Tests on a mock-up of the feedback controlled matching options for the ITER ICRH system

For the ICRH of ITER 20MW must be coupled to the plasma in the 40-55MHz frequency band via an array of 24 radiating shorted straps fed by four generators. The matching system must provide automatic matching control on the mean load provided by the plasma and be resilient (|Γ| < 0.2) to a wide range of fast antenna load excursions occurring in ELMy plasmas. Furthermore, good control of the current distribution in the strap array must be possible for the various heating and current drive scenarios. Two load resilient matching options have been considered for ITER: the 4 “Conjugate-T” (CT) and the 4 hybrids ones, the first being presently considered as a back-up option. Automatic control of these 2 options is presently developed, and tested for optimization on a low-powered scaled mock-up. Successful implementation of the simultaneous feedback control of 11 actuators for the matching of the 4CT and for the control of the toroidal phasing has already been achieved. The matching and the array current control of the 3dB hybrid option is provided by simultaneous feedback control of the decouplers and double stub tuners (in total 23 actuators) and is being progressively implemented. The simultaneous control of matching and antenna current has already been successfully tested on part of the array

Improvement of the phase regulation between two amplifiers feeding the inputs of the 3dB combiner in the ASDEX-Upgrade ICRH system

The present ICRF system at ASDEX Upgrade uses 3dB combiners to forward the combined power of a generator pair to a single line. Optimal output performance is achieved when the voltages at the two input lines of a combiner are equal in amplitude and the phase in quadrature. If this requirement is not met, a large amount of power is lost in the dummy loads of the combiner. To minimize losses, it is paramount to reach this phase relationship in a fast and stable way. The current phase regulation system is based on analog phase locked loops circuits. The main limitation of this system is the response time: several tens of milliseconds are needed to achieve a stable state. In order to get rid of the response time limitation of the current system, a new system is proposed based on a multi-channel direct digital synthesis device which is steered by a microcontroller and a software-based controller. The proposed system has been developed and successfully tested on a test-bench. The results show a remarkable improvement in the reduction of the response times. Other significant advantages provided by the new system include greater flexibility for frequency and phase settings, lower cost and a noticeable size reduction of the system

Results of the implementation on a mock-up of the full 3dB hybrid matching option of the ITER ICRH system

Each of the two ICRH antennas for ITER must couple 20MW to the plasma in the 40-55MHz band via an array of 24 radiating shorted straps fed by four generators. The matching system must provide automatic matching control on the mean load provided by the plasma and be resilient (|Γ| < 0.2) to a wide range of fast antenna load excursions occurring in ELMy plasmas. Furthermore, good control of the current distribution in the strap array must be possible for the various heating and current drive scenarios. Two load resilient matching options have been considered for ITER: the 4 “Conjugate-T” (CT) and the 4 hybrids ones, the first being presently considered as a back-up option. Automatic control of these 2 options has been developed, and tested for optimization on a low-powered scaled mock-up. Successful implementation of the simultaneous feedback control of 11 actuators for the matching of the 4CT and for the control of the toroidal phasing has already been achieved. The matching and the array current control of the 3dB hybrid option are provided by simultaneous feedback control of the decouplers and double stub tuners (in total 23 actuators) and this has also been successfully achieved for the full array. The paper discusses the circuit implementation and presents the obtained results

Preparing ITER ICRF: development and analysis of the load-resilient matching systems based on antenna mock-up measurements

The reference design for the ICRF antenna of ITER is constituted by a tight array of 24 straps grouped in eight triplets. The matching network must be load resilient for operation in ELMy discharges and must have antenna spectrum control for heating or current drive operation. The load resilience is based on the use of either hybrid couplers or conjugate-T circuits. However, the mutual coupling between the triplets at the low expected loading strongly counteracts the load resilience and the spectrum control. Using a mock-up of the ITER antenna array with adjustable water load matching solutions are designed. These solutions are derived from transmission line modelling based on the measured scattering matrix and are finally tested. We show that the array current spectrum can be controlled by the anti-node voltage distribution and that suitable decoupler circuits can not only neutralize the adverse mutual coupling effects but also monitor this anti-node voltage distribution. A matching solution using four 3 dB hybrids and the antenna current spectrum feedback control by the decouplers provides outstanding performance if each pair of poloidal triplets undergoes a same load variation. Finally, it is verified by modelling that this matching scenario has the same antenna spectrum and load resilience performances as the antenna array loaded by plasma as described by the TOPICA simulation. This is true for any phasing and frequency in the ITER frequency band. The conjugate-T solution is presently considered as a back-up option