Instrumentation, Control & Safety
The sensors, controls and interlocks that run the machine safely.
- Layers
- Diagnostics, control, safety interlocks
Diagnostics measure the plasma; a control system steers heating, fuelling and magnets; and an independent safety-instrumented system enforces interlocks. Functional-safety standards govern the interlock design.
Control and safety are treated as detailed-design-ready subsystems whose qualification (SIL verification) is a scheduled, not open-ended, task.
Common questions
The sensors, real-time control system, machine-protection system and the independent safety-instrumented system — the layers that measure the plasma, hold it at its operating point and keep the plant safe.
So that the system protecting people and the environment is independent of the systems running and protecting the machine — standard safety-engineering practice applied to a fusion plant.