Power Supplies and Quench Protection for the Tokamak Physics Experiment

The Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) is an advanced tokamak project aimed at the production of quasi-steady state plasmas with advanced shape, heating, and particle control. TPX is to be built at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) using many of the facilities from the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). First plasma is scheduled for the year 2000. TPX will be the first tokamak to utilize superconducting (SC) magnets in both the toroidal field (TF) and poloidal field (PF) systems. This is a new feature which requires not only a departure from the traditional tokamak power supply schemes but also that ultra-reliable quench protection devices be used to rapidly discharge the stored energy from the magnets in the event of a quench. This paper describes the plan and basis for the adaptation and augmentation of the PPPL/TFTR power system facilities to supply TPX. Following a description of the basic operational requirements, four major areas are addressed, namely the AC power system, the TF power supply, the PF power supply, and quench protection for the TF and PF systems.