Project Summary
ICES Solutions successfully designed and delivered a precision control system for the ECRH Launcher at IPR Ahmedabad, enabling safe, accurate, and repeatable motion along two critical axes—Poloidal and Toroidal.
The system provides both local and remote motion control, real-time diagnostics, and complete data acquisition and analysis capabilities.
This monitoring system plays a vital role in shot-wise alignment of launcher mirrors used in high-power microwave injection in plasma experiments, ensuring each movement is traceable, logged, and analyzable for precision research applications.
Challenges
The ECRH Launcher requires extremely precise motion to align mirrors for beam injection.
Existing systems lacked a unified software platform that could manage motion control, provide operational feedback, and store shot-wise movement data for analysis and validation.
Solutions
ICES built a LabVIEW-based desktop application integrated with motion drives and MySQL database to deliver a complete control and monitoring suite.
The system includes:
- Motion Control & Configuration
- Dual-Axis Control (Poloidal & Toroidal)
- Position Mode and Recipe Mode (multi-step motion sequences).
- Mirror and motor angle monitoring with real-time dials
Real-Time & Historical Analysis:
- Shot-wise data logging
- Interactive trend graphs for motor parameters
- Comparative motion analysis across shots
- Excel export for engineering review
- Real-Time Event Logger for system operations, user logins, fault flags
- Historical Logger for date-wise review and system traceability
Results
- Precision Alignment of launcher optics with graphical verification
- Secure Operation via admin/user login management
- Real-Time Alerts and system health monitoring
- Historical Shot Data available for research review and tuning
- Scalable Platform with structured database and plug-and-play installation