The University of New Brunswick

Other

Green Imaging Technologies, Inc.

Bruce J Balcom

Bruce Colpitts

Igor V Mastikhin

Andrew E Marble

Derrick P Green

Quan Chen

Oleg Petrov

Armin Afrough

Bryce MacMillan

Dan Xiao

Hui Han

Linqing Li

Joshua J Young

Florea Marica

Laura Romero-Zerón

Razieh Enjilela

Sarah Vashaee

Frederic Goora

Sarah Vashee

Mojtaba Shakerian

Benedict Newling

Ben Newling

A T-T* measurement which permits speciation of different components with restricted mobility in samples where a T-Tmeasurement is impossible is disclosed. Tracking the T-T* coordinate, and associated signal intensity changes, can reveal additional structural and/or dynamic information such as phase changes in rigid/semi-rigid biopolymer samples or pore level changes in morphology of the water environments in cement-based materials. In another aspect, the T-T* measurement may also be employed to discriminate composition in solid mixtures, a very significant analytical problem in industry. In a further aspect, the T-T* measurement has particular value in permitting a simple assignment of Tto different T* populations.

Method and apparatus for T-T* relaxation correlation magnetic resonance measurement of materials

Method and system for determining a confinement size in a porous media, including subjecting the media to a substantially uniform static magnetic field, applying a magnetic resonance pulse sequence to the media, detecting magnetic resonance signals from the media, determining non-ground eigenvalues from the magnetic resonance relaxation spectrum, and determining a confinement size of the media from the eigenvalues.

Method and system for determining confinement size in porous media

A core holder for a reservoir rock core sample for MR or MRI measurement including a casing and a chamber internal to the core holder, an inlet and an outlet in the core holder for circulating a confining fluid in the chamber, a sample housing in the chamber for containing the core sample, the sample housing including an inlet and an outlet in the sample holder for circulating fluid to and from the sample, and a membrane for isolating the sample from fluid contact with the confining fluid but permitting fluid pressure to be exerted on the sample when the confining fluid is pressurized, the space in the chamber not occupied by the sample housing defining a void space, an RF probe in the void space and at least partially surrounding the sample housing, whereby confining fluid introduced into the chamber circulates in the void space around the RF probe.

Probe and sample holder for magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging

A method and system for generating a magnetic resonance pulse sequence for the investigation of a sample by magnetic resonance, including generating a selective scan comprising an adiabatic inversion magnetic resonance pulse sequence wherein the magnetization is inverted from z to &#x2212;z inside a frequency band, following the selective scan with a non-selective scan comprising a CPMG magnetic resonance pulse sequence wherein the magnetization is maintained along z, obtaining a first signal from the selective scan, obtaining a second signal from the non-selective scan, and subtracting the first and second signals to obtain a resulting signal with only selected frequency components for slice selective investigation of the sample.

System and method for spatially resolved T-Tdistribution measurement

A pure phase encode measurement method where the FID signal is encoded by a brief pure phase encode magnetic field gradient pulse. Data collection occurs once the gradient is turned off. Multiple free induction decay points acquired are identically encoded such that a full k space data set is acquired for each FID point. Fourier transformation of these data sets generates one, two or three dimensional images with consistent fields of view. The image series which results may be fit to a T* decay function and the T* magnetic resonance ('MR') lifetime mapped. Fluid content (proton density) images may also be generated by this simple fitting procedure.

Free induction decay based magnetic resonance imaging methods

Method for correcting the magnetic field gradient waveform in a magnetic resonance measurement including extracting an impulse response from the measured step response of a magnetic resonance system, determining the slew rate of the system during the step response measurement, modifying the desired output waveform such that the desired output waveform is constrained to within the slew rate and the bandwidth of the system, and determining the required pre-equalized input waveform.

Magnetic field gradient monitor and magnetic field gradient waveform correction apparatus and methods

A method of sampling in pure phase encode MRI including restricting sampled points to a specified region.

Method of sampling in pure phase encode magnetic resonance imaging

A slice-selective CPMG pulse sequence with a DANTE-Z selective scheme for measuring spatially-resolved Tdistributions.

