Closed loop control of the sawtooth instability in nuclear fusion

In nuclear fusion the sawtooth instability is an important plasma phenomenon, having both positive and negative effects on the tokamak plasma. Control of its period is essential in future nuclear fusion reactors. This paper presents a control oriented model of the sawtooth instability, with current drive as input and sawtooth period as output, and validates it with a more extended model and experimental data. This model is numerically implemented and combined with PI-controllers in a feedback loop. Simulations show that closed loop control of the system to a desired sawtooth period is indeed possible, even when time delay is added to the feedback loop.