Nuclear Fusion (Jan 2023)
Demonstration of transient CHI startup using a floating biased electrode configuration
- K. Kuroda,
- R. Raman,
- T. Onchi,
- M. Hasegawa,
- K. Hanada,
- M. Ono,
- B.A. Nelson,
- J. Rogers,
- R. Ikezoe,
- H. Idei,
- T. Ido,
- M. Nagata,
- O. Mitarai,
- N. Nishino,
- Y. Otsuka,
- Y. Zhang,
- K. Kono,
- S. Kawasaki,
- T. Nagata,
- A. Higashijima,
- S. Shimabukuro,
- I. Niiya,
- I. Sekiya,
- K. Nakamura,
- Y. Takase,
- A. Ejiri,
- S. Murakami
Affiliations
- K. Kuroda
- ORCiD
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- R. Raman
- ORCiD
- University of Washington , Seattle, WA, United States of America
- T. Onchi
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- M. Hasegawa
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- K. Hanada
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- M. Ono
- ORCiD
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory , Princeton, NJ, United States of America
- B.A. Nelson
- University of Washington , Seattle, WA, United States of America
- J. Rogers
- University of Washington , Seattle, WA, United States of America
- R. Ikezoe
- ORCiD
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- H. Idei
- ORCiD
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- T. Ido
- ORCiD
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- M. Nagata
- Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hyogo , Himeji, Japan
- O. Mitarai
- Tokai University , Kumamoto, Japan
- N. Nishino
- Bauhuette Ltd , Hiroshima, Japan
- Y. Otsuka
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Science, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- Y. Zhang
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Science, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- K. Kono
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- S. Kawasaki
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- T. Nagata
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- A. Higashijima
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- S. Shimabukuro
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- I. Niiya
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- I. Sekiya
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- K. Nakamura
- Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University , Kasuga, Japan
- Y. Takase
- ORCiD
- Tokamak Energy Ltd, Milton Park , Abingdon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- A. Ejiri
- Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo , Kashiwa, Japan
- S. Murakami
- ORCiD
- Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyoto University , Kyoto, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ad0dd6
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 64,
no. 1
p. 014002
Abstract
Results from the successful solenoid-free plasma startup using the method of transient coaxial helicity injection (transient CHI) in the QUEST spherical tokamak (ST) are reported. Unlike previous applications of CHI on HIT-II and on NSTX which required two toroidal insulating breaks to the vacuum vessel, QUEST uses a first of its kind, floating single biased electrode configuration, which does not use such a vacuum break. Instead, the CHI electrode is simply insulated from the outer lower divertor plate support structure. This configuration is much more suitable for implementation in a fusion reactor than the previous configurations. Transient CHI generated toroidal currents of 135 kA were obtained. The toroidal current during the formation of a closed flux configuration was over 50 kA. These results bode well for the application of transient CHI in a new generation of compact high-field STs and tokamaks in which the space for the central solenoid is very restricted.
Keywords
