Plasma is the fourth state of matter where particles are charged (ionized) and move around in a very volatile way. Due to the shape of a Tokamak, the Fusion Reactor will always have a certain amount of leakage of plasma. Left uncontrolled, the hot plasma will quickly destroy the vessel that contains it. The location of the hot plasma and the cooling gas within the diverter of the Fusion Reactor play a massive role in the preservation of the nuclear reactor.
Project description
The project in overall is about: “Can a group of students figure out if it is even possible to detect a boundary into the microwaves and how the microwaves are going to be guided?”. The project group consist of 2 Electrical, 2 Mechanical and 2 Mechatronics students. The companies that are involved are DIFFER and ITER. Together they contribute to one of the biggest energy projects in the world.
Project results
This project managed to establish the fundamental research questions and attempted to answer said questions on the plasma boundary. Due to this being a 5 year project, not all the conclusions could be made in the 20 weeks available. However, valuable information could be determined during that time. The initial research allowed for extensive simulation and concept designs that could later be verified using prototypes. The project was split into 2 parts: Waveguide and Reflectometry sensor.
The Reflectometry focused on researching, simulating and verifying a prototype distance and speed radar. MATLAB was used for simulations to determine the impact that the plasma boundary, the free space path loss and noise has on microwaves, as well as lay the groundwork for phase sensitive radar.
A software defined radio was used with GNU radio to verify if the theory could be translated to a physical prototype. Many shortcomings of the SDR were identified through different test setups until the conclusion was formed that for distance sensing, the SDR could be used. The speed sensing using a doppler radar remains inconclusive due to insufficient testing, however a detailed test plan for future groups is provided. At the end, suggestions to the next group are given as to what hardware they can used to further develop the plasma boundary detector.
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Acknowledgement
The team would like to thank the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (Differ) for their guidance during the project.