Influence of Jet Angle and Ion Density of Cathode Side on Low Current Vacuum Arc Characteristics

In this study, the influence of the initial jet angles （IJAs） and ion number densities （INDs） at the cathode side on the low current vacuum arc （LCVA） characteristics is simulated and analysed. The results show that the ion temperature, electron temperature, ion number density, axial current density and plasma pressure all decrease with the increase of the cathode IJAs. It is also shown that LCVA can cause a current constriction for lower cathode IND, and the anode sheath potential is more nonuniform, which is mainly related to the nonuniform distribution of the axial current density at the anode side.     

Arc Behaviours in Vacuum Interrupters with Axial Magnetic Field Electrodes

To improve the limiting current interruption capability and minimizing vacuum interrupter with axial magnetic field （AMF） electrodes, it is significant to investigate the vacuum arc behaviours between the contacts. AMF distributions of the slot type electrodes were studied by both numerical analysis and experiments. Furthermore, the behaviours of vacuum arcs for different parameters of the slot type AMF electrodes were investigated by using high-speed CCD camera. The influences of gap distance, contact diameter and phase shift time between AMF and arc current on the vacuum arc were investigated. The results provide a reference for research and development of vacuum interrupters with slot type or other types of AMF electrode.     

Thermal Analysis and Optimization for Cryopanel of NBI Cryocondensation Pump

Excellent vacuum performance ensures a high beam transmission efficiency of the neutral beam injector （NBI）. The vacuum performance is mainly determined by the cryoperformance of the cryopanel of the cryocondensation pumps which are the main vacuum pumps of NBI. In order to optimize the cryoperformance, the requirements for the temperature distribution and the heat load of the cryopanel are analysed and the factors that affect the cryopanel＇s temperature distribution are studied. The results indicate that the temperature difference of the cryopanel can be reduced by fabricating the cryopanel with high thermal conductivity material, increasing its thickness and cutting the distance between the two upward cooling pipes. The results may be applied to a cryopanel cooled by forced flow liquid helium.     

Thermal Performance Study of VPS-W Coatings on CuCrZr Under High Heat Flux

Three tungsten coatings with a thickness of 250 μm, 600μm and 220 μm, respectively, were deposited on a CuCrZr substrate by the vacuum plasma spraying technology. In order to study the thermal performance of the coatings, heat load limit, thermal fatigue lifetime and thermal response tests were performed by means of the electron beam irradiation with a heat flux from 0 MW/m^2 to 10 MW/m^2. Experimental results indicated that tungsten coatings on CuCrZr with a titanium or tungsten/copper interlayer could expel heat flux timely and had good thermal fatigue properties, titanium was a promising compliant layer which provided a reliable way to join tungsten onto the CuCrZr heat sink, even suffering from a heat flux of 10 MW/m^2 or withstanding 54 cycles of fatigue tests under 5 MW/m^2. However, the better quality of tungsten coating itself was necessary because its surface temperature was higher than that of the sample with a tungsten/copper interlayer.     

Numerical Investigation of Flow Fields in Inductively Coupled Plasma Wind Tunnels

Numerical simulations of 10 kW and 110 kW inductively coupled plasma （ICP） wind tunnels were carried out to study physical properties of the flow inside the ICP torch and vacuum chamber with air as tile working gas. Two-dimensional compressible axisymmetric Navier- Stokes （N-S） equations that took into account 11 species and 49 chemical reactions of air, were solved. A heat source model was used to describe the heating phenomenon instead of solving the electromagnetic equations. In the vacuum chamber, a four-temperature model was coupled with N-S equations. Numerical results for tile 10 kW ICP wind tunnel are presented and discussed in detail as a representative case. It was found that the plasma flow in the vacuum chamber tended to be in local thermoehemical equilibrium. To study the influence of operation conditions on the flow field, simulations were carried out for different chamber pressures and/or input powers. The computational results for the above two ICP wind tunnels were compared with corresponding experimental data. The computational and experimental results agree well, therefore the flow fields of ICP wind tunnels can be clearly understood.     

Study of Metal and Ceramic Thermionic Vacuum arc Discharges

The thermionic vacuum arc （TVA） is a new type of plasma source, which generates a pure metal and ceramic vapour plasma containing ions with a directed energy. TVA discharges can be ignited in high vacuum conditions between a heated cathode （electron gun） and an anode （tungsten crucible） containing the material. The accelerated electron beam, incident on the anode, heats the crucible, together with its contents, to a high temperature. After establishing a steadystate density of the evaporating anode material atoms, and when the voltage applied is high enough, a bright discharge is ignited between the electrodes. We generated silver and Al2O3 TVA discharges in order to compare the metal and ceramic TVA discharges. The electrical and optical characteristics of silver and Al2O3 TVA discharges were analysed. The TVA is also a new technique for the deposition of thin films. The film condenses on the sample from the plasma state of the vapour phase of the anode material, generated by a TVA. We deposited silver and Al2O3 thin films onto an aluminium substrate layer-by-layer using their TVA discharges, and produced micro and/or nano-layer Ag-Al2O3 composite samples. The composite samples using scanning electron microscopy was also analysed.     

