Preliminary Calculation of Electromagnetic Loads on Vacuum Vessel of HL-2M

For a robust design of vacuum vessel of HL-2M, the electromagnetic (EM) loads have to be understood clearly. In this paper, some crucial transient events, such as plasma major disruptions (MDs), vertical displacement events (VDEs), fast discharge of toroidal field (TF) coils, have been investigated to evaluate the eddy currents and EM forces on vacuum vessel and in-vessel components. The results show that the eddy currents depend strongly on the current decay time, and the maximum toroidal eddy current flowing in the whole vessel can reach up to 2.4 MA during MDs that is close to the plasma current. Large symmetric radial forces and a net vertical force on vessel shells could be caused by these transient events. Combination of eddy currents in in-vessel components and toroidal field could twist the copper plates and other internal parts, however, if these plates are supported and connected carefully, the twist moments will not have a big e®ect on the vessel shells and vessel support.     

Engineering design for the HL-2M tokamak components

The HL-2A tokamak will be modified into HL-2M. The Bt at the plasma center (major radius R = 1.78 m) is 2.2 T, the minor radius is 0.65 m. The plasma current I_P of HL-2M will reach up to 2.5 MA, the elongation and triangularity is more than 1.8 and more than 0.5, respectively. The vacuum vessel torus consists of 20 sectors with “D” shaped cross-section and double wall structure. 20 toroidal field coil bundles comprise 140 turns which are designed with demountable joints, the poloidal field coils system consists of 25 coils. The engineering design and calculation for field coil system, vacuum vessel, support structure, etc. are finished, many key issues for manufacture process have been discussed with industry and the fabrication of main components of HL-2M tokamak will be carried out in factories.     

A web application for poloidal field analysis on HL-2M

Recently, many web tools [1], [2], [3] in fusion society have been designed and demonstrated, which has been proved to be powerful and convenient to fusion researchers. Many physicists and engineers need a tool to compute the poloidal magnetic field for some purposes (for example, the calibration of magnetic probes for EFIT, the field null structure analysis for control, the design of some plasma diagnostic systems), so to develop a powerful and convenient web application for the calculation of magnetic field and magnetic flux produced by PF coils is very important. In this paper, a web application tool for poloidal field analysis on HL-2M with a totally original framework is presented. This web application is full of dynamic and interactive interface, and can run in any popular browser (IE, safari, firefox, opera), on any hardware (smart phone, PC, ipad, Mac) and operating system (ios, android, windows, linux, Mac OS). No any plugins is needed. The three layers (jQuery + PHP + Matlab) of this framework are introduced. The front top client layer is developed by jQuery code. The middle layer, which plays a role of a bridge to connect the server and client through socket communication, is developed by PHP code. The behind server layer is developed by Matlab, which compute the magnetic field or magnetic flux through a Special Function called Complete Elliptic Integral, and returns the results in the client favorite way, either by table or by JPG image. The field null structure and the vertical and radial field structure calculated by this tool are introduced with details. The idea to design a web tool with jQuery + PHP + Matlab framework may apply to other machines. The address for this application is http://dp.swip.ac.cn/hl2m.     

Thermal-hydraulic analysis of the HL-2M divertor using an homogeneous equilibrium model

The heat flux of the HL-2M divertor would reach 10 MWm-2 or more at the local area when the device operates at high parameters.Subcooled boiling could occur at high thermal load,which would be simulated based on the homogeneous equilibrium model.The results show that the current design of the HL-2M divertor could withstand the local heat flux 10 MW m-2 at a plasma pulse duration of 5 s,inlet coolant pressure of 1.5 MPa and flow velocity of 4 m s-1.The pulse duration that the HL-2M divertor could withstand is closely related to the coolant velocity.In addition,at the time of 2 min after plasma discharge,the flow velocity decreased from 4 m s-1 to 1 m s-1,and the divertor could also be cooled to the initial temperature before the next plasma discharge commences.     

Research on the real-time signal conditioning method for dispersion interferometer in HL-2M

A new CO₂ laser dispersion interferometer has been developed in the HL-2M tokamak tomeasure the electron density. In order to meet the needs of high-precision measurement, a dataacquisition system with real-time signal conditioning (RSC) method is proposed. It can eliminatepart of the impacts of environmental factors, such as mechanical vibration, light path changes,and plasma refraction effect during experiments. In harsh environments, the system can measurethe line-integrated density with a high precision of 2 × 10¹⁸ m⁻² with the RSC method. Thesystem has been tested in a recent HL-2A experimental campaign, and the results show that theRSC method plays an important role in the plasma electron density measurement.     

