Feedback control of resistive wall modes in the reversed field pinch

Sammanfattning: A wide range of unstable current driven MHD modes is present in the re- versed τeld pinch (RFP) conτguration. An ideally conducting wall facing the plasma can stabilize the ideal MHD modes. In the presence of a resistive wall characterized by the wall time τw, fast mode rotation with the frequency exceeding the inverse wall time gives stabilization for resistive MHD modes. The ideal MHD modes in the RFP are non-rotating modes and can not be stabilized by the resistive wall. Instead they are converted into resistive wall modes (RWM) growing with a growth rate proportional to the inverse of the wall time τw. EXTRAP T2R is an RFP device equipped with a thin resistive wall having the wall time shorter than the plasma pulse duration τw <τp. This feature allows the study of non-resonant non-rotating resistive wall modes. Resistive wall modes dynamics has been studied in EXTRAP T2R . RWM growth rates has been measured and compared with linear MHD stability calculations. Quantitative agreement is observed. In the case τw <τp the RWM can cause discharge degradation and should be stabilized. Active feedback is the way to stabilize the RWM in the RFP. An intelligent shell scheme is one possible feedback scenario. An active feed- back system including a set of sensors and discrete active coils is installed in EXTRAP T2R. The intelligent shell tries to keep the magnetic flux zero at the positions of the sensor. The analog PID controller for the intelligent shell feedback scheme has been studied. A model of the active control system was developed and comparison with the experimental results showed good agree- ment. Encouraging experimental results on the active feedback stabilization of multiple RWMs in the RFP plasmas were obtained.