Advances in optical thermometry for the ITER divertor

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design 2010, Vol.85 (1), p.146-152
• Main Authors: Lott, F., Netchaieff, A., Escourbiac, F., Jouvelot, J.-L., Constans, S., Hernandez, D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Controled nuclear fusion plants; Divertor; Emissivity; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; ITER; Pyrometry; Thermography; Tungsten
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2009.08.007

Thermography will be an important diagnostic on the ITER tokamak, but the inclusion of reflective materials such as tungsten in the design for ITER's first wall and divertor region presents problems for optical temperature measurement. The ongoing testing of ITER plasma facing components (PFCs) provides an excellent opportunity to resolve such problems. This has focused on the variation of PFC emissivity with temperature and time, as well as environmental influence on thermography. The sensitivity of these systems to ambient temperature, due primarily to modification of the transmission of the optical path, has been established and minimised. The accuracy of the system is then sufficient to measure the variation of emissivity in heated material samples, by comparing its front-face luminance measured with an infrared camera to the temperature given by an implanted thermocouple. Measurements on both tungsten and carbon fibre composite are in broad agreement with theory, and thus give the material's function of emissivity with temperature at the start of its life. To determine its evolution, a bicolour pyroreflectometer was then installed. This uses two lasers to measure the reflectivity in addition to the luminance at two wavelengths, and thus the true temperature can be calculated. This was validated against the instrumented sample, then used along with the camera to observe an ITER mock-up during ∼50,000 s of 5 MW/m 2 testing. Emissivity was seen to vary little in the 500 °C region. Higher temperature tests are ongoing.