Gate valve and shutter control system of the fusion experiment Wendelstein 7-X

The plasma vessel of the fusion experiment Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is a plasma vessel covering a plasma volume of about 30 m3. The vacuum conditions for plasma experiments inside the plasma vessel are supposed to be in a range of 1 × 10−8 mbar (ultra high vacuum conditions) after evacuation and conditioning. The 254 ports of the plasma vessel allow an external access to the inner space of the plasma vessel. Ports for heating and diagnostic systems are equipped with gate valves or with shutters. The vacuum gate valves are used as a controllable mechanical and a vacuum disconnection point between diagnostics and heating systems on the port side and the inner plasma vessel on the other side. The shutters are responsible for an optical and thermal protection for port windows or installed equipments inside the ports. After an overview of the main requirements for the control of the huge number of gate valves and shutters for the operational phases 1 and 2 of W7-X the design and realization of a centralized control system for controlling and observing all shutters and the majority of gate valves of the machine Wendelstein 7-X will be introduced and discussed.