Gradient coil is an essential component of a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)scanner.To achieve high spatial resolution and imaging speed,a high-efficiency gradient coil with high slew rate is required.In consideration...Gradient coil is an essential component of a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)scanner.To achieve high spatial resolution and imaging speed,a high-efficiency gradient coil with high slew rate is required.In consideration of the safety and comfort of the patient,the mechanical stability,acoustic noise and peripheral nerve stimulation(PNS)are also need to be concerned for practical use.In our previous work,a high-efficiency whole-body gradient coil set with a hybrid cylindrical-planar structure has been presented,which offers significantly improved coil performances.In this work,we propose to design this transverse gradient coil system with transformed magnetic gradient fields.By shifting up the zero point of gradient fields,the designed new Y-gradient coil could provide enhanced electromagnetic performances.With more uniform coil winding arrangement,the net torque of the new coil is significantly reduced and the generated sound pressure level(SPL)is lower at most tested frequency bands.On the other hand,the new transverse gradient coil designed with rotated magnetic gradient fields produces considerably reduced electric field in the human body,which is important for the use of rapid MR sequences.It's demonstrated that a safer and patient-friendly design could be obtained by using transformed magnetic gradient fields,which is critical for practical use.展开更多
Significant high magnetic gradient field strength is essential to obtaining high-resolution images in a benchtop mag- netic resonance imaging （BT-MRI） system with permanent magnet. Extending minimum wire spacing and...Significant high magnetic gradient field strength is essential to obtaining high-resolution images in a benchtop mag- netic resonance imaging （BT-MRI） system with permanent magnet. Extending minimum wire spacing and maximum wire width of gradient coils is one of the key solutions to minimize the maximum current density so as to reduce the local heating and generate higher magnetic field gradient strength. However, maximum current density is hard to optimize together with field linearity, stored magnetic energy, and power dissipation by the traditional target field method. In this paper, a new multi-objective method is proposed to optimize the maximum current density, field linearity, stored magnetic energy, and power dissipation in MRI gradient coils. The simulation and experimental results show that the minimum wire spacings are improved by 159% and 62% for the transverse and longitudinal gradient coil respectively. The maximum wire width increases from 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. Maximum gradient field strengths of 157 mT/m and 405 mT/m for transverse and lon- gitudinal coil are achieved, respectively. The experimental results in BT-MRI instrument demonstrate that the MRI images with in-plane resolution of 50 ~tm can be obtained by using the designed coils.展开更多
The relatively fragile low-temperature stability of cryogen-free superconducting magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)magnets requires the careful management of exogenous heat sources.A strongly shielded gradient magnetic f...The relatively fragile low-temperature stability of cryogen-free superconducting magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)magnets requires the careful management of exogenous heat sources.A strongly shielded gradient magnetic field is important for the optimal operation of cryogen-free MRI systems.In this study,we present an enhanced shielding method incorporating a regionalized stray field constraining strategy.By optimizing the constraint parameters,we could develop engineering-feasible gradient coil schemes without increasing system complexity but with the stray field intensity reduced by half.In real measurement in an integrated MRI system,the developed gradient assembly demonstrated good performance and supported to output images of excellent quality.Our findings suggested that the proposed method could potentially form a useful design paradigm for cryogen-free MRI magnets.展开更多
The conventional magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)equipment cannot measure large volume samples nondestructively in the engineering site for its heavy weight and closed structure.In order to realize the mobile MRI,this ...The conventional magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)equipment cannot measure large volume samples nondestructively in the engineering site for its heavy weight and closed structure.In order to realize the mobile MRI,this study focuses on the design of gradient coil of unilateral magnet.The unilateral MRI system is used to image the local area above the magnet.The current density distribution of the gradient coil cannot be used as a series of superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance gradient coils,because the region of interest(ROI)and the wiring area of the unilateral magnet are both cylindrical side arc surfaces.Therefore,the equivalent magnetic dipole method is used to design the gradient coil,and the algorithm is improved for the special case of the wiring area and the ROI,so the X and Y gradient coils are designed.Finally,a flexible printed circuit board(PCB)is used to fabricate the gradient coil,and the magnetic field distribution of the ROI is measured by a Gauss meter,and the measured results match with the simulation results.The gradient linearities of x and y coils are 2.82%and 3.56%,respectively,less than 5%of the commercial gradient coil requirement.展开更多
