NSTX POWER SUPPLY CONFIGURATION CONTROL UPGRADE

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is in its second decade of operation at PPPL. NSTX has a total of 15 coil systems (which include the coils, their dedicated power supplies and associated auxiliary equipment) that create and control the plasma per the experimental objectives. Each coil system is individually controllable via the NSTX Power Supply Real Time Controller (PSRTC) software code written in C language. The NSTX has great flexibility in both the configuration of its coil system and in the operating envelope afforded by the connected power supplies. To ensure proper operation and to minimize the probability of lost runtime due to system faults, the project has developed a procedure that governs system configuration. The Integrated System Test Procedure (ISTP-001) documents the NSTX machine parameters, experiment configuration limits, machine protection settings and device settings. This paper will describe calculations for the ISTP 001 methodology and system protection settings; record keeping of the various configuration revisions and the upgrade in progress to improve readability and calculation capabilities.