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Fusion research
High-speed infrared cameras for fusion research – Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaforschung (IPP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)
Around the world, numerous research departments, organised in large-scale research projects, are conducting fusion research. The goal of fusion research is to generate energy from the fusion of atomic nuclei – this is the "sun's energy source". One gram of fuel (hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium) produces about as much energy as 11 tons of coal. Fusion fuels are cheap, available in almost unlimited and quantities and evenly distributed around the world; furthermore, fusion power plants have favourable environmental and safety properties … the energy source of the future?
Fusion plasma has enormously high temperatures and must therefore be kept away from the reactor walls because any contact between them would cool and contaminate the plasma and at the same time damage the reactor walls. That is why the fusion plasma is enclosed in a magnetic field.
Three European research facilities are successfully using Thermosensorik GmbH high-speed infrared cameras for thermal observation of the plasma. The cameras are also exposed – albeit shielded – to rapidly changing and extremely high magnetic fields; data are therefore transmitted to the remote data capturing unit via glass fibre cables (up to 130 MByte/s).
The exposure time of successive infrared images can be varied so as to cover the large temperature differences with a single camera. This Thermosensorik GmbH special development can handle even the highest image rates of over 25,000 images per second.
We are proud to support outstanding European research institutions with our systems.
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Photo: JET (Joint European Torus)
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