Upgrade of ICRF heating system on EAST

ICRF (Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency) heating is an essential heating and current drive tool on EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). The high-power steady-state transmitters were designed as a part of research and development of ICRF heating system which aimed at output power of 1.5 MW for 1000 s in a frequency range of 25 to 70 MHz. There are 3 stage power amplifiers for each transmitter. Tube TH525A and TH535 were chosen for drive power amplifier (DPA) and final power amplifier (FPA), respectively. The power supply system of DPA and FPA were upgraded by using reliable PSM high voltage sources, whose response time is less than 5 μs. The ICRF system, which consists of 8 transmitters, will give out more than 10 MW total output power in the future. Four of them have been already fabricated, and another four are under construction. Three liquid stub tuners are used for impedance matching between antennas and transmitters, which can be only tuned shot to shot. There are two fast wave heating antennas which are assembled at I port and B port on EAST. Several projects are in progress including fast response impedance matching, distributed data acquisition and control system and so on for EAST ICRF heating system. (author)