Introduction of an inventory tool for the utilities and diagnostics of ASDEX Upgrade

Abstract

Until now, more than 40,000 plasma discharges have been carried out at the Tokamak experiment ASDEX Upgrade of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) at Garching / Germany. In order to achieve the scientific objectives, the power supply and additional heating systems as well as the plasma diagnostics have been continuously expanded and a huge variety and quantity of facilities is available in the torus hall. Over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of all components, their physical location and to identify relationships and dependencies between individual plants. In particular, the mutual interference and a correct grounding of the installation are of essential interest in order to guarantee good signal quality of the diagnostics. On the other hand, current regulations for plant safety and personal protection must be complied with.In order to meet these requirements and to obtain a better overview, a new inventory tool has been introduced. Essential information about the current conditions, parameters, logical dependencies, maintenance intervals, contact persons, overview diagrams, physical location and plant pictures can be stored. Successively, all these data will be accessible at a single place.The paper describes the adaptation of a database system designed for IT applications towards an inventory tool for a matured research facility. It presents the scope of services, first experiences of the users applying the new tool and future developments.