First plasma experiments in Tore Supra with a new generation of high heat flux limiters for RF antennas

During the 1997 and 1998 Tore Supra shutdown, a first set of new antenna guard limiters was installed on one of the three ion cycloton resonance heating (ICRH) antennas of Tore Supra. This limiter, which was one of the main technological studies of the 1998 campaign, was widely experimented in real plasma conditions, thus allowing the validation in situ, for the first time, of the technology of active metal casting (AMC) for plasma facing components. The huge improvement in the thermal response of the new limiter generation, compared to the old one, is shown on plasma pulses made identical in terms of antenna position and injected RF power profile. By using the infrared cameras installed inside Tore Supra and viewing the antennas front, the power density fluxes received by the carbon fibre composite (CFC) surface of the limiter were evaluated by correlation with the heat load tests made on the electrons beam facility of CEA/Framatome.