In magnetic fusion devices, error field (EF) sources, spurious magnetic field perturbations, need to be identified and corrected for safe and stable (disruption-free) tokamak operation. Within Work Package Tokamak Exploitation RT04, a series of studies have been carried out to test the portability of the novel non-disruptive method, designed and tested in DIII-D (Paz-Soldan et al 2022 Nucl. Fusion62 126007), and to perform an assessment of model-based EF control strategies towards their applicability in ITER. In this paper, the lessons learned, the physical mechanism behind the magnetic island healing, which relies on enhanced viscous torque that acts against the static electro-magnetic torque, and the main control achievements are reported, together with the first design of the asynchronous EF correction current/density controller for ITER.
This paper discusses studies on detecting and correcting error fields (EF) in magnetic fusion devices like ITER. EFs are unwanted magnetic field perturbations that can disrupt tokamak operation. The researchers tested a non-disruptive method to identify and correct EFs, which relies on enhanced viscous torque to counteract electromagnetic torque. They also assessed model-based EF control strategies for ITER and designed an asynchronous EF correction controller.