Alcator C-Mod Run 960906 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:163
Date Filed: 7/18/1996
Title:Detached Divertor High q
First Author:John Goetz
Session Leader:John Goetz (shots 1-10)

Operators
Session leader(s):John Goetz
Physics operator(s):Steve Wolfe
Engineering operator(s):Joe Daigle,Frank Silva

Engineering Operator Run Comment
mp163/goetz/wolfe/silva/daigle

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:36:56:770PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physics Operator Report for 960906
SL: Goetz
PO: Wolfe
EO: Silva

MP #163 High q_parallel Dissipative Divertor

This proposal is an attempt to simultaneously achieve a good confinement
H-mode with low Zeff and a detached divertor. The goal is to determine the
threshold amount of impurity gas necessary to detach the divertor. Also,
operation just above and just below the detachment threshold will be
investigated.

The plan was to start with a shot with seg 1 from a good recent shot and seg2
from 960227019 (1MA, 5.3T). Try to get acceptable H-mode (preferably enhanced
D-alpha). Then begin puffing N2 into the h-mode phase to try to detach. Start
with 100msec puff from B-side lower, beginning 100msec after the RF.
If successful in detaching with high q||, then try setting up feedback on the
b-side lower valve using the divertor bolo signals.
As a contingency, if the h-modes don't work out, get probe data for Brian.

Before any of this could be considered, however, we needed to convince
ourselves that the OH2U coax situation was safe to run, after yesterday's
events. Briefly, yesterday we terminated the run because on shot 3 the OH2U
coax resistance was reported by Irby's automatic routine to have exceeded the
mandatory stoppage level of 3uohm, and on subsequent testing it rose to 3.9
then 4.4 and ultimately 6uohm. This resistance was confirmed by putting 100A
DC through the coil and measuring the voltage with a microvoltmeter. We then
warmed the oh coils by passing current (1kA) from the PEI through them, and
observed a steady decrease in the resistance from 3uohm (to which it had
changed while we spent an hour or so deciding what to do) to 0.6uohm with the
OH1 coax thermocouple reading -10C. The warmup was terminated at 6PM, and the
cryo system was left on the vaporizer overnight.

When Frank came in this morning, the coax had cooled down to -30C and the
resistance was reading 0.8uohm. Cooling down to LN2 temperature resulted in a
further reduction in the resistance to 0.4uohm, which is near the lowest
values seen for this joint.

Encouraged but puzzled by this behavior we began tests to determine if the
high resistance problem had somehow fixed itself. This is not entirely wishful
thinking, as we had a similar occurrence on 951102 and 951103, when the
resistance of the oh2u coax had gone above 2uohm, come down a little during
the runs but remained above 1uohm, but then, after a week of downtime during APS,
had returned to its earlier levels and not bothered us again for most of the
last campaign.

Shots 960906001 and 2 were oh only tests at 5 and 10kA, and showed constant
resistance at 0.4uohm. Shot 3 was a 5kA test with 5.4T TF pulse. This shot
seemed to show a ramping resistance from 0.14 to 0.44uohm, but this was shown
on shot 4, a tf-only pulse, to be due to a change in the pickup of dItf/dt pickup.
This pickup appeared to be of the same magnitude but opposite sign from
the value built into Irby's scope. Applying a reversed sign coefficient, shot
3 was found to have essentially constant resistance at 0.4uohm.

Everything looked good until shot 5, which was a 10ka ohtest with 5.4T TF. The
resistance on this pulse ramped up during the pulse from 0.4 to 1.1uohm, with
an increasing slope until TF flattop. This result caused us to terminate the
testing and cancel the plasma run until we can assess the situation
better. The rationale for not continuing testing is based on uncertainty
whether, in view of the large excursion observed on shot 9 yesterday, and on
shot 5 today, a single test pulse could result in an increase that would
result in damage to the coax joint.

Most of the remainder of the day was spent considering possible explanations
for the observed behavior and reviewing prior experience and old test data on
the feltmetal joint properties. We were unable to convince ourselves that
further testing could be done without undue risk, although this decision is
not necessarily final. In view of the possibility that an in situ inspection
might be required, several TF only pulses, without TF cooling, were taken to
prepare the machine in case we decide to do a partial disassembly. Such an
inspection had already been proposed by Gwinn to take place before the spring
97 campaign.

Session Leader Comments

Physics Operator Comments
Sep 6 1996 07:31:52:910AMSteve WolfeSetting up for run of 960906 (I hope)

OH2U Coax resistance is still down, now reading 0.45uohm. Last night it
ended up at 0.62 or 0.68. We will begin with a series of resistance test
shots. Coil is at -182 (resistance reading before putting the 100A).

D2 ECDC is about to begin (07:30). We will only get about an hour's
worth.

Sep 6 1996 07:32:54:520AMSteve WolfeRun Plan for Friday 960905

MP#163 High q_parallel dissipative divertor
SL: Goetz
PO: wolfe
EO: Silva/Daigle

ECDC in D2 for 2hours before operation if possible.
Engineering setup as for 960904038

Gas setup:
20psi D2 in A-side
5psi D2 in B-top
10psi N2 in B-side lower
Enable B-top and A-side for first shot.

