From: IRBY@PSFC.MIT.EDU
Subject: Alcator C-MOD Weekly Highlights
Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma
Organization: MIT


A lcator C-MOD Weekly Highlights
April 15, 1997



Work on Alcator C-Mod this week concentrated on bringing up the
engineering systems required to run the experiment. Vessel heaters and
thermocouples, cryo system, bus instrumentation, ECDC, pulsed gas system,
and secondary seal pumps are coming back online. After the first pumpdown
last week, several days were devoted to finding and fixing leaks. We are now
ready to begin the vessel bake. The final magnet hi-pots have been completed
successfully and the magnets have been reconnected to the power supplies. We
are preparing to do low power tests into the magnets to check out the
supplies, controls, interlocks, and bus instrumentation. All TMX contactors
have been reconditioned and reinstalled.
Work continues on bringing up the new transmitters and transmission
lines. All RF power supplies have been tested and calibrated. All interlocks
with the exception of the FPA interlock have also been tested. Coax components
needed to couple power to the antennas are now being assembled and installed
in the cell. We are wrapping up work on the high voltage switchgear.
Installation of the DNB power supplies continues. Reassembly
of the Mod/Reg which provides switching and regulation for the accelerator
voltage began. The major emphasis for the DNB control system design is
currently the fast interface between the main control system, the ACCEL
supply, and the crowbar which is required for protection of the beamline in
the event of a fault. The background activity of filtering and degassing the
oil for the arc/filament/snubber and ACCEL supplies is nearly complete.
We continue to install and test diagnostic systems. The new
time-of-flight diagnostic has been moved into the cell and is being
installed. The lower mirror for the TCI system is in place and we are
about to start the alignment process. The tangential charge exchange
diagnostic has been moved into the cell and installed. The mirrors and
beamline for the X-point Thomson scattering system are now going back onto
the machine.
John Gumbus is visiting from PPPL and will assist with assembly and
testing of the new transmitters. Rick Maqueda from LANL has been
at MIT for the last week assembling, testing, and preparing to
install an IR periscope/camera system on C-Mod. The IR image has been
transferred over 5 m to the camera and is of very high quality. Jim
Weaver from the University of Maryland is on-site and will remain here
through the next run campaign. He will operate the University of Maryland
high resolution spectrograph. Dave Johnson, Boris Grek, and Joe Bartolick
from PPPL are here this week to re-install the X-point Thomson scattering
and do a Raman calibration.
Ian Hutchinson, Steve Wolfe, Miklos Porkolab, and Earl Marmar were at
the Field Work Proposal meeting in Germantown last week. John Heard, one
of our collaborators from Auburn who is now permanently on-site here
at MIT was at the EC10 Conference in Holland. Martin Greenwald, Joe
Snipes, and Steve Wolfe are in San Diego at an ITER Expert Group Meeting.