The simulation and experimental optimization of a Kalman filter feedback control algorithm for n=1 tokamak external kink modes are reported. In order to achieve the highest plasma pressure limits in ITER, resistive wall mode stabilization is required [T. C. Hender et al., Nucl. Fusion 47, S128 (2007)] and feedback algorithms will need to distinguish the mode from noise due to other magnetohydrodynamic activity. The Kalman filter contains an internal model that captures the dynamics of a rotating, growing n=1 mode. This model is actively compared with real-time measurements to produce an optimal estimate for the mode’s amplitude and phase. On the High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse experiment [T. H. Ivers et al., Phys. Plasmas 3, 1926 (1996)], the Kalman filter algorithm is implemented using a set of digital, field-programmable gate array controllers with 10 μs latencies. Signals from an array of 20 poloidal sensor coils are used to measure the n=1 mode, and the feedback control is applied using 40 poloidally and toroidally localized control coils. The feedback system with the Kalman filter is able to suppress the external kink mode over a broad range of phase angles between the sensed mode and applied control field. Scans of filter parameters show good agreement between simulation and experiment, and feedback suppression and excitation of the kink mode are enhanced in experiments when a filter made using optimal parameters from the scans is used.
Abstract. The High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse (HBT-EP) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) mode control research program is studying ITER relevant internal modular feedback control coil configurations and their impact on kink mode rigidity, advanced digital control algorithms, and the effects of plasma rotation and three dimensional magnetic fields on MHD mode stability. A new segmented adjustable conducting wall has been installed on HBT-EP made up of 20 independent, movable, wall shell segments instrumented with 3 distinct sets of 40 saddle coils totaling 120 in-vessel modular feedback control coils. Each internal coil set has been designed with varying toroidal angular coil coverage of 5 • , 10 • , and 15 • , spanning the toroidal angle range of an ITER port plug based internal coil to test Resistive Wall Mode (RWM) interaction and multimode MHD plasma response to such highly localized control fields. In addition, we have implemented 336 new poloidal and radial magnetic sensors to quantify the applied three dimensional fields of our control coils along with the observed plasma response. This paper describes the design and implementation of the new control shell incorporating these control and sensor coils on HBT-EP, and the research program plan on the upgraded HBT-EP to understand how best to optimize the use of modular feedback coils to control instability growth near the ideal wall stabilization limit, answer critical questions about the role of plasma rotation in active control of the RWM and the Ferritic Resistive Wall Mode (FRWM), and to improve the performance of MHD control systems used in fusion experiments and future burning plasma systems.
Feedback control has become a crucial tool in the research on magnetic confinement of plasmas for achieving controlled nuclear fusion. We present the first experimental results from a novel feedback control system that, for the first time, employs a graphics processing unit (GPU) for microsecond-latency, real-time control computations. The system was tested on the HBT-EP tokamak using an adaptive control algorithm for control of rotating magnetic perturbations. The algorithm assumes that perturbations of known shape are rotating rigidly, but dynamically derives and updates the rotation frequency to improve phase and gain accuracy of the control signals. Experiments were set up to control four rotating n = 1 perturbations at different poloidal angles. The perturbations are treated as coupled in frequency but independent of amplitude and phase, so that the system effectively controls a helical n = 1 perturbation with unknown poloidal spectrum. The control system suppresses the amplitude of the dominant 8 kHz mode by up to 60%. Deviation from the optimal feedback phase combines suppression with a speed up or slow down of the mode rotation frequency. The feedback performance is found to exceed previous results obtained with an FPGA-and Kalman-filter based control system without requiring any tuning of system model parameters.
The detailed measurements of the 3D plasma response to applied external magnetic perturbations in the presence of a rotating external kink are presented, and compared with the predictions of a single-helicity linear model of kink mode dynamics. The modular control coils of the High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse (HBT-EP) device are used to apply resonant m/n = 3/1 magnetic perturbations to wall-stabilized tokamak plasmas with a pre-existing rotating 3/1 kink mode. The plasma response is measured in high-resolution with the extensive magnetic diagnostic set of the HBT-EP device. The spatial structures of both the naturally rotating kink mode and the externally driven response are independently measured and observed to be identical, while the temporal dynamics are consistent with the independent evolution and superposition of the two modes. This leads to the observation of a characteristic change in 3D field dynamics as a function of the applied field amplitude. This amplitude dependence is found to be different for poloidal and radial fields. The measured 3D response is compared to and shown to be consistent with the predictions of the linear single-helicity model in the “high-dissipation” regime, as reported previously [M. E. Mauel et al., Nucl. Fusion 45, 285 (2005)].
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