A control scheme to deal with coil current saturation in a Tokamak

Author

Ambrosino, Giuseppe ; Ariola, Marco ; Pironti, Alfredo ; Portone, Alfredo ; Walker, Mike

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Informatica e Sistemistica, Universitit degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy

Volume

9

Issue

6

fYear

2001

fDate

11/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

831

Lastpage

838

Abstract

We present a new approach for the design of a plasma current and shape feedback control system in a Tokamak. This approach takes explicitly into account the problem of current saturation in the coils which are used for the control action. The proposed design technique is essentially aimed at enlarging the operating envelope in which the Tokamak can operate without current saturation. The proposed controller structure consists of two feedback loops: one is a standard linear time invariant controller designed with the H_∞ technique, which operates in the absence of current saturation; the second gracefully degrades the system performance when the coil currents approach their saturation limits. Some stability considerations on the overall control system are given, and a case study is presented

Keywords

H^∞ control; Tokamak devices; control system synthesis; electric current control; feedback; fusion reactor design; stability; H_∞ control; Tokamak; current control; fusion reactors; linear time-invariant systems; plasma control; saturation; shape feedback control; stability; Coils; Control systems; Degradation; Feedback control; Feedback loop; Linear feedback control systems; Plasmas; Shape control; System performance; Tokamaks;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Control Systems Technology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1063-6536

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/87.960346

Filename

960346