Thermal flux analysis of the PFMA-1 device

This work presents experimental results pertaining to the heating by plasma-wall interaction of the upper flange of the vacuum chamber of the PFMA-1 Plasma Focus at 18 kV and at 1 Torr of 4He. The 2D temperature distributions over the flange have been obtained using an infrared camera. From these distributions average temperature profiles are obtained and used to estimate the heat imparted to the flange by plasma-wall interaction. It is found that at least 15% of the input energy is converted into thermal energy of the flange. The heat flux has been estimated too; it is found that its average value is comparable to that for ITER in the cases of plasma disruptions. It is therefore proposed that a powerful PF can be used similarly to plasma guns and e.m. railguns to test materials for fusion reactors. Other studies are under way to correlate the model presented to the experimental results obtained with an aluminium disk which resulted ablated due to the interaction with the plasma.