For the development of a DEMOnstration Fusion Power Plant the design of auxiliary heating systems is a key activity in order to achieve controlled burning plasma. The present heating mix considers Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH), Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) and Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) with a target power to the plasma of about 50MW for each system. The main tasks assigned to the EC system are plasma breakdown and assisted start-up, heating to L-H transition and plasma current ramp up to burn, MHD stability control and assistance in plasma current ramp down. The consequent requirements are used for the conceptual design of the EC system, from the RF source to the launcher, with an extensive R&D program focused on relevant technologies to be developed. Gyrotron: the R&D and Advanced Developments on EC RF sources are targeting for gyrotrons operating at 240GHz, considered as optimum EC Current Drive frequency in case of higher magnetic field than for the 2015 EU DEMO1 baseline. Multipurpose (multi-frequency) and frequency step-tunable gyrotrons are under investigation to increase the flexibility of the system. As main targets an output power of significantly above 1MW (target: 2MW) and a total efficiency higher than 60% are set. The principle feasibility at limits of a 236GHz, conventional-cavity and, alternatively, of a 238GHz coaxial-cavity gyrotron are under investigation together with the development of a synthetic diamond Brewster-angle window technology. Advanced developments are ongoing in the field of multi-stage depressed collector technologies. Transmission Line (TL): Different TL options are under investigation and a preliminary study of an evacuated quasi-optical multiple-beam TL, considered for a hybrid solution, is presented and discussed in terms of layout, dimensions and theoretical losses. Launcher: Remote Steering Antennas have been considered as a possible launcher solution especially under the constraints to avoid movable mirrors close to the plasma. With dedicated beam tracing calculations, the deposition locations coverage and the wave absorption efficiency have been investigated, considering a selection of frequencies, injection angles and launching points. An option for the EC system structure is proposed in clusters, in order to allow the necessary redundancy and flexibility to guarantee the required EC power in the different phases of the plasma pulse. Number and composition of the clusters are analysed to have high availability and therefore maximum reliability with a minimum number of components.
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is doing research and development in the field of megawatt-class radio frequency (RF) sources (gyrotrons) for the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) systems of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the DEMOnstration Fusion Power Plant that will follow ITER. In the focus is the development and verification of the European coaxial-cavity gyrotron technology which shall lead to gyrotrons operating at an RF output power significantly larger than 1 MW CW and at an operating frequency above 200 GHz. A major step into that direction is the final verification of the European 170 GHz 2 MW coaxial-cavity pre-prototype at longer pulses up to 1 s. It bases on the upgrade of an already existing highly modular short-pulse (ms-range) pre-prototype. That pre-prototype has shown a world record output power of 2.2 MW already. This paper summarizes briefly the already achieved experimental results using the short-pulse pre-prototype and discusses in detail the design and manufacturing process of the upgrade of the pre-prototype toward longer pulses up to 1 s.
A proximity-fed complementary Sierpinski gasket fractal with equilateral triangular shape resonator in multilayer structure to achieve dual-band behavior for WiMAX and WLAN applications has been proposed. An electromagnetic coupled stacked structure of two different patches operating at two frequencies (3.5 GHz WiMAX and 5.8 GHz wireless LAN) has been designed for dual-band wireless applications. Proposed antenna was simulated using CST Microwave Studio based on the finite integration technique (FIT) with perfect boundary approximation (PBA). Finally, the proposed antenna was fabricated and some performance parameters were measured to validate against simulation results. The design procedures and employed tuning techniques to achieve the desired performance are presented.
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