Gas Box Control System for Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade

摘要

The Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) uses several methods to feed gas (usually deuterium) at different energies into the plasma region of the machine. One is an arrangement of eight high-speed piezo-electric valves mounted on special manifolds (gas box) that feed cold gas directly to the plasma. This paper describes the electronic valve control and data acquisition portions of the gas box, which are controlled by a desk-top computer. Various flow profiles have been developed and stored in the control computer for ready access by the operator. The system uses two modes of operation, one that exercises and characterizes the valves and one that operates the valves with the rest of the experiment. Both the valve control signals and the pressure transducers data are recorded on the diagnostics computer so that they are available for experiment analysis. (ERA citation 09:005603)