Conceptual Design of Control System for the Prototype RF-Driven Negative Ion Source at ASIPP

To explore the generation and extraction of negative ions for neutral beam injection, a prototype radio-frequency (RF)–driven negative ion source is designed at the test facility, which is under construction at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). The control system provides beam pulse set up, remote supervision, plant control, timing synchronization, data management, and interlock and protection for the RF negative ion source. It plays an important role in negative ion source operation. The negative ion source prototype is currently in the development phase, involving more than 20 plant units. To match the requirements of control, data acquisition, and protection for different plant units, the plant control loop time is designed within the range of 10 μs to 100 ms, timing synchronization accuracy is 1 μs, the maximum sampling interval for data acquisition is 10 ms, the volume of data storage is tens of terabytes/year, and the interlock and protection response time is designed within the range of 10 μs to 100 ms. This paper describes the conceptual design of the control system for the prototype RF-driven negative ion source at the ASIPP, discusses the system requirements and the specifications for the control system, and shows the present status of system integration.