Status of transmission line and matching network design and testing for the ITER ion cyclotron heating and current drive system

The ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive System is required to deliver 20 MW of RF Power in the frequency range 40-55 MHz to ITER plasmas for pulse lengths up to 3600 s. Components used in the transmission line and matching system include 305 mm diameter, Z0 = 50 Ω components with gas cooled inner conductors, and 330 mm diameter, Z0 = 20 Ω components with water-cooled inner conductors. All operate at pulse lengths up to 3600 s. Components used include transmission line sections, gas barriers, hybrid power splitters, stubs, hybrid phase shifters, coaxial 4-port switches, and vacuum capacitors. The system uses pre-matching near the antenna and a matching network ~20 m away, including decouplers that compensate for the mutual inductance between antenna array elements. Some 50 Ω component test articles have been fabricated and will be shown. High power RF test fixtures have been constructed including a resonant ring that produces 6 MW of circulating power with 340 kW input power and VSWR as low as 1.15. It has been used to investigate the dependence of inner conductor temperature on gas velocity at power levels up to ~6 MW for pulse lengths up to 1 hour.