SEPTEMBER 20--The Joint European Torus (JET; www.jet.efda.org) research group based in Abingdon, UK, has placed an order with Cedip Infrared Systems (Croissy-Beaubourg, France; www.cedip-infrared.com) for an advanced IR thermography system for monitoring the temperature of components inside its Tokamak fusion reactor. Based upon Cedip's EMERALD camera technology, operating in the 3--5-µm region, the new IR thermography system will monitor the plasma temperature inside the reactor through a set of IR endoscopes. Installed inside the reactor facility, an area inaccessible during time of operation, the camera will be integrated with the main data-processing system of the JET Tokamak for the setting of parameters, synchronizing acquisition, and gathering of data. Cedip's advanced 32-bit Altair software will remotely control the camera via fiberoptics and transfer and store acquired data.
Benefiting from the experience of IR thermography installations in nuclear-fusion research facilities at the Atomic Energy Commission (Cadarache, France), Cedip will supply a specially adapted version of the EMERALD camera. The camera system will be assembled into a specifically designed housing to protect it against the intense magnetic field generated by the reactor's superconducting magnetic coils. A further benefit of the thermography system will be its ability to measure plasma temperature from 100°C to 2000°C within a single range, while operating at 200 images/s in full-frame mode.
The JET is run as a collaboration between all European fusion organizations and with the participation of scientists from around the world.