Heat Transfer Analysis of Two Kinds of Mechanically Jointed GBST1308/CuCrZr Plasma Facing Components of EAST

Doped graphite GBST1308, mechanically jointed to CuCrZr alloys, will be applied on EAST superconducting as plasma facing material （PFM）. Two joint structures called joint-1 and joint-2 were evaluated by means of thermal response tests using electron beam facility. The experimental results showed that the temperature differences of two joints were not significant, and the maximum surface temperature was about 1055℃ at a load of 4 MW/m^2, which had a good agreement with the simulated results by ANSYS code. The results indicated that the doped graphite GBST1308/CuCrZr mock-up can withstand heat flux deposition of 4 MW/m^2 except at the screw-fastened region, and joint-2 could be more suitable to higher heat flux region such as divertor target. But under the higher heat flux, both joints are unacceptable, an advanced PFM and its integration with the heat sink have to be developed, for example, vacuum plasma spraying tungsten coatings on the CuCrZr might be a good choice.     

Numerical Analysis on Neutron Shielding Structure of ITER Vacuum Vessel

The neutron shielding component of ITER （International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor） vacuum vessel is a kind of structure resembling a wall in appearance. A FE （finite element） model is set up by using ANSYS code in terms of its structural features. Static analysis, thermal expansion analysis and dynamic analysis are performed. The static results show that the stress and displacement distribution are allowable, but the high stress appears in the junction between the upper and lower parts. The modal analysis indicates that the biggest deformation exists in the port area. Through modal superposition, the single-point response has been found with the lower rank frequency of the acceleration seismic response spectrum. But the deformation and the stress values are within the permissible limit. The analysis results would benefit the work in the next step and provide some reference for the implementation of the engineering plan in the future.     

High Power Microwave Test System and Simulated Experiments for HT-7

In lower hybrid current drive （LHCD） experiments in HT-7, LH wave coupled to the plasma from 12 klystrons is launched by a phased multi-junction grill. High power microwave reflection or arc, which threatens the klystrons, the wave-guide ceramic windows and the vacuum of the tokamak, occur sometimes during the experiments. For the sake of safety, a high power microwave test system to perform simulations was developed. In the test experiments, the klystron and window can be well protected with an optimized microwave monitor and a PIN switch. The layout of the test system and the simulated experiments for HT-7 are described in this paper.     

The Discharge Development and Arc Modes in Vacuum at A Long Gap Distance in Vacuum Interrupters

The influence of an arc current on the discharge development and the arc modes of a single coil type axial magnetic field （AMF） electrode were investigated by a high-speed charge couple device （CCD） video camera in a long gap distance of 40 mm. The distribution of the axial magnetic field of the single coil type AMF electrode was computed. By computational results, the single coil type AMF electrode could generate higher axial magnetic flux density than the slot type AMF electrode. It was found that the single coil type AMF electrode could perform better than the slot type AMF electrode with the same designing parameters. And the development of the arc modes experienced diffuse mode, constricted but unstable mode, and constricted and stable mode with the amplitude of the arc current increasing. The correlation between the vacuum arc and the noise components of arc voltage was investigated too. The interruption capability could be known in a practical commercial vacuum interrupter by the test results in a demountable vacuum interrupter （DVC） with a electrode diameter of 50 mm and a gap distance of 40 mm.The test results could provide reference to design the high voltage vacuum interrupter adopting the single coil type AMF electrode.     

Magnetization of Multifilamentary Superconductor Nb3Sn in Perpendicular Field

Hysteresis loss is one of the electromagnetic characteristics controlled by time evolution of magnetic field and current distribution inside the conductor. Brandt＇s method allows us to model the interaction of the conductor with an external magnetic field. Instead of the constant critical current density （Jc =CONST）, the Jc scaling law from current-voltage （I-V） measurement is used to model the magnetization loop. By comparing the calculated results with the measured data, it is shown that the Jc scaling law, i.e. the deviatoric strain model, is not useful in a very low field. To solve this problem, the Kim model about Jc as a function of applied field has been applied in the low field case. This method can be used to predict the hysteresis loss of Nb3Sn filamentary strand.     

Design of Magnetic Measurement System on SUNIST Spherical Tokamak

A magnetic measurement system consisting of magnetic probes and flux loops for spherical tokamak SUNIST, is uniquely designed due to the strongly shaped plasma cross section and the narrow space near the central solenoid. Plasma equilibrium reconstruction with the current filament method is performed to determine the number and positions of the magnetic probes and flux loops, as well as their design precision required.     

Methods of Power Balance Analysis and Estimation of Current Density Profile for LHCD and IBW Discharges in HT-7 Tokamak

In this paper a simple code has been developed to analyze power balance and qualitatively evaluate current profiles for discharges with lower hybrid current drive （LHCD） and ion Bernstein wave （IBW） heating in the HT-7 tokamak. Electron and ion thermal diffusivity, profiles of the bootstrap current density and total plasma current density can be estimated by this code using the experimental data. This code offers an easy and reasonable means to understand plasma transport in HT-7.     

