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Meitner, Steven J

Publications and source records attributed to Meitner, Steven J.

9 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Pre-conceptual design activities for the materials plasma exposure experiment

The development of next step fusion facilities such as DEMO or a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) requires first closing technology gaps in a few critical areas. Understanding the material-plasma interface is necessary to enable the development of divertors for long-pulse plasma facilities. A pre-conceptual design for a proposed steady-state linear plasma device, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment (MPEX), is underway. A helicon plasma source along with ion cyclotron and electron Bernstein wave heating systems will produce ITER divertor relevant plasma conditions with steady-state parallel heat fluxes of up to 40 MW/m 2 with ion fluxes up to 10 24 /m 2 s on target. Current plans are for the device to use superconducting magnets to produce 1–2 T fields. As a steady-state device, active cooling will be required for components that interact with the plasma (targets, limiters, etc.), as well as for other plasma facing components (transport regions, vacuum tanks, diagnostic ports). Design concepts for the vacuum system, the cooling system, and the plasma heating systems have been completed. The device will include the capability for handling samples that have been neutron irradiated in order to consider the multivariate effects of neutrons, plasma, and high heat-flux on the microstructure of divertor candidate materials. A vacuum cask, which can be disconnected from the high field environment in order to perform in-vacuo diagnosis of the surface evolution is also planned for the facility.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

First results from the Thomson scattering diagnostic on Proto-MPEX

A Thomson scattering diagnostic has been successfully implemented on the prototype Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (Proto-MPEX) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The diagnostic collects the light scattered by plasma electrons and spectroscopically resolves the Doppler shift imparted to the light by the velocity of the electrons. The spread in velocities is proportional to the electron temperature, while the total number of photons is proportional to the electron density. Thomson scattering is a technique used on many devices to measure the electron temperature (Te) and electron density (ne) of the plasma. A challenging aspect of the technique is to discriminate the small number of Thomson scattered photons against the large peak of background photons from the high-power laser used to probe the plasma. A variety of methods are used to mitigate the background photons in Proto-MPEX, including Brewster angled windows, viewing dumps, and light baffles. With these methods, first results were measured from Argon plasmas in Proto-MPEX, indicating Te ~ 2 eV and ne ~ 1x1019 m-3. The configuration of the Proto-MPEX Thomson scattering diagnostic will be described and plans for improvement will be given.

plasma diagnostics thomson scattering↗
DOE OSTI2016

Design of a digital holography system for PFC erosion measurements on Proto-MPEX

A project has been started at ORNL to develop a dual-wavelength digital holography system for plasma facing component (PFC) erosion measurements on Proto-MPEX. Such a system will allow in-situ real-time measurements of component erosion. Initially the system will be developed with one laser, and first experimental laboratory measurements will be made with the single laser system. In the second year of development a second CO2 laser will be added and measurements with the dual wavelength system will begin. Adding the second wavelength allows measurements at a much longer synthetic wavelength equal to the average of the two wavelengths times the average divided by the difference of the two wavelengths.

plasma diagnostics digital holography↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evaluation of Static Mixer Flow Enhancements for Cryogenic Viscous Compressor Prototype for ITER Vacuum System

As part of the U.S. ITER contribution to the vacuum systems for the ITER fusion project, a cryogenic viscous compressor (CVC) is being designed and fabricated to cryopump hydrogenic gases in the torus and neutral beam exhaust streams and to regenerate the collected gases to controlled pressures such that they can be mechanically pumped with controlled flows to the tritium reprocessing facility. One critical element of the CVC design that required additional investigation was the determination of flow rates of the low pressure (50 to 1000 Pa) exhaust stream that would allow for complete pumping of hydrogenic gases while permitting trace levels of helium to pass through the CVC to be pumped by conventional vacuum pumps. A sub-scale prototype test facility was utilized to determine the effectiveness of a static mixer pump tube concept, which consisted of a series of rotated twisted elements brazed into a 2-mm thick, 5-cm diameter stainless steel tube. Cold helium gas flow provided by a dewar and helium transfer line was used to cool the exterior of the static mixer pump tube. Deuterium gas was mixed with helium gas through flow controllers at different concentrations while the composition of the exhaust gas was monitored with a Penning gauge and optical spectrometer to determine the effectiveness of the static mixer. It was found that with tube wall temperatures between 6 K and 9 K, the deuterium gas was completely cryopumped and only helium passed through the tube. These results have been used to design the cooling geometry and the static mixer pump tubes in the full-scale CVC prototype

Duckworth, Robert C↗
DOE OSTI2014

Fast Imaging of Intact and Shattered Cryogenic Neon Pellets

Compact condensed-matter injection technologies are increasingly used in magnetic fusion. One recent application is in disruption mitigation. An imaging system with less-than-100- m- and sub- s-resolution is described and used to characterize intact and shattered cryogenic neon pellets. Shattered pellets contain fine particles ranging from tens of m to about 7 mm. Time-of-flight analyses indicate that pellets could slow down if hitting the wall of the guide tube. Fast high-resolution imaging systems are thus useful to neon and other condensed-matter injector development.

Wang, Zhehui↗