ITER ICH Transmission Line and Matching System Prototype Development

Design and testing of prototype components for the ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating (ICH) transmission line and matching system is underway. Each ICH transmission line is designed to handle up to 6 MW/line in the 40–55 MHz frequency range. A total of 8 lines split to 16 antenna inputs on two ICH antennas. The ICH system is made up of 14 types of unique coaxial transmission line and matching components. The matching system is designed to provide passive ELM tolerance through the use of hybrid couplers and loads, which can absorb the transient reflected power. In addition the system is designed to compensate for coupling between antenna inputs caused by the mutual inductances of the current straps. It is further designed to balance as much as reasonable, the power requirements from the sources and the peak voltages on the antenna array elements.