Design and implement of control system for HUST field-reversed configuration device

Abstract

HFRC (HUST Field-Reversed Configuration) device is a complex magnetic confinement fusion research device for studying field-reversed configuration, which is composed of many different subsystems. This paper presents the design and implement of the web based HFRC control system, which can orchestrate all the instruments and devices to conduct a successful experiment, as well as collect and archive the scientific data generated during the experiments. HFRC control system adopts the modularized and micro service architecture. It also adopts the Observer and Finite State Machine design patterns, which work well in controlling the flow of discharging and handle exceptions. The in-house developed CFET (Control system Framework for Experimental Devices Toolkit) has been selected as the control framework instead of EPICS toolkit, because of its advantages such as simplified framework, transparent protocol, flexible extension. Based on the technology of Web, CFET adopts HTTP protocol and RESTful design principle as the general communication protocol of the system. HFRC Control System also offers a customizable web-based HMI allowing users to design the HMI by simply dragging and dropping widgets in the browser. HFRC Control System has been initially deployed in daily experiments of HFRC. Moreover, the studies on emerging technologies will provide valuable experiences for future control system design of fusion device.© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.