Resource checking and event handling within the W7-X segment control framework

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design 2012-12, Vol.87 (12), p.1958-1960
• Main Authors: Laqua, Heike, Bluhm, Torsten, Heimann, Peter, Hennig, Christine, Kroiss, Hugo, Krom, Jon G., Kühner, Georg, Lewerentz, Marc, Maier, Josef, Schacht, Jörg, Spring, Anett, Werner, Andreas, Zilker, Manfred
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Control; Discharge; Event handling; Failure; Plasma (physics); Recovery; Segments; Steady state; Steady state fusion experiment; Strategy; WEGA; Wendelstein 7-X
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2012.04.023

► Support for steady state fusion experiments. ► Off-normal event handling. ► Plasma event driven control. ITER, Wendelstein 7-X, LHD, and TORE SUPRA are experimental facilities designed to lead the way to steady state fusion devices. These experiments require strategies to sustain a discharge in case of unforeseen events, e.g. heat overloads of plasma facing components or the failure of a plasma heating source. A recovery strategy is needed to get the discharge back for physics exploitation. For this purpose the W7-X segment control framework provides means for automated event detection along with options to formulate and initiate a recovery strategy. Besides handling of failures and degradation there are events that represent a desired plasma physical effect. An example for this kind of event is a transition to from Low to High-Confinement mode. These events indicate that a certain plasma state is reached and scientific examination can be altered thus enabling event-driven multiple experiments per discharge. Examples of both kinds of events will be presented and compared to other approaches in the community.