Analysis of Divertor Heat Flux with Infrared Thermography During Gas Fuelling in the HL-2A Tokamak

In HL-2A tokamaks, the behavior of heat flux deposited on the divertor targets has been studied during deuterium gas fuelling. The heat flux is reduced significantly after supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) fuelling during Ohmic and electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) divertor discharges. The SMBI fuelling causes an increase in the plasma density and this change results in the experienced change of the edge properties. Most of this reduction in divertor target heat flux occurs together with a high plasma radiation region located at near the X-point. The largest reduction in heat flux profiles is observed at the outboard divertor separatrix strike point, while the heat flux far from the strike point remains almost unchanged. In particular, with SMBI multi-pulses gas fuelling, a partially detached divertor regime is observed with a highly radiating region at the X-point. With the onset of the partially detached divertor regime, a sudden drop in both heat flux and power flow on the divertor target is observed. The reduction in power load on the divertor targets is roughly equal to the increase in plasma radiation loss.