Design of a repeating pneumatic pellet injector for the Joint European Torus

A three-barrel pneumatic pellet injector has been developed for plasma fueling of the Joint European Torus (JET). The versatile device consists of three independent machine-gun-like mechanisms that operate at cryogenic temperatures (140K to 200K). Individual high speed extruders provide a continuous supply of solid deuterium to each gun assembly, where a reciprocating breech-side cutting mechanism forms and chambers cylindrical pellets from the extrusion; deuterium pellets are then accelerated in the gun barrels with controlled amounts of compressed hydrogen gas (pressures up to 100 bars) to velocities ≤ 1.5 km/s. The injector features three nominal pellet sizes (2.7 mm, 4.0 mm, and 6.0 mm) and has been tested at repetition rates of 5 Hz, 2.5 Hz, and 1 Hz, respectively. Each gun is capable of operating (individually or simultaneously) at the design repetition rate for 15-second duration pulses (limited only by the capacity of the extruder feed system). A remote, stand-alone control and data acquisition system is used for injector operation. 7 refs