Development of a real-time impedance matching system for ion cyclotron resonance heating in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak

Q Q Chen; L N Liu; C M Qin; X J Zhang; Y Z Mao; S Yuan; W Zhang; H Yang; L Wang; Y Cheng; K Zhang; Y Y Guo; Y P Sun

doi:10.1063/5.0187113

Development of a real-time impedance matching system for ion cyclotron resonance heating in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak

Rev Sci Instrum. 2024 Feb 1;95(2):025101. doi: 10.1063/5.0187113.

Authors

Q Q Chen^{1

2}, L N Liu¹, C M Qin¹, X J Zhang¹, Y Z Mao¹, S Yuan¹, W Zhang¹, H Yang¹, L Wang¹, Y Cheng¹, K Zhang¹, Y Y Guo^{1

2}, Y P Sun^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China/People's Republic of China.
² University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China/People's Republic of China.

PMID: 38341717
DOI: 10.1063/5.0187113

Abstract

To achieve stable operation of an ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) system in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a real-time impedance matching system needs to be established to respond to antenna load variation during long pulse discharges. A new impedance matching method based on capacitors was proposed in this study. By considering the reflected voltage of the transmission line as the feedback parameter, the real-time impedance-matching system can quickly control the motors based on a programmable logic controller to determine the minimum reflection voltage. A real-time impedance matching system was successfully used on the test platform in the laboratory and on the ICRH system in EAST. A significant result is that we can match the variable impedance within 1 s by suitably adjusting the motor controller to ensure high-power and long-pulse operation of the ICRH system to satisfy the requirements of the EAST experiment.