General Electric Company

Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC

Timothy James Hollis

Evangelos Trifon Laskaris

Minfeng Xu

Yan Zhao

Anbo Wu

Weijun Shen

Ye Bai

Jian-She Wang

Chris Mark Cirel

Timothy John Havens

Yuri Lvovsky

Michael Ben Sellers

Bruce Courtney Campbell Amm

Peter John Feenan

Neil Clarke

Fengshun Tan

Tomas Duby

A superconducting magnet system includes a coil support structure, superconducting coils, and electrically and thermally conductive windings. The superconducting coils and the conductive windings are supported by the coil support structure. Each conductive winding is electromagnetically coupled with a corresponding superconducting coil. Each conductive winding is electrically shorted.

Superconducting magnet system

A gradient coil is provided. The gradient coil comprises: a first layer comprised of a first plurality of turns of wires; and a second layer of coil comprised of a second plurality of turns of wires. Each turn of wire in the first and second plurality of turns of wires circles along the side walls of a cylindrical substrate and each turn of wire in the first and second plurality of turns of wires include a first portion wound along the inner side wall of the substrate and a second portion wound along the outer side wall of the substrate.

Helical gradient coil for magnetic resonance imaging apparatus

Systems and methods for operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during ramping are provided. One method includes reducing pressure in a cryogen vessel of an MRI system during magnet ramping. The method also includes returning pressure in the cryogen vessel to a normal operating pressure level after magnet ramping is complete.

System and method for operating a magnetic resonance imaging system during ramping

A coil assembly for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system includes a primary gradient coil, and a corrector coil, at least a portion of the corrector coil being interwoven with a portion of the primary gradient coil such that the portion of the primary gradient coil is concentric with the portion of the corrector coil. An MRI imaging system and a method of fabricating the coil assembly are also provided.

Multi-field-of-view gradient coil

A gradient coil and an insert gradient coil for a magnetic resonance imaging system include a primary coil. The primary coil includes an upper primary coil portion and a lower primary coil portion, the lower primary coil portion being less curved in cross-section than the upper primary coil portion. The gradient coil also includes a shielding coil disposed outside of the primary coil. The shielding coil includes an upper shielding coil portion and a lower shielding coil portion, the lower shielding coil portion being less curved in cross-section than the upper shielding coil portion.

Flattened gradient coil for MRI systems

Gradient coils for generating gradient magnetic fields in a magnetic resonance imaging system are provided. In one embodiment, a gradient coil for a magnetic resonance imaging system may include a plurality of turns formed generally in a figure-eight. The figure-eight may form a first section configured to overly a section of a first adjacent coil, a second section configured to underly another section of the first adjacent coil, a third section configured to overly a section of a second adjacent coil, and a fourth section configured to underly another section of the second adjacent coil.

Interleaved gradient coil for magnetic resonance imaging

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which a partially elongated field-of-view in a magnetic resonance imaging system is generated either by an asymmetric primary coil or a conventional symmetrical primary coil with a supplementary high odd-order shim that elongates the field-of-view towards one end of the bore. For significantly increased efficiency, the high odd-order shim can evoke specific parts of the primary coil by injecting additional current and/or subtracting current from specific turns, as required.

Systems, methods and apparatus for a partially elongated field of view in a magnetic resonance imaging system

A shim coil design technique determines a position and a geometry of a room temperature (RT) shim coil to provide both a desired field homogeneity and a desired Bfield setting time. The simultaneous satisfaction of both field homogeneity and field settling time is achieved without a reduction of flux leakage from the shim coil, modification of main magnet protection circuitry, and without necessarily decoupling of the shim coil from the overall main magnet.

Method of designing a shim coil to reduce field settling time

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which inhomogeneity in a magnetic field is reduced by invoking electromagnetic mutual inductance between a main coil and another coil.

Systems, methods and apparatus for inducing electromagnetic mutual inductance in magnetic coils to reduce inhomogeneity in a magnetic field of the magnetic coils

A secondary coil circuit for use with a multi-section protected superconductive magnet coil circuit is disclosed herein. The secondary coil circuit includes two circuit nodes, a ramping switch electrically connected between the two circuit nodes, and a number of secondary coils electrically connected between the two circuit nodes. The secondary coils are made of wire having substantially superconductive capability when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature level and conducting electric current below a characteristic critical current level. The secondary coils are sized and positioned relative to the superconductive magnet coils situated in the individual sections of the multi-section protected superconductive magnet coil circuit so as to functionally cooperate with the multi-section protected superconductive magnet coil circuit in producing and maintaining a magnetic field that is substantially homogeneous. In one embodiment, the secondary coil circuit is inductively decoupled from each individual section of the multi-section protected superconductive magnet coil circuit.

Secondary coil circuit for use with a multi-section protected superconductive magnet coil circuit

In this system and method for magnetic resonance imaging, an actively shielded primary coil includes a first and second set of turns each having a prescribed number of turns about an axis, and each being symmetrically positioned radially from the axis and equidistant with respect to a mid plane perpendicular to the axis. A secondary shielding coil includes a third and fourth set of turns each having a prescribed number of turns about the axis and being symmetrically positioned radially from the axis and equidistant with respect to the mid plane. The third set of turns is positioned in close proximity to the first set of turns and outward of the first set of turns. Likewise, the fourth set of turns is positioned in close proximity to the second set of turns and outward of the second set of turns. The first and third sets of turns are in a first prescribed turns ratio and the second and fourth sets of turns are in a second prescribed turns ratio.

Growing community of inventors

Bicester, United Kingdom

Timothy James Hollis