In a future commercial nuclear fusion reactor, the high temperature and density of the confined particles will create an environment where nuclear fusion can take place. The expected released fusion energy scales linearly with plasma volume and squared with both particle density and temperature. Our group develops observers and control capable of accurately influencing the electron density profile in the challenging environment of the ITER reactor. We aim to develop simplified models, capable of running in real-time, that represent the dynamics of electron transport in a tokamak. These models will than serve as a base for a numerical optimization based control framework. The expected result is a model-based controller that will influence the electron density profile and maintain a certain profile in the presence of measurement disturbances, actuation constraints and modeling uncertainties.
Figure: Artist's concept of the ITER nuclear fusion reactor. (Copyright: ITER)
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