Progress on the ITER H&D EC Upper Launcher Steering-Mirror Control System

The ITER Heating and Current Drive Upper Launcher (H&CD EC UL) uses a pneumomechanical steering-mirror assembly (SMA) to steer the RF beams for their deposition in the appropriate location in the plasma to control magnetohydrodynamic activity (neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) and sawtooth oscillations). For NTM stabilization, the mirror rotation needs to be controlled to an accuracy that is better than 0.1 degrees. A 10 degrees . s(-1) mirror steering speed is also required. To assess the performance of the two SMA prototypes that have been manufactured, a test stand that reproduces the expected pneumatic configuration of the UL has been built. So far, only the first SMA prototype has been tested, and tests on the second prototype are foreseen in the 2009-2010 period. The steering angle of the mirror will be deduced from the pressure applied to the mechanism since there is no in situ angle measurement at present. An "off-the-shelf" commercial servo valve with a proportional-integral-derivative controller has been used to control the pressure with good results for the switching cycle. These tests show that a more advanced controller will be required to attain the desired accuracy and speed for the modulation cycles.