中国环流器二号A(HL-2A)装置物理设计

文章是关于中国环流器二号A(HL-2A)装置物理设计的总结报告,包括以下几方面的内容:分析计算等离子体截面变形及由截面拉长引起的垂直不稳定性,提出对HL-2A极向磁场线圈电流和控制系统的要求;研究通过中性束注入加热(NBI)和低混杂波电流驱动(LHCD)实现等离子体剖面控制,模拟并设计HL-2A的高性能的运行模式;分析HL-2A先进约束位形(RS位形)下的磁流体力学不稳定性,为实现高性能模式稳态运行的等离子体控制指出方向;同时,利用数值模拟分析HL-2A偏滤器等离子体性能,为偏滤器的改进提供依据。     

identification and Analysis of Magnetic Structures on HL-2A

A method for the identification and analysis of magnetic islands is presented based on the calculation of the perturbative current and magnetic field in plasmas. A cylindrical approximation is adopted and the toroidal effect on plasma equilibrium is also included. This method has been used on the HL-2A tokamak for analysing the magnetic island structures.     

HL-2A托卡马克上等离子体环电流、环电压测量系统研制

详细描述了HL-2A托卡马克装置上等离子体环电流、环电压诊断系统,其中包括测量原理、诊断安排、实验等方面的内容。对实验中出现的杂散场干扰问题,及补偿技术做了全面的研究和探讨。并结合HL-2A的实验数据对诊断系统进行了验证。     

HL-2A Tokamak Edge Modeling with B2

The outer divertor plasma of HL-2A and its associated scrape-off plasma have been simulated using a two-dimensional multi-species fluid code of Braams with a simplified neutral gas model. HL-2A has a double-null closed divertor in separate divertor chambers above and below the nearly circular plasma tours. The computed numerical grid is developed according to an ideal magnetic surface. The calculation is involved only with pure hydrogen plasma. The emphasis has been focused on parametric studies involving variation of the assumptions made for the core plasma. The peak temperatures and the heat flux near the target are of the principal concern。     

Imaging System and Plasma Imaging on HL-2A Tokamak

As a new diagnostic means, plasma-imaging system has been developed on the HL-2A tokamak, with a basic understanding of plasma discharge scenario of the entire torus, checking the plasma position and the clearance between the plasma and the first wall during discharge. The plasma imaging system consists of (1) color video camera, (2) observation window and turn mirror, (3) viewing & collecting optics, (4) video cable, (5) Video capture card as well as PC. This paper mainly describes the experimental arrangement, plasma imaging system and detailed part in the system, along with the experimental results. Real-time monitoring of plasma discharge process, particularly distinguishing limitor and divertor configuration, the imaging system has become key diagnostic means and laid the foundation for further physical experiment on the HL-2A tokamak.     

ECRH Launcher for Four-Beam Injection on HL-2A Tokamak

An Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) launcher for four-beam injection has been installed on the HL-2A tokamak and used in plasma heating experiments. By the launcher, four EC wave beams can be injected into the tokamak through a φ350 mm port, which are generated from 2 sets of 68 GHz/1 s and 2 sets of 68 GHz/1.5 s gyrotron tubes manufactured by GYCOM, with maximum output power of 500 kW for each. In this paper, the properties of the EC beam in the launcher and plasma are presented: at the centre of the cross section of the tokamak, the beam radius is 31.7 mm; thermal analysis of a 3D model indicates that the peak temperature increase would be only 30 o C at the mirror surface for a 500 kW/1 s pulse; ray-tracing calculation predicts satisfactory power deposition. In the plasma experiment, six beams including four beams from this launcher and two from another launcher have been injected simultaneously. Besides, obtaining ELM-y H-mode discharges, the ECRH system shows reliability and stability of the launcher functions.     

Study of Plasma MHD Equilibrium in HL-2A Tokamak

EFIT（Equilibrium Fitting） code is successfully transplanted for HL-2A tokamak parameters. The evolution of the equilibrium configurations for shot 2898 is simulated. It is shown that the discharge starts with a limiter configuration and develops into a divertor configuration gradually after t = 200 ms. The latter lasts until the end of the discharge at t = 900 ms. The evolution of the major plasma shape parameters such as the boundary magnetic fluxes, the positions of the x-point and magnetic axis, and the minor radii obtained are calculated and compared with the experimental results. The agreement between the simulation and experiments are shown to be reasonable. The possibility for discharge quality improvement is discussed.     

The Principle of Plasma Boundary Identification on HL-2A Tokamak

Plasma boundary identification is a basic task for studies on equilibrium and confinement in a divertor tokamak. With the progress on the experiments after engineering experiments, the boundary identification becomes an important issue for HL-2A. In order to satisfy the requirements of preciseness, simplified measurements and quickness, the filament current method instead of solving the equilibrium equations is used to identify plasma boundary on HL-2A. The involved principle, mathematics and the progresses, which have been made with this method, are given.     

The Power Supply System for HL-2A Tokamak＇s Magnetic Field

The highpower pulsed power supply system for the magnetic field of the HL-2A Tokamak is described in this paper. The total output power of its eight magnetic field power supply units of nearly 250 MW. Their highest DC output voltage and current are 3510 V and 45 kA, respectively. All the units are operated in a pulsed mode. The pulse duration is 5 s, and the cyclic period is 15 min. The power supply system consists mainly of pulsed flywheel motor generators, rectifying transformers, thyristor converters, diode rectifiers and switches. The system incorporates many key technologies-supply equalization with two generators and four diode bridges, constant-angle phase triggers with a wide frequency range, current equalization, a status detector for the high current 6-phase converter, and advanced monitoring based on a programmable logic computer and engineering parameter measurement. The experimental results show that the performance of the power supply system satisfies the requirements of HL-2A experiments very well.     