Check coax resistance with DC supply before cooling down and again
during and after cooldown. If resistance is within acceptable limits,
then do a 5KA oh resistance test, followed by a 10kA oh resistance
test. If these are also acceptable, then proceed with the run.

Sep 6 1996 07:37:51:300AMSteve WolfeRun Plan for Friday 960905

Start with a shot with seg 1 from a good recent shot and seg2 from 960227019
(1MA, 5.3T). Try to get acceptable H-mode (preferably enhanced D-alpha). Then
begin puffing N2 into the h-mode phase to try to detach. Start with 100msec
puff from B-side lower, beginning 100msec after the RF.

If successful in detaching with high q||, then try setting up feedback on the
b-side lower valve using the divertor bolo signals.

Contingency (if the h-modes don't work out)- Get probe data for Brian

Sep 6 1996 08:05:28:400AMSteve Wolfecoldstart:6-SEP-1996 07:56:16.82
All ok. Note that the log file contains a string of
%RMS-E-FNF, file not found
errors from the CAMAC test shot. This is now normal.

Sep 6 1996 08:20:10:180AMSteve WolfeAdditional information on coax resistance: before start of
cooling, with temp of oh1 coax down to -39 (from -10 last night),
oh2u coax resistance read .8uohm. This came down to .54uohm quickly
after cooling started.

Sep 6 1996 08:35:59:090AM960906001Steve Wolfe960906001: oh test shot, 5ka plc.
oh1: 0.1842 uohm
oh2u: 0.4348 uohm
oh2l: 0.2644 uohm
So far so good. Traces look good; no glitches.

Sep 6 1996 08:48:03:900AM960906002Steve Wolfe960906002: oh test shot, "10ka" plc (tuesday test levels).

shot: 960906002
oh1: 0.2151 uohm
oh2u: 0.4125 uohm
oh2l: 0.3163 uohm
Still ok. Note that sign of oh2l voltage is now correct, which means the
scope is reading negative resistance.

Sep 6 1996 09:07:53:560AM960906003Steve Wolfe960906003: oh test shot, 5kA, with TF at 156ka

shot: 960906003
oh1: 0.1886 uohm
oh2u: 0.4400 uohm
oh2l: 0.3649 uohm
Trace is ramping, from .14 to .44, with a glitch up at -.12.
This may be ditf/dt effect as per JHI.

Sep 6 1996 09:25:15:970AM960906004Steve Wolfe960906004: TF-only test at 156ka to check whether pickup has changed

Looks like the sign of the TF pickup has reversed. Now using a coeff of
+2.1e-9*_ditfdt, gives residual error of +/-0.0002 V .
Applying this to shot 3 gives aresistance that ramps from 0.35 to 0.47uohm

Sep 6 1996 10:42:25:640AM960906005Steve Wolfe960906005: One more test: Tuesday "10kA" with 156kA TF.
shot: 960906005
oh1: 0.3884 uohm
oh2u: 1.1144 uohm
oh2l: 0.4866 uohm

Resistance climbs throughout the pulse.
Check it with DC 100A.
It gives 1.25uohm. The change is real.

Sep 6 1996 03:41:15:030PM960906006Steve Wolfe960906006: TF only pulse, no TF cooling afterward.
Preparing in case we decide to dismantle.

With 100A in the OH2U, the resistance after the shot reads 1.4uohm.

Sep 6 1996 03:57:37:740PM960906007Steve Wolfe960906007: TF only pulse, no TF cooling afterward.
Preparing in case we decide to dismantle.

No pulse.

Sep 6 1996 04:05:05:480PM960906008Steve Wolfe960906008: TF only pulse, no TF cooling afterward.
Preparing in case we decide to dismantle.

Snipes noted that the apparent TF pickup is different from the one obtained
on shot 4 by a factor of at least 2.

This could be due to the changed circuitry: They now have 100A in the
coil and are reading out the amplifier output on the volt-meter, in
parallel with the camac.
On this one and on 6, it reads +/- .001V, as opposed to .0002 before.

Sep 6 1996 04:21:09:240PM960906009Steve Wolfe960906009: TF only pulse, no TF cooling afterward.
Preparing in case we decide to dismantle.

Remove the 100A source and the meter from the oh2u coax measurement.
See if it is really different.
Still +/-.001. They turned off the fix. det. so the flattop is
longer.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
108:30:28:440AMTestOkoh test
208:39:27:980AMTestOkoh 10ka test
308:50:35:920AMTestOkoh test 5ka with 156ka tf
409:14:29:370AMTestOktf test only 156ka
509:33:27:650AMTestOk10ka oh test with 156ka tf
603:36:12:040PMTestOktf warm up shot
703:50:00:400PMTestOkbreakers open tf test no go
803:56:27:430PMTestOktf warm up
904:11:51:700PMTestOktf warm up no fizzel
1004:27:22:230PMTestBad