Design, construction and performance testing of a 1.5 T cryogen-free low-temperature superconductor whole-body MRI magnet. (1st April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Yulin; Wang, Sucong; Liang, Ping; Brusic, Vladimir; Zeng, Jie; Liu, Bingjian; Ge, Yuwei; Zheng, Jianjun; Zhang, Jingfeng; Wang, Chengbo
• Is Part Of: Superconductor science & technology. Volume 36:Number 4(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-04-01
• Subjects: cryogen-free superconducting magnet -- LTS -- MRI; Superconductivity -- Periodicals; Superconductors -- Periodicals; 537.623
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6668/acb467
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-2048

Abstract

Abstract: This work describes the design, construction and testing of a 1.5 T cryogen-free low-temperature superconductor niobium–titanium whole-body magnet with a bore diameter of 850 mm that is suitable for clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications. The magnet is actively shielded and passively shimmed to achieve confinement within a 0.5 mT stray magnetic field at 2.5/4 m radial/axial positions and 12.1 ppm field inhomogeneity over a 45 mm diameter of spherical volume. The magnet is conductively refrigerated using a two-stage Gifford–McMahon cryocooler and can be maintained at a steady temperature below 5.7 K during MRI scanning. The MRI scanner assembled with the designed cryogen-free magnet demonstrated stable performance and provided MRI images with good quality and high contrast.