A compact, smart Langmuir Probe control module for MAST-Upgrade

Lovell, J.; Stephen, R.; Bray, S.; Naylor, G.; Elmore, S.; Willett, H.; Peterka, M.; Dimitrova, M.; Havranek, A.; Hron, M.; Sharples, R.

Abstract

A new control module for the MAST-Upgrade Langmuir Probe system has been developed. It is based on a Xilinx Zynq FPGA, which allows for excellent configurability and ease of retrieving data. The module is capable of arbitrary bias voltage waveform generation, and digitises current and voltage readings from 16 probes. The probes are biased and measured one at a time in a time multiplexed fashion, with the multiplexing sequence completely configurable. In addition, simultaneous digitisation of the floating potential of all unbiased probes is possible. A suite of these modules, each coupled with a high voltage amplifier, enables biasing and digitisation of 640 Langmuir Probes in the MAST-Upgrade Super-X divertor. The system has been successfully tested on the York Linear Plasma Device and on the COMPASS tokamak. It will be installed on MAST-Upgrade ready for operations in 2018.

Citation

Lovell, J., Stephen, R., Bray, S., Naylor, G., Elmore, S., Willett, H., …Sharples, R. (2017). A compact, smart Langmuir Probe control module for MAST-Upgrade. Journal of Instrumentation, 12(11), Article C11008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/12/11/c11008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 7, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 24, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Instrumentation
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 11
• Article Number: C11008
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/12/11/c11008
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1370540