve the 1 MA
flat-plat plasmas required for this mp. The plan is to start at 800
kA to tuneup and cleanup from yesterdays vent. We will probably take
data at several different densities at 800 kA (5-10 shots). Then,
we will switch to 1 MA and try for the same density scan. If this
proves to be impossible then we will switch to part 2 of this mp, the
q scan.

Jun 1 1995 09:41:07:740AM950601001Bruce Lipschultzshot 1: 800 kA. No interferometer so the density feedback is on the
raw bremsstrahlung signal. The estimated density is nl04=1.e20.
The sweep went alright around outer div. probe 8.

Jun 1 1995 09:50:31:670AM950601002Bruce Lipschultzshot 2: disruption shortly after inversion. Otherwise the sweep is
slightly better. Again the density roughly equivalent to nl04=1., in this
case we got the Thomson - central density of 1.6e20.

Jun 1 1995 10:09:01:700AM950601003Bruce Lipschultzshot 3: 800 kA, no disruption. Ne0 (YAG) varies from 1.5 - 2 during shot.
Sweep has been slowed down but still covers full range around probe 8.
Probe 9 still working (knock on wood!).

Jun 1 1995 10:22:51:220AM950601004Bruce Lipschultzshot 4: same shot but with FSP scan. We are experiencing strong Mo
injections every shot.

Jun 1 1995 11:02:00:310AM950601005Bruce Lipschultzshot 5: 1 MA, no FSP scan or YAG. Unusual shot in that brems. drops
around .7 seconds along with sawteeth stopping. We will repeat with
FSP.

Jun 1 1995 11:02:09:600AM950601005Bruce Lipschultzshot 5: 1 MA, no FSP scan or YAG. Unusual shot in that brems. drops
around .7 seconds along with sawteeth stopping. We will repeat with
FSP.

Jun 1 1995 11:02:39:790AM950601006Bruce Lipschultzshot 6: disruption of unknown origin.

Jun 1 1995 11:14:24:270AM950601007Bruce Lipschultzshot 7: disruption at .51 seconds preceded by enormous injection.

Jun 1 1995 11:27:30:240AM950601008Bruce Lipschultzshot 8: 800 kA and everything fine. No FSP, domed probes
7 and 9 working!

Jun 1 1995 11:45:08:950AM950601009Bruce Lipschultzshot 9: 1 MA shot, disruption at 1.1 seconds. FSP scan ok. Ne0 = 1-1.5
e20 over the shot.

Jun 1 1995 11:58:33:720AM950601010Bruce Lipschultzshot 10: disruption at .52 seconds due to VDE.

Jun 1 1995 11:59:02:830AM950601010Bruce Lipschultzshot 10: disruption at .52 seconds due to VDE.

Jun 1 1995 12:14:44:120PM950601011Bruce Lipschultzshot 11: shot went fine - Ne0=2.e20. No FSP scan. repeat with FSP.

Jun 1 1995 12:27:21:410PM950601012Bruce Lipschultzshot 12: Ne0=2 - 2.3e20. FSP scan ok.

Jun 1 1995 01:47:38:420PM950601013Bruce Lipschultzshot 13: STRIKEOUT, 280 kA halo current. There seems to be an enormous
number of problems. At 500 ms the density drops out as the MARFE ends.
The gas valve opens wide to compensate however the plasma density does not rise
further aggravating problems that have occurred simultaneously with the
power supplies. We will back off the programming in a number of areas
and try again.

Jun 1 1995 01:54:45:960PM950601013Bruce Lipschultzshot 13: STRIKEOUT, 280 kA halo current. There seems to be an enormous
number of problems. At 500 ms the density drops out as the MARFE ends.
The gas valve opens wide to compensate however the plasma density does not rise
further aggravating problems that have occurred simultaneously with the
power supplies. We will back off the programming in a number of areas
and try again.

Jun 1 1995 02:10:51:990PM950601014Bruce Lipschultzshot 14: disruption

Jun 1 1995 02:11:09:310PM950601015Bruce Lipschultzshot 15: dud

Jun 1 1995 02:53:50:390PM950601016Bruce Lipschultzshot 16: fine at 800 kA. Next shot 1 MA.

Jun 1 1995 03:00:53:020PM950601017Bruce Lipschultzshot 17: 800 kA, next shot 1 MA

Jun 1 1995 03:03:19:780PM950601018Bruce Lipschultzshot 18: 1 MA, Ne0=1.6 rising to 2.2e20. No FSP scan.

Jun 1 1995 03:17:30:370PM950601019Bruce Lipschultzshot 19: dud, power supply turned off.

Jun 1 1995 03:32:06:960PM950601020Bruce Lipschultzshot 20: Ne0 varies from 2 to 2.7e20, 1 MA, FSP scan.

Jun 1 1995 03:51:57:010PM950601021Bruce Lipschultzshot 21: Ne0=2.3-2.8e20. FSP scan ok.

Jun 1 1995 04:15:07:440PM950601022Bruce Lipschultzshot 22: Ne0 varying from 2.2 - 3.2e20, FSP scan. Looks like beginnings
of detachment during latter part of shot.

Jun 1 1995 04:22:03:480PM950601023Bruce Lipschultzshot 23: Ne0=2.8-3.8e20. FSP scan ok. Still no clear detachment.

Jun 1 1995 04:28:32:050PM950601024Bruce Lipschultzshot 24: disruption at .64 seconds. MARFE early on.

Jun 1 1995 04:55:59:920PM950601025Bruce Lipschultzshot 25: shot went fine but no FSP scan. The divertor probe data
shows low temperatures on probe 8 (below 5 eV) but very high densities
(3e21 m^-3)) such that the pressure is still peaked at the separatrix and
no obvious detachment. No Thomson but guess Ne0 > 3e20 by end of shot.

Jun 1 1995 04:56:47:830PM950601026Bruce Lipschultzshot 26: disruption due to very large injection shortly after .4 seconds.

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
108:38:55:920AMPlasmaOk
209:35:58:430AMPlasmaOk
309:50:51:790AMPlasmaOk
410:12:04:640AMPlasmaOk
510:28:31:690AMPlasmaOk
610:50:30:930AMPlasmaOk
711:03:55:120AMPlasmaOk
811:15:54:710AMPlasmaOk
911:29:03:990AMPlasmaOk
1011:45:36:950AMPlasmaOk
1112:00:19:970PMPlasmaOk
1212:16:07:400PMPlasmaOk
1312:31:26:140PMPlasmaOk
1401:50:08:160PMPlasmaOk
1502:04:07:100PMPlasmaOk
1602:16:50:630PMPlasmaOk
1702:32:25:600PMPlasmaOk
1802:47:34:810PMPlasmaOk
1903:04:20:590PMPlasmaOk
2003:15:17:200PMPlasmaOk
2103:31:03:940PMPlasmaOk
2203:47:31:240PMPlasmaOkef1 1 SCR not conducting.
2304:03:44:010PMPlasmaOk
2404:19:07:510PMPlasmaOk
2504:37:29:210PMPlasmaOk
2604:49:36:150PMPlasmaOk