A topology optimization method based on the solid isotropic material with penalization interpolation scheme is utilized for designing gradient coils for use in magnetic resonance microscopy.Unlike the popular stream f...A topology optimization method based on the solid isotropic material with penalization interpolation scheme is utilized for designing gradient coils for use in magnetic resonance microscopy.Unlike the popular stream function method,the proposed method has design variables that are the distribution of conductive material.A voltage-driven transverse gradient coil is proposed to be used as micro-scale magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)gradient coils,thus avoiding introducing a coil-winding pattern and simplifying the coil configuration.The proposed method avoids post-processing errors that occur when the continuous current density is approximated by discrete wires in the stream function approach.The feasibility and accuracy of the method are verified through designing the z-gradient and y-gradient coils on a cylindrical surface.Numerical design results show that the proposed method can provide a new coil layout in a compact design space.展开更多
The design methods for gradient coils are mostly based on discrete extrinsic methods(e.g.,the BioteSavart integration calculation),for which the surface normal vector strongly influences any numerical calculation of t...The design methods for gradient coils are mostly based on discrete extrinsic methods(e.g.,the BioteSavart integration calculation),for which the surface normal vector strongly influences any numerical calculation of the discretized surface.Previous studies are mostly based on regular or analytical surfaces,which allow normal vectors to be expressed analytically.For certain applications,design methods for extending currentcarrying surfaces from developable or analytic geometries to arbitrary surfaces generated from a scanned point cloud are required.The key task is to correctly express the discretized normal vectors to ensure geometrical accuracy of the designed coils.Mathematically,it has been proven that applying a Delaunay triangulation to approximate a smooth surface can result in the discrete elemental normal vectors converging to those of the original surface.Accordingly,this article uses Delaunay triangulation to expand upon previous design methods so that they encompass arbitrary piecewise continuous surfaces.Two design methods,the stream function and the so-called solid isotropic material with penalization(SIMP)method,are used to design circumvolute and noncircumvolute gradient coils on general surfaces.展开更多
The effects of coil and dielectric window structures on the plasma distribution are examined in a cylindrically symmetric planar inductively coupled plasma(ICP).A two-dimensional(2 D)fluid model is employed to investi...The effects of coil and dielectric window structures on the plasma distribution are examined in a cylindrically symmetric planar inductively coupled plasma(ICP).A two-dimensional(2 D)fluid model is employed to investigate the design issues of ICP source for etching.When the gradient coil structure is applied at 400 W and 20 mTorr,the ionization rate caused by the power deposition decreases at the reactor center as compared to that in a reactor with a planar coil above the planar dielectric window,and a rather uniform plasma is obtained.However,for the vertical coil geometry,all the coils move to the position of the outermost coil,and the peaks of the power deposition and ionization rate appear at the radial edge of the substrate.In this case,the plasma density is characterized by an edge-high profile.Further,it is observed that the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power under a gas pressure of 20 mTorr and becomes better when the gas pressure increases to 30 mTorr with the source power being fixed at400 W in the gradient coil configuration,but the uniformity of plasma worsens with the rising source power or pressure due to the strong localization in the vertical coil geometry.Moreover,when the discharge is sustained in a reactor with a stepped dielectric window at r=0.135 m,the best plasma uniformity is obtained at 400 W and 20 m Torr because the ionization rate is enhanced at the outermost coil,and the dielectric window at r=0.135 m blocks the diffusion of plasma towards the axis.In addition,higher source power and lower gas pressure produce more uniform plasma for the designs with a stepped window near the symmetry axis.When the dielectric window is stepped at r=0.135 m,the non-uniformity of plasma initially decreases and then increases with the increase in source power or gas pressure.When the dielectric window is stepped at the radial edge of the chamber,the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power and gas pressure due to the enhanced ionization at the larger radius caused by the severe localization.展开更多
基金supported by the Instrument Developing Project of Magnetic Resonance Union of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Grant No.2022GZL002.
