Cryogenically cooled phased array RF receiver coil for magnetic resonance imaging
AssigneeUniversity of Rochester
InventorsWingchi Edmund Kwok, Zhigang You, Jianhui Zhong
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Abstract
An RF coil construction for MRI is disclosed. The construction includes a device for cryogenically cooling receiver coils, at least two coil elements being cryogenically cooled by the device and forming an array. Each coil element includes at least two capacitors for tuning and matching the coil element. The construction also includes a circuit connected to each coil element for decoupling the coil element from the transmitter coil(s), and also for decoupling among coil elements.
Claims5
An RF coil construction for MRI, comprising:
- means for cryogenically cooling coils;
- at least two receiver coil elements being cryogenically cooled by said means and forming an array, wherein each coil element includes at least two capacitors for tuning and matching the coil element;
- and a circuit connected to each coil element for decoupling the coil element from at least one transmitter coil and for decoupling among the receiver coil elements.
A circuit for decoupling at least one transmitter coil from the receiver coil elements comprising:
- an inductor electrically connected in parallel to a capacitor which is part of a receiver coil element;
- and a choke and a diode to activate said circuit during an RF transmission period.
A circuit for decoupling among coil elements comprising:
- a first inductor electrically connected to an output capacitor which is part of a receiver coil element;
- a second inductor and a second capacitor connected in parallel to compensate for a receiver impedance;
- and a low input impedance preamplifier.
An RF coil construction for MRI, comprising:
- at least two receiver coil elements forming an array, wherein each coil element includes at least two capacitors for tuning and matching the coil element;
- and a circuit connected to each coil element for decoupling the coil element from at least one transmitter coil, and for decoupling among the receiver coil elements;
- wherein a plurality of receiver coil elements forming an array are placed inside a container that holds cryogen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.