Ge Precision Healthcare LLC

General Electric Company

Ge Precision Heatlhcare LLC

Stuart Paul Feltham

Charles Dudley Yarborough

Dogan Celik

Longzhi Jiang

Ernst Wolfgang Stautner

Yuri Lvovsky

Mark O Derakhshan

Zhenyu Zhang

Peter Jarvis

Richard Thomas Hackett

Kabindra Ram Bhattarai

Jiayin Ling

Liyang Ye

Thomas Edward Moran

Harold Monroe James

Yuye Jiang

A superconducting magnet system includes a coil support structure having a body, a superconducting magnet having a plurality of coils disposed about the body, and a helium vessel encompassing the coil support structure and the superconducting magnet. The superconducting magnet system includes a cooling system that includes a network of tubes disposed within the helium vessel and configured to transport helium within, wherein the network of tubes is retroactively thermally coupled to the plurality of coils. The cooling system includes a liquid helium storage system located within the helium vessel and a helium recondenser located outside the helium vessel. The cooling system includes one or more tubes coupling the helium storage system to the helium recondenser, wherein where the one or more tubes pass through the helium vessel is retroactively vacuum sealed to make the helium vessel a sealed helium vessel.

System and method for converting helium bath cooling system for a superconducting magnet of a magnetic resonance imaging system into a sealed cryogenic system

A superconducting magnet assembly is provided. The magnet assembly includes a magnet and a switch assembly coupled to the magnet. The switch assembly includes a thermosyphon tube configured to carry cryogen therethrough, a switch, a first pressure valve, and a second pressure valve. The switch is configured to switch between a resistive mode and a superconducting mode, wherein the switch is in thermal contact with the thermosyphon tube. The first pressure valve and the second pressure valve are positioned on the thermosyphon tube and configured to control flow of the cryogen in the thermosyphon tube, and the switch is positioned between the first pressure valve and the second pressure valve. The magnet is configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field based on switching of the switch between the resistive mode and the superconducting mode.

Switch assemblies of superconducting magnet assemblies and reconfigurable superconducting magnet assemblies of a cryogenic system

A superconducting magnet assembly is provided. The magnet assembly includes a magnet configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field, a thermosyphon tube, a main tank, and a metering tank. The thermosyphon tube is in thermal contact with the magnet, the thermosyphon tube configured to carry cryogen therethrough and cool the magnet via the cryogen. The metering tank contains the cryogen and is coupled with the main tank, and the main tank has an interior volume greater than an interior volume of the metering tank, The thermosyphon tube is coupled with the main tank at a first end of the thermosyphon tube and coupled with the metering tank at a second end of the thermosyphon tube, the second end opposite the first end, and the thermosyphon tube and the metering tank define a path along which the cryogen flows.

A method of manufacturing a lead assembly of a cryogenic system is provided. The method includes developing a three-dimensional (3D) model of a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of channels extending longitudinally through the heat exchanger from the first end to the second end, the plurality of channels forming a plurality of thermal surfaces within the heat exchanger, the heat exchanger having a transverse cross section. The method further includes modifying the 3D model by at least one of reducing an area of the cross section and increasing the plurality of thermal surfaces. The method also includes additively manufacturing the heat exchanger using an electrically-conductive and thermally-conductive material according to the modified 3D model. Further, the method includes providing a high temperature superconductor (HTS) assembly that includes an HTS strip, and connecting the HTS assembly to the heat exchanger at the second end of the heat exchanger.

High temperature superconducting current lead assembly for cryogenic apparatus

A superconducting magnet system having two-stage quenching. A primary coil assembly includes a coil section configured to be superconducting when conducting current below a first critical current. An EMI shielding coil assembly includes a coil section configured to be superconducting when conducting current below a second critical current, which is electrically coupled to a variable resistor configured to be superconducting when conducting current below a third critical current and to be non-superconducting when conducting current at or above the third critical current that is less than both the first and second critical currents. Generating a magnetic flux within the EMI shielding coil assembly causes the current conducted through the variable resistor to exceed the third critical current, quenching the variable resistor and generating heat. The EMI shielding coil assembly is disposed such that the heat from the variable resistor quenches the primary coil assembly.

Superconducting magnet systems and methods for making superconducting magnet systems having two-stage quenching

A dual-purpose displacer for adjusting a liquid cryogen level in a cryostat, the dual-purpose displacer includes a displacer wall having an exterior displacer surface and an interior displacer surface. The interior displacer surface defines a displacing chamber configured to contain a first portion of liquid cryogen. The exterior displacer surface is configured to displace a second portion of liquid cryogen contained in a cryogenic chamber of the cryostat. The dual-purpose displacer is disposed within the cryogenic chamber of the cryostat and configured to transfer the first portion of liquid cryogen contained within the displacing chamber to the cryogenic chamber.

Dual-purpose displacer system and method

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Florence, SC, United States of America

Stuart Paul Feltham