文摘Gradient coil is an essential component of a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)scanner.To achieve high spatial resolution and imaging speed,a high-efficiency gradient coil with high slew rate is required.In consideration of the safety and comfort of the patient,the mechanical stability,acoustic noise and peripheral nerve stimulation(PNS)are also need to be concerned for practical use.In our previous work,a high-efficiency whole-body gradient coil set with a hybrid cylindrical-planar structure has been presented,which offers significantly improved coil performances.In this work,we propose to design this transverse gradient coil system with transformed magnetic gradient fields.By shifting up the zero point of gradient fields,the designed new Y-gradient coil could provide enhanced electromagnetic performances.With more uniform coil winding arrangement,the net torque of the new coil is significantly reduced and the generated sound pressure level(SPL)is lower at most tested frequency bands.On the other hand,the new transverse gradient coil designed with rotated magnetic gradient fields produces considerably reduced electric field in the human body,which is important for the use of rapid MR sequences.It's demonstrated that a safer and patient-friendly design could be obtained by using transformed magnetic gradient fields,which is critical for practical use.
基金Project supported by the Natural Science Foundation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No.2011ZX05008004)the Science Fund of the Committee of Science and Technology of Beijing,China
文摘Significant high magnetic gradient field strength is essential to obtaining high-resolution images in a benchtop mag- netic resonance imaging （BT-MRI） system with permanent magnet. Extending minimum wire spacing and maximum wire width of gradient coils is one of the key solutions to minimize the maximum current density so as to reduce the local heating and generate higher magnetic field gradient strength. However, maximum current density is hard to optimize together with field linearity, stored magnetic energy, and power dissipation by the traditional target field method. In this paper, a new multi-objective method is proposed to optimize the maximum current density, field linearity, stored magnetic energy, and power dissipation in MRI gradient coils. The simulation and experimental results show that the minimum wire spacings are improved by 159% and 62% for the transverse and longitudinal gradient coil respectively. The maximum wire width increases from 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. Maximum gradient field strengths of 157 mT/m and 405 mT/m for transverse and lon- gitudinal coil are achieved, respectively. The experimental results in BT-MRI instrument demonstrate that the MRI images with in-plane resolution of 50 ~tm can be obtained by using the designed coils.
基金This work is funded by the Magnetic Resonance Union of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.2021gzl002)the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.182111KYSB20210014)+1 种基金the National Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52293423,Grant No.52277031)the Research and Development of Key Technologies and Equipment for Major Science and Technology Infrastructure of Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality,China(Grant No.ZDKJ20190305002).
文摘The relatively fragile low-temperature stability of cryogen-free superconducting magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)magnets requires the careful management of exogenous heat sources.A strongly shielded gradient magnetic field is important for the optimal operation of cryogen-free MRI systems.In this study,we present an enhanced shielding method incorporating a regionalized stray field constraining strategy.By optimizing the constraint parameters,we could develop engineering-feasible gradient coil schemes without increasing system complexity but with the stray field intensity reduced by half.In real measurement in an integrated MRI system,the developed gradient assembly demonstrated good performance and supported to output images of excellent quality.Our findings suggested that the proposed method could potentially form a useful design paradigm for cryogen-free MRI magnets.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51677008,51377182,51707028,and 11647098)the Fundamental Research Funds of the Central Universities,China(Grant No.106112017CDJQJ158834)the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China(Grant No.2014CB541602)
文摘The conventional magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)equipment cannot measure large volume samples nondestructively in the engineering site for its heavy weight and closed structure.In order to realize the mobile MRI,this study focuses on the design of gradient coil of unilateral magnet.The unilateral MRI system is used to image the local area above the magnet.The current density distribution of the gradient coil cannot be used as a series of superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance gradient coils,because the region of interest(ROI)and the wiring area of the unilateral magnet are both cylindrical side arc surfaces.Therefore,the equivalent magnetic dipole method is used to design the gradient coil,and the algorithm is improved for the special case of the wiring area and the ROI,so the X and Y gradient coils are designed.Finally,a flexible printed circuit board(PCB)is used to fabricate the gradient coil,and the magnetic field distribution of the ROI is measured by a Gauss meter,and the measured results match with the simulation results.The gradient linearities of x and y coils are 2.82%and 3.56%,respectively,less than 5%of the commercial gradient coil requirement.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51675506 and 51275504)the German Research Foundation(DFG)(Grant Nos.#ZA 422/5-1 and#ZA 422/6-1)
