Design, development and testing of real time control and data acquisition system for R&D IC H&CD source

One of the important auxiliary heating and current drive systems for ITER experiment is Ion Cyclotron Heating & Current Drive (IC H&CD) system. ITER requires 1 prototype and 8 independent RF Sources, each having capability to deliver constant output power of 2.5 MW at VSWR 2 in the frequency range of 35–65 MHz. To meet the ITER requirement, an R&D program has been launched to identify the final stage tube (Tetrode/Diacrode) for MW level RF amplifier, along with other critical components. Under this R&D program, single chain of RF cascaded amplifiers, consisting of low & high power RF sections, auxiliary power supply, Anode power supply and test bench simulating ITER requirement, are being developed. To ensure reliable and safe operation of the entire system, PLC/PXI based Local Control Unit (LCU) is developed. PLC based sequential control system is developed for sequential biasing of electrodes of high power vacuum tubes (Tetrode/Diacrode). To protect the RF Source against critical fault condition, local protection logic is developed using PXI-7841R, which will ensure fast shut off (