High Gain and Frequency Ultra-Stable Integrators for ICC and Long Pulse ITER Applications

In modern fusion concepts, inductive pickup loops continue to be one of the primary magnetic diagnostics. To convert the direct voltage measurements from the inductive pickup loop to a measurement of magnetic field, the loop voltage must be integrated. In practice several factors make the integration difficult, especially for long-pulse applications when there are many orders of magnitude difference between the fast and slow magnetic signals. Support and development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program is one of the prime goals for the U.S. fusion program. To date there is not an integrator solution that can meet the demanding ITER specifications. To address this problem, Eagle Harbor Technologies proposes to transfer and upgrade integrators developed at the University of Washington Redmond Plasma Physics Laboratory with prior DOE funding. These integrators have a demonstrated utility within the Innovative Confinement Community (ICC) community for having high gain and frequency ultra-stable operation. The proposed work seeks to modify the existing design to provide an ultra-stable integrator system for long-pulse ITER and burning plasma applications and to incorporate the system into a low-cost form factor that will be compatible with several off-the-shelf data acquisition systems. Two versions of the new integrator were designed, built, and tested in the Phase I program. Testing demonstrated exceptional performance capability of the integrators, which significantly outperformed all other known integrators. The new EHT hybrid integrator is the only system that has demonstrated performance suitable to meet the ITER specifications. The Phase II work plan consists of upgrading and building a final integrator prototype, which will be tested at two experimental facilities (DIII-D and HIT-SI) to validate performance. EHT will partner with National Instruments, a known and established data acquisition hardware manufacturer, to design a final product, ready for commercialization at the completion of the project. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The direct application is for economical fusion energy development. However, integrators are used in high energy physics experiments, medical imaging instrumentation and ion beams implantation. The new EHT hybrid integrator could provide benefit in those areas.