Journal
NUCLEAR FUSION
Volume 57, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0029-5515/57/1/016001
Keywords
trapped particle configuration; ECH-assisted start-up; low loop voltage; spherical tori
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Funding
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant - Korea government (MSIP) [2008-0061900]
- National R&D Program through National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) - Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning [2014M1A7A1A03045367]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2008-0061900] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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An efficient and robust ECH (electron cyclotron heating)-assisted plasma start-up scheme with a low loop voltage and low volt-second consumption utilizing the trapped particle configuration (TPC) has been developed in the versatile experiment spherical torus (VEST). The TPC is a mirror-like magnetic field configuration providing a vertical magnetic field in the same direction as the equilibrium field. It significantly enhances ECH pre-ionization with enhanced particle confinement due to its mirror effect, and intrinsically provides an equilibrium field with a stable decay index enabling prompt plasma current initiation. Consequently, the formation of TPC before the onset of the loop voltage allows the plasma to start up with a lower loop voltage and lower volt-second consumption as well as a wider operation range in terms of ECH pre-ionization power and H-2 filling pressure. The TPC can improve the widely-used field null configuration significantly for more efficient start-up when ECH pre-ionization is used. This can then be utilized in superconducting tokamaks requiring a low loop voltage start-up, such as ITER, or in spherical tori with limited volt-seconds. The TPC can be particularly useful in superconducting tokamaks with a limited current slew-rate of superconducting PF coils, as it can save volt-second consumption before plasma current initiation by providing prompt initiation with an intrinsic stable equilibrium field.
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