HL-2A托卡马克装置的工程和实验概况

中国环流器二号A装置(HL-2A)是核工业西南物理研究院2002年投入实验运行的托卡马克,它是我国第1个具有偏滤器、等离子体截面具有一定垂直拉长的托卡马克.HL-2A的磁体使用铜导体,具有良好的灵活性和等离子体的可近性,其极向场线圈全部位于环向场线圈之内,位于真空室内的偏滤器的成形线圈可建立双零和单零的偏滤器位形.HL-2A已发展了30多套先进的等离子体诊断系统和总功率4 MW的辅助加热系统,加料技术得到持续发展.随着上述系统的建设和放电综合控制技术的提高,HL-2A装置已获得了高约束模式,这为开展先进托卡马克(AT)物理实验,ITER和聚变堆的科学、技术和工程问题等的研究奠定了基础.HL-2A也成为国际上最活跃的中型托卡马克,为国际托卡马克物理活动(ITPA)作出了积极贡献.     

Fuelling and Diagnostics with Pellet Injection in the HL-1M Tokamak

The pellet injection experiments for fuelling and diagnostics have been carried out on the HL-1M tokamak. The eight-pellet injector was installed on HL-1M. A reliable monitordetector and camera system was set up to take initial pellet photographs and measure the initial pellet speed and size. High fuelling efficiency of 60 % - 100 % and a density profile with a peaking factor of 1.8 - 2.0 were obtained. The maximum density close to 10^14/cm^3 in HL-1M was achieved with newly optimized combined fuelling techniques. Two typical models of pellet ablation have been utilized for simulative calculation of the ablation rates in HL-1M. In comparison with the distribution of the measured Hα emission intensity from the digital data of the CCD camera, the experimental result seems more optimistic for core fuelling than theoretical predictions by the two models. The safety factor profile q（r） has been extracted from the information provided by the CCD camera during the pellet injection. The reliability of the measured results depends mainly on the calibration of the imaging space position. Based on the calibration, the measured q-profile becomes more reasonable than those published previously for the same shot number and same photograph.     

Design of the ECRH/ECCD Launcher System for HL-2A Tokamak

An ECRH/ECCD system with two 68GHz/500kW/1S gyrotrons will be built up in HL-2A tokamak. The location of the Gaussian beam waist is 580 mm away from the center of the plasmas and the beam radius is 37 mm at the center of the plasmas. Compared to the minor plasma radius （420 mm）, it is small enough for localized control. The launcher system covers a wide toroidal and poloidal steering range by the two steering plane mirrors. Therefore it is possible to explore the on- and off-axis heating over half of the plasma minor cross section and the co-current drive.     

Review of the experiments for energetic particle physics on HL-2A

This paper reviews the energetic particle(EP) experiments during electron cyclotron resonance heating(ECRH) and neutral beam injection in the HL-2 A tokamak.A number of important results are summarized,which relate to ITER physics,including the behavior of the multi-mode instability,the nonlinear interaction between wave–wave and wave–particles,the losses of EP induced by the instabilities,the effect of the EP instabilities on the thermal plasma confinement and the control of the EP instabilities by means of ECRH.Systematic experiments indicate that when the drive is great enough,the nonlinear effects and the multi-mode coexistence may play an important role,which affect the transport both of the EPs and the background plasma confinement,and these instabilities could be controlled.Some new phenomena about the EP induced instabilities discovered recently on the device,such as high frequency reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes,Alfvénic ion temperature gradient modes,the geodesic acoustic mode induced by energetic electrons excited by interaction between tearing mode and beta induced Alfvén eigenmode and double e-fishbone in negative magnetic shear discharges etc,have also been presented in the paper.     

MHD Equilibrium Configuration Reconstructions for HL-2A Tokamak

The EFIT （Equilibrium Fitting） code is modified for the equilibrium configuration reconstruction in HL-2A. Signals from Langmuir probe （LP） at the divertor targ...     

The Designed Operation of the Machine Control System on HL-2A Tokamak

The Ethernet and field-bus communications are used in the machine control system （MCS） of HL-2A. The control net, with a programmable logic controller （PLC） as its logic control master, an engineering control management station as its net server, and a timing control PC connected to a number of terminals, flexibly and freely transfers information among the nodes on it with the Ethernet transmission techniques. The PLC masters the field bus, which carries small pieces of information between PLC and the field sites reliably and quickly. The control net is connected into the data net, where Internet access and sharing of more experimental data are enabled. The communication in the MCS guarantees the digitalization, automation and centralization. Also provided are a satisfactory degree of safety, reliability, stability, expandability and flexibility for maintenance.