Physics of the dynamic ergodic divertor

The Dynamic Ergodic Divertor (DED) of TEXTOR is presently being installed. It consists of sixteen helically wound coils occupying about 30% of the wall at the HFS. The coils follow field lines on a “pre-selected” magnetic surface and are fed individually outside the vessel. A perturbation field is created by the electrical currents in the perturbation coils with Fourier components resonant to the magnetic surfaces. The stochastic boundary layer is generated in the outermost region of the plasma, which due to long and short connection lengths can be divided into ergodic and laminar regions. Field line tracing and mapping techniques were used to analyse properties of the TEXTOR-DED plasma boundary. The DED will operate with several frequencies (DC or AC up to 10 kHz). In the “dynamic” operation the convective heat flux is deposited to a large plasma-facing surface and forces are transferred to the plasma edge, what can introduce a differential rotation of the plasma

Towards a new image processing system at Wendelstein 7-X: From spatial calibration to characterization of thermal events

Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is the most advanced fusion experiment in the stellarator line and is aimed at proving that the stellarator concept is suitable for a fusion reactor. One of the most important issues for fusion reactors is the monitoring of plasma facing components when exposed to very high heat loads, through the use of visible and infrared (IR) cameras. In this paper, a new image processing system for the analysis of the strike lines on the inboard limiters from the first W7-X experimental campaign is presented. This system builds a model of the IR cameras through the use of spatial calibration techniques, helping to characterize the strike lines by using the information given by real spatial coordinates of each pixel. The characterization of the strike lines is made in terms of position, size, and shape, after projecting the camera image in a 2D grid which tries to preserve the curvilinear surface distances between points. The description of the strike-line shape is made by means of the Fourier Descriptors

Effect of error field correction coils on W7-X limiter loads

In the first campaign Wendelstein 7-X was operated with five poloidal graphite limiters installed stellarator symmetrically. In an ideal situation the power losses would be equally distributed between the limiters. The limiter shape was designed to smoothly distribute the heat flux over two strike lines. Vertically the strike lines are not uniform because of different connection lengths. In this paper it is demonstrated both numerically and experimentally that the heat flux distribution can be significantly changed by non-resonant n = 1 perturbation field of the order of 10-4. Numerical studies are performed with field line tracing. In experiments perturbation fields are excited with five error field trim coils. The limiters are diagnosed with infrared cameras, neutral gas pressure gauges, thermocouples and spectroscopic diagnostics. Experimental results are qualitatively consistent with the simulations. With a suitable choice of the phase and amplitude of the perturbation a more symmetric plasma-limiter interaction can be potentially achieved. These results are also of interest for the later W7-X divertor operation