As a new spherical tokamak designed to simplify the engineering requirements of a possible future fusion power source, the EXL-50 experiment features a low aspect ratio vacuum vessel (VV), encircling a central post assembly containing the toroidal field coil conductors without a central solenoid. Multiple electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) resonances are located within the VV to improve current drive effectiveness. Copious energetic electrons are produced and measured with hard X-ray detectors, carry the bulk of the plasma current ranging from 50-150 kA, which is maintained for more than 1 s duration. It is observed that over one ampere current can be sustained per watt of ECRH power issued from the 28 GHz gyrotrons. The plasma current reaches I p > 80 kA for high density (>5 × 1018 m-2) discharge with 150 kW ECRH. An analysis was carried out combining reconstructed multi-fluid equilibrium, guiding-center orbits of energetic electrons, and resonant heating mechanisms. It is verified that in EXL-50 a broadly distributed current of energetic electrons creates a smaller closed magnetic-flux surface of low aspect ratio that in turn confines the thermal plasma electrons and ions and participate in maintaining the equilibrium force balance.
Solenoid-free current drive via ECRH in EXL-50 spherical torus plasmas / Shi, Yuejiang; Liu, Bing; Song, Shaodong; Song, Yunyang; Song, Xianming; Tong, Bowei; Cheng, Shikui; Liu, Wenjun; Wang, Mingyuan; Sun, Tiantian; Guo, Dong; Li, Songjian; Li, Yingying; Chen, Bin; Gu, Xiang; Cai, Jianqing; Luo, Di; Banerjee, Debabrata; Zhao, Xin; Yang, Yuanming; Luo, Wenwu; Zhou, Peihai; Wang, Yu; Ishida, Akio; Maekawa, Takashi; Liu, Minsheng; Yuan, Baoshan; Martin Peng, Y. -K.; the EXL-50 Team, Null. - In: NUCLEAR FUSION. - ISSN 0029-5515. - 62:8(2022). [10.1088/1741-4326/ac71b6]
Solenoid-free current drive via ECRH in EXL-50 spherical torus plasmas
Liu, Bing;Chen, Bin;Banerjee, Debabrata;Zhao, Xin;
2022
Abstract
As a new spherical tokamak designed to simplify the engineering requirements of a possible future fusion power source, the EXL-50 experiment features a low aspect ratio vacuum vessel (VV), encircling a central post assembly containing the toroidal field coil conductors without a central solenoid. Multiple electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) resonances are located within the VV to improve current drive effectiveness. Copious energetic electrons are produced and measured with hard X-ray detectors, carry the bulk of the plasma current ranging from 50-150 kA, which is maintained for more than 1 s duration. It is observed that over one ampere current can be sustained per watt of ECRH power issued from the 28 GHz gyrotrons. The plasma current reaches I p > 80 kA for high density (>5 × 1018 m-2) discharge with 150 kW ECRH. An analysis was carried out combining reconstructed multi-fluid equilibrium, guiding-center orbits of energetic electrons, and resonant heating mechanisms. It is verified that in EXL-50 a broadly distributed current of energetic electrons creates a smaller closed magnetic-flux surface of low aspect ratio that in turn confines the thermal plasma electrons and ions and participate in maintaining the equilibrium force balance.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2996648