Ramp generator circuit for probe diagnostics using microcontroller for LHCD system

It is well known that in LHCD system, the rf power coupling between antenna and plasma strongly depends on the edge plasma parameter. Thus it is mandatory to monitor edge plasma parameter to establish proper impedance matching condition when LHCD power is launched into the plasma. For SST1 LHCD system, we intend to monitor the edge plasma parameter employing electric probes, connected to the grill antenna sides for the said purpose. In SST1, initially LHCD system would couple rf power to plasmas lasting for small durations. Gradually the power and pulse length would be increased to eventually get 1000 seconds plasma. To monitor the edge plasma parameter, over such a wide spectrum (say few millisecond to seconds) during the above campaign, a flexible measurement scheme is desired which would cater to entire spectrum of operation. Normally a ramp is utilized to bias the electric probe, which yields various plasma parameters. To cater our requirement, the ramp generator must have facility to change ramp-up rate to meet our pulse length requirement. Further during SST operation, the human access near the machine would not be permitted and ramp circuit might not be accessible for manual settings. Thus remote setting facility to change ramp-up rate is also desired. Keeping these constraints in mind, a ramp circuit has been designed using Analog Device micro-controller ADuC842. The circuit has both manual and remote setting facility. Ramp generator parameters like Ramp-up rate, Trigger mode, number of cycles, etc. can be set from PC through RS-485 serial link. Initially low voltage (0-5V) ramp signal is generated using micro-controller and inbuilt DAC. This low voltage ramp is then amplified with PA-85 op-amp to get desired probe biasing voltage (-110V to +110V). The ramp period can be change form (1ms to 1000 ms) to cater to different plasma pulse length. Programming for micro-controller is done in structured language-C with the help of ''Keil'' IDE. In this paper, a detailed design and results obtained from the above ramp circuit under different settings would be reported and discussed.