Method and apparatus for actively controlling quench protection of a superconducting magnet
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsXianrui Huang, Minfeng Xu
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for actively controlling quench protection of a superconducting magnet includes a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to detect a quench condition of the superconducting magnet. The instructions also cause the computer to actively control a quench protection system of the superconducting magnet in response to the detected quench condition.
Claims23
An MRI apparatus comprising:
- a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a superconducting magnet to impress a polarizing magnetic field and an RF transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF signals to an RF coil assembly to acquire MR images, wherein the superconducting magnet comprises a plurality of superconducting magnet coils;
- and
- a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to:
- detect a quench condition of the superconducting magnet;
- and
- actively control a quench protection system of the superconducting magnet in response to the detected quench condition.
A method of actively quenching a superconducting magnet comprising:
- detecting a quench voltage in a first portion of a superconducting magnet;
- energizing a quench protection system thermally connected to a second portion of the superconducting magnet;
- and
- heating the second portion of the superconducting magnet via the energized quench protection system to a temperature greater than a superconducting temperature of the superconducting magnet.
A superconducting magnet system comprising:
- a superconducting magnet;
- at least one heater in thermal contact with the superconducting magnet;
- a heater power source;
- an electrical bridge having an input configured to cause the electrical bridge to make and break an electrical connection between the at least one heater and the heater power source;
- and
- a controller coupled to the superconducting magnet and coupled to the input.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.