文摘A topology optimization method based on the solid isotropic material with penalization interpolation scheme is utilized for designing gradient coils for use in magnetic resonance microscopy.Unlike the popular stream function method,the proposed method has design variables that are the distribution of conductive material.A voltage-driven transverse gradient coil is proposed to be used as micro-scale magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)gradient coils,thus avoiding introducing a coil-winding pattern and simplifying the coil configuration.The proposed method avoids post-processing errors that occur when the continuous current density is approximated by discrete wires in the stream function approach.The feasibility and accuracy of the method are verified through designing the z-gradient and y-gradient coils on a cylindrical surface.Numerical design results show that the proposed method can provide a new coil layout in a compact design space.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant No.51675506.JGK acknowledges support from an EU2020 FET grant(737043 TiSuMR)the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft(DFG)(grant KO 1883/20-1 Metacoils)funding within the framework of the German Excellence Initiative under grant EXC 2082“3D Matter Made to Order”,from the VirtMat initiative“Virtual Materials Design”,and from an ERC Synergy Grant(951459,HiSCORE),European Union.
文摘The design methods for gradient coils are mostly based on discrete extrinsic methods(e.g.,the BioteSavart integration calculation),for which the surface normal vector strongly influences any numerical calculation of the discretized surface.Previous studies are mostly based on regular or analytical surfaces,which allow normal vectors to be expressed analytically.For certain applications,design methods for extending currentcarrying surfaces from developable or analytic geometries to arbitrary surfaces generated from a scanned point cloud are required.The key task is to correctly express the discretized normal vectors to ensure geometrical accuracy of the designed coils.Mathematically,it has been proven that applying a Delaunay triangulation to approximate a smooth surface can result in the discrete elemental normal vectors converging to those of the original surface.Accordingly,this article uses Delaunay triangulation to expand upon previous design methods so that they encompass arbitrary piecewise continuous surfaces.Two design methods,the stream function and the so-called solid isotropic material with penalization(SIMP)method,are used to design circumvolute and noncircumvolute gradient coils on general surfaces.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.11905307 and 11875101)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.DUT21LAB110)the China Scholarship Council。
文摘The effects of coil and dielectric window structures on the plasma distribution are examined in a cylindrically symmetric planar inductively coupled plasma(ICP).A two-dimensional(2 D)fluid model is employed to investigate the design issues of ICP source for etching.When the gradient coil structure is applied at 400 W and 20 mTorr,the ionization rate caused by the power deposition decreases at the reactor center as compared to that in a reactor with a planar coil above the planar dielectric window,and a rather uniform plasma is obtained.However,for the vertical coil geometry,all the coils move to the position of the outermost coil,and the peaks of the power deposition and ionization rate appear at the radial edge of the substrate.In this case,the plasma density is characterized by an edge-high profile.Further,it is observed that the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power under a gas pressure of 20 mTorr and becomes better when the gas pressure increases to 30 mTorr with the source power being fixed at400 W in the gradient coil configuration,but the uniformity of plasma worsens with the rising source power or pressure due to the strong localization in the vertical coil geometry.Moreover,when the discharge is sustained in a reactor with a stepped dielectric window at r=0.135 m,the best plasma uniformity is obtained at 400 W and 20 m Torr because the ionization rate is enhanced at the outermost coil,and the dielectric window at r=0.135 m blocks the diffusion of plasma towards the axis.In addition,higher source power and lower gas pressure produce more uniform plasma for the designs with a stepped window near the symmetry axis.When the dielectric window is stepped at r=0.135 m,the non-uniformity of plasma initially decreases and then increases with the increase in source power or gas pressure.When the dielectric window is stepped at the radial edge of the chamber,the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power and gas pressure due to the enhanced ionization at the larger radius caused by the severe localization.
