Local coil system, transmitting device, magnetic resonance system and method for the wireless transfer of energy to a local coil system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9689940-B2
Application number	US-201213487174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2012
Priority date	Jun 3, 2011
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A local coil system for a magnetic resonance system including at least one local coil for capturing magnetic resonance (MR) signals and at least one energy receiving antenna for inductively receiving energy for the local coil system from a temporally varying magnetic field is provided. The at least one energy receiving antenna is or may be tuned to an energy transfer frequency that is lower than a Larmor frequency of the MR signals to be captured and higher than approximately 20 kHz.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A local coil system for a magnetic resonance system for capturing magnetic resonance (MR) signals, the local coil system comprising:
a local coil comprising at least one antenna for MR signal reception, wherein the MR signals are captured at a Larmor frequency;
at least one separate local coil comprising an energy receiving antenna for inductively receiving energy for the local coil system from a temporally varying magnetic field; and
a buffer battery configured to store at least a portion of the received energy,
wherein the energy receiving antenna is tuned to an energy transfer frequency that is lower than the Larmor frequency of the captured MR signals and higher than 20 kHz, and
wherein the energy transfer frequency corresponds to a MR basic clock cycle or to a whole-number part or whole-number multiple of the MR basic clock cycle.

2. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy transfer frequency is selected such that the energy transfer frequency has no harmonic waves in the range of the Larmor frequency, the energy transfer frequency is higher than 1 MHz, or a combination thereof.

3. The local coil system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the energy receiving antenna is configured to receive a transverse and circularly polarized magnetic field.

4. The local coil system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the energy receiving antenna is configured to receive a longitudinal and linearly polarized magnetic field that runs in a field direction of a basic magnetic field of the magnetic resonance system.

5. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy receiving antenna is configured to receive a transverse and circularly polarized magnetic field.

6. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy receiving antenna is configured to receive a longitudinal and linearly polarized magnetic field that runs in a field direction of a basic magnetic field of the magnetic resonance system.

7. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy receiving antenna is arranged above at least one local coil of the local coil system.

8. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the energy receiving antenna has a larger contour than at least one local coil of the local coil system, and
wherein the at least one local coil is arranged within the energy receiving antenna from a plan view.

9. The local coil system as claimed in one of the claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of interlinked energy receiving antennas, the plurality of interlinked energy receiving antennas comprising the energy receiving antenna.

10. The local coil system as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising:
at least one local coil, the at least one local coil combined with an energy receiving antenna to provide a combination of local coils and energy receiving antennas.

11. The local coil system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the combination of the local coils and the energy receiving antennas is connected to a filter circuit that is configured to separate the MR signals and the energy.

12. The local coil system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the combination of the local coils and the energy receiving antennas comprises a tuning circuit for tuning the combination of the local coils and the energy receiving antennas to at least two resonance frequencies.

13. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a clock generating device connected to the energy receiving antenna,
wherein the clock generating device is operable to generate a clocking signal for the local coil system from the energy transfer frequency of the temporally varying magnetic field.

14. The local coil system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a demodulator connected to the energy receiving antenna,
wherein the demodulator is operable to demodulate a signal resulting from a modulated magnetic field.

15. A magnetic resonance system comprising:
a local coil system for capturing magnetic resonance (MR) signals at a Larmor frequency and inductively receiving energy at a separate frequency, the local coil system comprising:
a plurality of local coils, wherein one local coil of the plurality of local coils is integral with an energy receiving antenna for inductively receiving energy for the local coil system from a temporally varying magnetic field,
a buffer battery configured to store at least a portion of the received energy,

wherein the energy receiving antenna is tuned to an energy transfer frequency that is lower than the Larmor frequency of the captured MR signals and higher than 20 kHz, and
wherein the energy transfer frequency corresponds to a MR basic clock cycle or to a whole-number part or whole-number multiple of the MR basic clock cycle.

16. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 15 , further comprising:
a transmitting device configured to transmit energy to the local coil system, the transmitting device comprising:
an energy transmitting antenna that emits the temporally varying magnetic field at a predefined energy transfer frequency; and
an oscillator device that is linked to the energy transmitting antenna and is operable to generate a signal for activating the energy transmitting antenna,

wherein the signal has an energy transfer frequency that is lower than the Larmor frequency of the captured MR signals and higher than 20 kHz.

17. A method for transferring energy to a local coil system of a magnetic resonance system, the method comprising:
inducing energy in an energy receiving antenna of the local coil system by temporally varying magnetic fields; and
storing at least a portion of the induced energy in a buffer battery,
wherein the local coil system captures MR signals at a Larmor frequency,
wherein the magnetic field temporally varies at a frequency that is lower than the Larmor frequency of the captured MR signals and higher than 20 kHz, and
wherein the frequency corresponds to a MR basic clock cycle or to a whole-number part or whole-number multiple of the MR basic clock cycle.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein a reception of the MR signals by the local coil system and a transfer of the energy to the local coil system take place simultaneously.

Assignees

• Biber Stephan
• Nistler Jürgen
• Vester Markus
• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Biber Stephan
• Nistler Jürgen
• Vester Markus

Classifications

• G01R33/3692 Primary

  involving signal transmission without using electrically conductive connections, e.g. wireless communication or optical communication of the MR signal or an auxiliary signal other than the MR signal · CPC title

• G01R33/3415

  comprising arrays of sub-coils {, i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels} · CPC title

• A61B5/055

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• H04B5/24

  Inductive coupling · CPC title

• H04B5/79

  for data transfer in combination with power transfer · CPC title