Nonlinear Methods for Current Limit Constraint Satisfaction in Tokamak Plasma Shape Control
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
The DIII-D tokamak is capable of supporting a wide variety of plasma equilibria because of its relatively large number of coils and their proximity to the plasma. To support its advanced tokamak mission, the DIII–D experimental program continues to push the envelope of this capability, frequently encountering limits imposed by allowable currents in poloidal shaping coils. Violation of current constraints is presently dealt with by operator adjustment of control targets and gains between plasma discharges. At the same time, demands for more precise and stable control have motivated efforts to develop and install advanced multivariable algorithms for control of plasma shape in DIII-D and other devices. Further, there is currently no way to ensure respect of nonlinear current constraints in a multivariable linear controller design and no practical way to manually tune these fully coupled controllers between discharges after installation. Various linear minimization schemes can be implemented to encourage currents to remain within limits, but adherence to these limits cannot be guaranteed by linear methods alone. In this paper, we describe ongoing efforts to provide methods that guarantee currents will not exceed preset limits, and that simultaneously achieve the best obtainable quality of control subject to current limit constraints.
- Research Organization:
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC02-04ER54698
- OSTI ID:
- 836322
- Report Number(s):
- GA-A24812
- Journal Information:
- Fusion Science and Technology, Journal Name: Fusion Science and Technology Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 47; ISSN 1536-1055
- Publisher:
- Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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