Magnetic Control of Tokamak Plasmas

by Marco Ariola, Alfredo Pironti

Overview

this part is supported by two useful appendices on some of the mathematical tools used and the physical units of plasma physics. State-space models, state observers, H control, and process simulations are some of the familiar techniques used by— the authors to meet the demanding spatial control specifications for these processes; however, the research reported in the monograph is more that just simulation studies and proposals for possible future hypothetical controllers, for the authors have worked with some of the world’s leading existing tokamak facilities. Chapter 5, 8, and 9 respectively, give practical results of implementations of their control schemes on the FTU Tokamak (Italy), the TCV Tokamak (Switzerland), and the JET Tokamak (United Kingdom). Additionally, the authors present simulation results of their ideas for the control of the new tokamak proposed for the ITER project. In conclusion, being very aware that most control engineers will not be conversant with the complexities of tokamak nuclear fusion reactor control, the authors have taken special care to give a useful introduction to the background of nuclear fusion, the science of plasma physics and appropriate models in the first part of the monograph (Chapters 1 to 3). This introduction is followed by six chapters (4 to 9) of control studies. In Chapter 4, the generic control problem is established and then five case study chapters follow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849967839
Publisher:	Springer London
Publication date:	12/10/2010
Series:	Advances in Industrial Control
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2008
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Alfredo Pironti was born in Napoli, Italy in 1966. He received the Laurea degree cum Laude in Electronic Engineering, and the PhD in Electronic and Computing Engineering from the University of Naples Federico II in 1991 and 1995, respectively. Since 1991 he is with the Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica of the University of Naples, where he currently is Associate Professor of System Theory. He has spent several periods as visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching (Germany), the Center for Control Engineering and Computation (University of California at Santa Barbara), and at the ITER Joint Work Site of Naka (Japan). His research interests include robust control of uncertain systems, and the application of feedback control to nuclear fusion problems. He was guest-editor of the October 2005 issue of IEEE Control Systems Magazine, a special issue dedicated to the control of tokamak plasmas.

Marco Ariola is an Associate Professor at the University of Naples Parthenope in the Technology Department. From September 1998 to February 1999, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA. His research interests include statistical control, robust control, control of communication networks, control of nuclear fusion devices, control of aerospace systems. He was a member of the International Program Committee of the 42^nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control held in December 2003. He has published about 90 journal papers, conference papers, articles in books and encyclopedias.

Table of Contents

Plasma Modelling.- Plasma Modelling for Magnetic Control.- The Plasma Boundary and its Identification.- Plasma Control.- Plasma Magnetic Control Problem.- Plasma Position and Current Control at FTU.- Plasma Vertical Stabilization.- Plasma Shape Control for ITER.- Plasma Shape Control at TCV.- Plasma Shape Control at JET.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"The book offers a thorough coverage of the magnetic control of plasma in tokamaks. Tokamaks have been proved to be the most promising design for future thermonuclear reactors. … There are also descriptions of tokamaks as devices using control theory concepts. This makes the book accessible for a wide audience of readers–not only for physicists and narrow specialists." (Vyacheslav F. Gubarev, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2009 h)

“The book presents the main features of plasma modelling and plasma control, focusing on tokamak current and future devices. Throughout two parts and nine chapters of their book, the authors model plasmas, coming back to the theory of magnetohydrodynamics. They illustrate the interest of such plasmas in various configurations. … will be useful to scientists involved in tokamaks and to engineers having in charge the control of such devices.” (Alain Brillard, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1185, 2010)

From the Publisher