Auxiliary Automation for a 15-keV Neutral Beam Injector

A positive ions (hydrogen, deuterium) neutral beam injector with low 15 keV energy, though having 150 A peak current, has been developed at Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics for the aims of plasma heating in open magnetic traps and compact tokamaks. The injector auxiliaries include: a gas manifold pressure regulation system, a vacuum system, and a cryopumps refilling system. The automation algorithms are provided by an in-house designed programmable logic controller with a four-channel asynchronous interface. At the fieldbus level, there are industrial remote I/Os and instruments with RS-232/485 physical interfaces. A user interface is presented either by the programmable logic controller front panel display menu or software interface designed in LabVIEW.