Experimental Study of the Recovery Times of Spark Gap Switch with Different Gases

A two-pulse method is used to determine the insulation recovery time of the gas spark gap switch with different types of gas applied in a high power accelerator with a water dielectric pulse forming line. At the breakdown voltage of 450 kV, with the vacuum diode voltage of about 200 kV, and a current of 30 kA, recovery characteristics of H2, N2, SF6 were studied. The recovery percentages of the gas breakdown voltage and vacuum diode voltage were determined. The results show that hydrogen has the best recovery characteristics. At a pulse interval of 8.8 ms, the recovery percentages of both the gas breakdown voltage and vacuum diode voltage for hydrogen exceed 95%. For SF6 and N2 with an interval of 25 ms and 50 ms respectively, a 90% voltage recovery was obtained. The experiments also proved that the repetitive rate of the high power accelerator with a pulse forming line is mainly restricted by the gas switch repetitive rate; the recovery percentages of the vacuum diode voltage are limited by the recovery percentages of the gas switch breakdown voltage. The hydrogen switch can be employed for a high repetitive rate-high power accelerator with a pulse forming line.     

A Novel Crowbar Impulse Current Circuit for Testing the Switch-Type SPD

A crowbar impulse current circuit for testing the switch-type surge protective device （SPD） is presented. The crowbar circuit consists of a computer control circuit, a trigger voltage pulse generator, a main discharging switch, and a crowbar pseudospark switch. The active trigger technology was studied in the crowbar impulse current circuit. The circuit monitors the main discharging current and generates a trigger signal at a proper time for the crowbar pseudospark switch operation. The trigger characteristics of the main discharge switch and the crowbar pseu- dospark switch were investigated. By monitoring the preset applied capacitor voltage, the gap distance of the main discharging switch could be adjusted to ensure a discharging delay time less than 2 μs. Equipped with a surface ttashover trigger device made of high relative perimittivity dielectric material BaTiO3 （εr = 3460）, the discharge delay time of the crowbar pseudospark switch is less than 85 ns, and the minimum operating voltage is less than 1% of its self-breakdown voltage. With a storage capacitor of 9 μF , an inductor of 18 μH and a crowbar pseudospark switch, a load of 30 mΩ and an applied capacitor voltage of 40 kV, an impulse current waveform of maximum 25 kA was generated with a rise time and time to half peak value of 17.2 μs and 336μs respectively.     

Lower-Hybrid Drift Instability in Modified Harris Current Sheet

Lower-hybrid drift instability （LHDI） in a Harris current sheet including a uniform background distribution is investigated in linear local kinetic theory. It is found that the introduction of a uniform background distribution reduces the growth rate and real frequency of LHDI at all wavelengths. Some physical explanations about the effects of the background distribution are provided.     

Development of Data Acquisition Card Driver for ICRH System on EAST

Presented in this paper is the development of the driver for the data acquisition card with a peripheral component interconnection （PCI） local bus on the ion cyclotron range of frequency heating （1CRH） system. The driver is mainly aimed at the embedded VxWorks system （real-time operating system） which is widely used in various fields of real-time systems. An efficient way is employed to develop this driver, which will advance the real-time control of the ICRH system on the experimental advanced superconductor tokamak （EAST）. The driver is designed using the TORNADO integrated development environment （IDE）, and implemented in C plus language. The details include the hardware configuration, analogue/digital （A/D） and digital/analogue （D/A） conversion, input and output （I/O） operation of the driver to support over five cards. The data acquisition card can be manipulated in a low-level program and meet the requirements of A/D conversion and D/A outputs.     

Density and temperature of fermions and bosons from quantum fluctuations

A novel method to determine the density and temperature of a system constituted by fermions and/or bosons is proposed based on quantum fluctuations. For fermions system, the results in the limit where the reached temperature T is small and where there is no constraint for the reached temperature T compared to the Fermi energy ~f at a given density p are given, respectively. Quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuation relations are derived in terms of T/6f. We compared the two set results in the limit when Tis much smaller compared to Fermi energy Cf and they are consistent, as expected. The classical limit is also obtained for high temperatures and low densities. For bosons system, quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuations using Landau＇s theory of fluctuations near the critical point for a Bose-Einstein condensate （BEC） at a given density p are derived. As an example, we apply our approach to heavy ion collisions using the Constrained Molecular Dynamics model （CoMD） which includes the fermionic statistics. The multiplicity fluctuation quenching for fermions is found in the model and confirmed by experimental data. To reproduce the available experimental data better, we propose a modification of the collision term in the approach to include the possibility of ct-a collisions. The relevant Bose-Einstein factor in the collision term is properly taken into account. This approach increases the yields of bosons relative to fermions closer to data. Boson fluctuations become larger than one as expected.