Design and Prototype of the High Voltage In-Service-Tests on the Superconducting Magnet System of Wendelstein 7-X
The stresses induced during the energizing and de-energizing process of the Wendelstein 7-X super conducting magnet system could cause cracks in the embedding of the winding packages and consequently a ground fault that would not be detected during normal operation as the operating voltage of the magnet is system is too low. With a ground fault present during a fast discharge, the middle point grounding needed to half the voltage could be rendered useless and one coil group could be stressed with the full voltage of up to 4 kV which would endanger the high voltage integrity of the whole superconducting magnet system. To prevent such undesirable occasions, the insulation of the superconducting magnet system shall be monitored by a high voltage In-Service-Test. With the In-Service-Test, a voltage of 2.5 kV can be applied during the operation of the magnets especially after significant changes in the coil current. The measured leak current can then be used to determine any changes in the quality of the insulation. In a first step, the feasibility of such a system has been evaluated with a simulation model of one coil group with Simplorer. The next step was to find a design which can be implemented in the given magnet power supply system and to build and test a prototype for final confirmation of the concept.
Power supplies for the WENDELSTEIN 7-X stellarator
Abstract The magnetic confinement of the plasma in WENDELSTEIN 7-X (W7-X) will be determined by 50 superconducting non-planar coils and 20 superconducting planar coils. The coils are grouped in five periodic modules with ten coils each connected in series. In order to be able to vary the magnetic configuration and hence increase the experimental flexibility the five groups of non-planar coils and two groups of planar coils will be powered individually resulting in seven independent power supplies. To fine tune the magnetic configuration, shift the plasma axis and to modify the plasma edge an additional set of ten normal conducting control coils will be mounted. Other aims are to correct small field errors and to distribute the heating power on the target plates over a wider range. In order to correct field errors a direct current is necessary, whereas an alternating current is essential for the second aim. The paper describes the design of the two types of power supplies for W7-X as well as the results of the first tests of components.
rPET detectors design and data processing
Small animal PET systems based on rotating planar detectors posses some interesting advantages for high sensitivity, high resolution imaging. We have designed the rPET detectors based on MLS crystals assembled on a 30times30 matrix optically coupled to a flat-panel PS-PMT. Weighted position readout circuits pre-process the 64 signals from the 8times8 anodes matrix, which are digitized using a charge-integrating converter. The amplification electronics, including the trigger output for coincidence detection, and the high voltage supply are integrated in a three PCBs stack that forms the base attached to the back of the PMT. The whole assembly is enclosed in a light tight, lead (Pb) shielded aluminum box. The detectors are mounted on a rotating gantry with more than 180 degrees rotation span. The digitized events are screened and histogramed, and a modified center of gravity algorithm removes from the position calculation those signals with poor signal to noise ratio. Apparent mean crystal size on the 511 keV field-flood images is 0.6 mm, mean peak-to-valley ratio is better than 8, and intrinsic resolution is 1.5 mm at the central row, with the energy window wide open. Sensitivity (CPS) for a pair of these detectors set in coincidence at 160 mm distance is 1%