CONFINEMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TPE REVERSED FIELD PINCH PLASMAS AND EFFECTS OF THE BOUNDARY CONFIGURATION

摘要

Confinement characteristics of the TPE series reversed field pinch (RFP) machines, TPE-1RM15, TPE-rn1RM20 and TPE-1RM20mod, at Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) are summarized. Especially data arernsynthesized in respect to the effects of the different boundary structures of the machines, where shell proximityrnand overlapped poloidal shell gaps by the multi-layered shell structure are featured. Comparison of thernexperimental results is shown in terms of the characteristics of magnetic fluctuations, global confinementrnproperties in general, operation capability of the improved confinement in high pinch parameter (Θ) dischargesrnand locked mode events. Linear growth rate of the unstable modes as a function of the shell distance isrnnumerically simulated. Understandings of RFP plasma physics have also made progress by the most recentrnintensive experiments on correlation studies between fast electrons and dynamo activities and measurement ofrnthe plasma and mode rotation. TPE-1RM20mod was shutdown in December 1996 and new RFP experiment hasrnstarted in TPE-RX from March 1998. The new machine also succeeds the concept of the shell configuration ofrnthe TPE-1RM20.