General Electric Company

Thomas F Schubert

Floyd L Gray

Kenneth Marel Bradshaw

Joshua O Kolawole

A method is provided for reducing acoustical noise generated when gradient coils which are part of a nuclear magnetic resonance (MR) scanner are energized by current pulses in the course of an MR study. The acoustical noise is due to vibrations of a fiber-glass coil form on which the coils are wound. The vibrations are excited by high frequency components in the squared-edged conventional current pulses. Significant noise reduction is achieved by shaping the leading and trailing current pulse edges to eliminate the objectionable high frequency components. Advantageously, the pulse edges can be shaped using sinusoidal and Bessel function waveforms. Another useful waveform for pulse shaping is a ramp function with rounded transition points.

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Pewaukee, WI, United States of America

Thomas F Schubert