Hierarchical model predictive control in fusion reactors

Garrido, Izaskun; Coda, S.; Le, Hoang Bao; Moret, J.M.; Queral, V.; Garrido, Aitor J.

doi:10.1109/wac.2016.7583003

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…One of the main issues to overcome in the path to commercialization is the instabilities [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These instabilities cause disruptions, limiting the maximal achievable time for plasma confinement and making indispensable an optimal control system.…”

Section: System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The TCV is simulated by the RZIp model [15], which considers a rigid plasma radial and vertical displacement. The RZIp model is widely used for simulation purposes and design of real time controllers [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to improve the robustness of the TCV control system, the original PID has been enhanced with a sliding mode control for the plasma current, . A schematic view of the general model may be observed in Figure 5, where in the box "SMC" the proposed sliding mode controller will be implemented and the resulting control signals will be combined in the box "Combine Controllers" [19,24]. The sliding mode controller [25][26][27] uses a discontinuous control law to lead the system state to a specified sliding surface, , and to remain in it.…”

Section: Sliding Mode Control Schemementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Variable Structure Control Scheme Proposal for the Tokamak à Configuration Variable

et al. 2019

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Fusion power is the most significant prospects in the long-term future of energy in the sense that it composes a potentially clean, cheap, and unlimited power source that would substitute the widespread traditional nonrenewable energies, reducing the geographical dependence on their sources as well as avoiding collateral environmental impacts. Although the nuclear fusion research started in the earlier part of 20th century and the fusion reactors have been developed since the 1950s, the fusion reaction processes achieved have not yet obtained net power, since the generated plasma requires more energy to achieve and remain in necessary particular pressure and temperature conditions than the produced profitable energy. For this purpose, the plasma has to be confined inside a vacuum vessel, as it is the case of the Tokamak reactor, which consists of a device that generates magnetic fields within a toroidal chamber, being one of the most promising solutions nowadays. However, the Tokamak reactors still have several issues such as the presence of plasma instabilities that provokes a decay of the fusion reaction and, consequently, a reduction in the pulse duration. In this sense, since long pulse reactions are the key to produce net power, the use of robust and fast controllers arises as a useful tool to deal with the unpredictability and the small time constant of the plasma behavior. In this context, this article focuses on the application of robust control laws to improve the controllability of the plasma current, a crucial parameter during the plasma heating and confinement processes. In particular, a variable structure control scheme based on sliding surfaces, namely, a sliding mode controller (SMC) is presented and applied to the plasma current control problem. In order to test the validity and goodness of the proposed controller, its behavior is compared to that of the traditional PID schemes applied in these systems, using the RZIp model for the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) reactor. The obtained results are very promising, leading to consider this controller as a strong candidate to enhance the performance of the PID-based controllers usually employed in this kind of systems.

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