Control system for 5 MW neutral beam ion source for SST1

This article describes the control system for a 5 MW ion source of the NBI (neutral beam injector) for steady-state superconducting tokamak-1 (SST-1). The system uses both hardware and software solutions. It comprises a DAS (data acquisition system) and a control system. The DAS is used to read the voltage and current signals from eight filament heater power supplies and 24 discharge power supplies. The control system is used to adjust the filament heater current in order to achieve an effective control on the discharge current in the plasma box. The system consists of a VME (Verse Module Eurocard) system and C application program running on a VxWorks ™ real-time operating system. A P I D (proportional, integral, and differential) algorithm is used to control the filament heater current. Experiments using this system have shown that the discharge current can be controlled within 1% accuracy for a P I D loop time of 20 ms . Response of the control system to the pressure variation of the gas in the chamber has also been studied and compared with the results obtained from those of an uncontrolled system. The present approach increases the flexibility of the control system. It not only eases the control of the plasma but also allows an easy changeover to various operation scenarios.