Open magnetic resonance imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10006977-B2
Application number	US-201514821972-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method for designing the arrangement of superconducting windings for an open MRI system capable of supporting the imaging sequences for CE-BMRI and to a method of coil fabrication that can make a practical magnet from the design.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A superconducting MRI magnet comprising:
a plurality of planar superconducting windings disposed around a common central axis, oriented with their planes perpendicular to the central axis, in which the conductors within the windings all carry the same current, the windings are connected in electrical series, and the number of turns in each winding is in general different from the number of turns in other windings.

2. The magnet of claim 1 wherein, the number of turns N i in each winding is chosen by an algorithm so that the superposition of the magnetic field distributions produced by all windings selectively cancels the multipole field components in the magnetic field distribution in a defined target region.

3. The magnet of claim 2 wherein, the defined target region is a spherical region centered on the central axis, located outside the region interior to any windings, wherein the windings are nested circular hoops each having a constant cross-section.

4. The magnet of claim 2 wherein, the defined target region is a pair of spherical regions disposed in a specific geometry appropriate wherein the windings are a nested set of planar oblong or racetrack hoops each of constant cross section.

5. A structure comprising a coil, wherein the coil is subdivided into a stack of parallel planar coil subassemblies and the planar coil subassemblies are stacked face-to-face, with fiducial pins that co-locate them, such that the entire magnet coil is assembled by stacking the subassemblies and compressing them stably either by metal fixtures or welding.

6. The structure of claim 5 , wherein each subassembly consists of a set of coil elements that are coplanar and are nested sequentially in radius, and further wherein each subassembly contains a baseplate and a set of removable metal hoops, each shaped to define the inner boundary of a particular coil element.

7. The structure of claim 6 , wherein the baseplate is machined with a set of grooves such that each hoop fits into a groove in the baseplate.

Assignees

• Texas A & M Univ Sys

Inventors

• Mcintyre Peter
• Sattarov Akhdiyor

Classifications

• H01F6/06

  Coils, e.g. winding, insulating, terminating or casing arrangements therefor · CPC title

• G01R33/3802

  Manufacture or installation of magnet assemblies; Additional hardware for transportation or installation of the magnet assembly or for providing mechanical support to components of the magnet assembly · CPC title

• G01R33/3815 Primary

  with superconducting coils, e.g. power supply therefor · CPC title

• G01R33/3808

  Magnet assemblies for single-sided MR wherein the magnet assembly is located on one side of a subject only; Magnet assemblies for inside-out MR, e.g. for MR in a borehole or in a blood vessel, or magnet assemblies for fringe-field MR · CPC title

• H01F41/048

  Superconductive coils · CPC title