Ultrasonic Injector of Lithium Microdrops and Its First Tests at T-11M Tokamak

The results of development of the lithium injector for the T-11M tokamak on the basis of ultrasonic method for microdrop generation are presented. The physical substantiation of initial data for designing the finely dispersed lithium injector for the tokamak is given. The experimental results and techniques for determining the injector parameters under test-bench conditions and under plasma discharge conditions in the T‑11M tokamak’s chamber are presented. It is shown that the created design of the lithium injector allows the generation of a flow of lithium microdrops with an average diameter of 80 µm and a mean velocity of 5–8 m/s at the injector productivity of 12–15 mg/s. The technological features of using the ultrasonic injector under the tokamak conditions are studied, which are related to the synchronization of the injector triggering with the plasma discharge and to the effect of the lithium surface purity on the particle flow parameters.