Overview on electrical issues faced during the SPIDER experimental campaigns

SPIDER is the full-scale prototype of the ion source of the ITER Heating Neutral Beam Injector, where negative ions of Hydrogen or Deuterium are produced by a RF generated plasma and accelerated with a set of grids up to ∼100 keV. SPIDER Beam Source design complies with the ITER specific requirements, being fully installed within a vacuum vessel, and with the electrical circuits operating at the residual background pressure. The Power Supply System is composed of high voltage dc power supplies capable of handling frequent grid breakdowns, high current dc generators for the magnetic filter field and RF generators for the plasma generation.