Spatially resolved magnetic resonance spin-spin relaxation distribution measurement methods

An MRI sampling method combining phase and frequency encoding.

Method of magnetic resonance imaging combining phase and frequency encoding

A method of measuring a parameter in a sample by imaging at least a portion of the sample using a spin-echo single-point imaging (SE-SPI) pulse sequence. This method involves applying a pure phase encoding to the SE-SPI pulse sequence, acquiring a multiplicity of echoes, and determining the spatially resolved Tdistribution. In another embodiment, individual echoes are separately phase encoded in a multi-echo acquisition and the SE-SPI pulse sequence is a hybrid SE-SPI sequence. In another embodiment, an external force can be used to build up a distribution of saturations in the sample, and a Tdistribution can be measured for the sample, which is then used to determine a parameter of the sample. A spatially resolved Tdistribution can also be measured and a resulting spatially resolved Tdistribution used to determine the Tdistribution as a function of capillary pressure.

Spin echo SPI methods for quantitative analysis of fluids in porous media

Methods for measuring Bvalues in an MRI sample space, generating Bmaps and using Bmaps to correct Bprofiles are disclosed.

Methods of radio frequency magnetic field mapping

An apparatus and method for performing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on samples in metallic holders and vessels or in proximity to metallic objects is disclosed.

Magnetic resonance apparatus and method

A method based on pure phase encode FIDs that permits high strength gradient measurement is disclosed. A small doped water phantom (1&#x2dc;3 mm droplet, T, T, T*&#x3c;100 &#x3bc;s) within a microprobe is excited by a series of closely spaced broadband RF pulses each followed by single FID point acquisition. Two trial gradient waveforms illustrate the technique, neither of which could be measured by the conventional microprobe measurement. The first is an extended duration gradient waveform while the other illustrates this method's ability to measure gradient waveforms with large net area and/or high amplitude. This method is a point monitor with simple implementation and low cost hardware requirements.

Magnetic field gradient monitor apparatus and method

A magnet array is disclosed which is suitable for inter alia producing a remote field for use in unilateral magnetic resonance. In the 'Magnet Array', two separated magnets, which are magnetized along a substantially same collinear magnetization direction, produce a field with a local maximum centered above and between them. The field produced by the two separated magnets is substantially parallel to the collinear magnetization direction of the two separated magnets. A third magnet is centered between the two separated magnets. The third magnet has a magnetization direction which is substantially parallel to the collinear magnetization direction of the two separated magnets. The third magnet produces a field which is substantially parallel to the collinear magnetization direction of the two separated magnets, and adds to the increasing field below the local maximum point produced by the two separated magnets. The field of the third magnet, which decays with distance, adds to the increasing field below the local maximum point. The position of the third magnet is selected in order to generate a total field which has at least one of its first and second spatial derivatives with respect to the distance above the magnet array substantially equal to zero.

Magnet array

A unilateral NMR sensor comprising a ferromagnetic yoke; a permanent magnet arranged on the yoke; a pole piece on the magnet; the pole piece including an air-pole piece interface surface whose shape corresponds to an equipotential contour of magnetic scalar potential. An approach for designing single-sided magnets suitable for unilateral magnetic resonance (UMR) measurements is presented. The method uses metal pole pieces to shape the field from permanent magnets in a target region. The pole pieces are shaped according to solutions to Laplace's equation, and can be designed using a combination of analytical methods and numerical optimization. The design leads to analytical expressions for the pole piece shape and magnetic field. The method is developed in Cartesian, polar, and spherical coordinates, and the merits of each system are discussed. The effects of finite magnet size on the field quality are explored through simulation, and are found to have a substantial effect in many cases. A magnet is designed using our method to produce a static field with a constant gradient over a region 2 cm in diameter and 2 mm thick. This leads to a compact cylindrical magnet just over 11 cm in diameter, topped with a single metal pole piece. The design is validated through simulation. The simulated field is found to agree closely with that specified analytically through the design procedure.

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Fredericton, Canada

Bruce J Balcom