Method for non-invasively and without contact, inspecting foil enclosed packages, using magnetic resonance techniques
AssigneeIntermagnetics General Corporation
InventorsIan L. Pykett, Timothy W. Skloss, Michael J. Hennessy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Increasing RF transmission power, retuning the RF transmitter and receiver coils, and increasing RF reception gain, enable MR inspection of product in a container that presents a substantial portion of an electrically conductive barrier in transverse orientation to the exciting RF magnetic field.
Claims33
A method for inspecting a product having nuclei that can be magnetically polarized by a static magnetic field, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing at least one product having said nuclei, said product being enclosed in a container including an electrically conductive barrier at least partially surrounding said product;
- (b) providing a MR apparatus for inspecting said at least one product in said container, said apparatus having means for generating a static magnetic field, RF transmitting means and RF receiving means;
- (c) positioning said container in said MR apparatus for inspection;
- (d) exciting said product in said container with an RF magnetic field generated by said RF transmitting means of said MR apparatus, at least a substantial portion of said electrically conductive barrier being oriented transversely to an orientation of said RF magnetic field during excitation;
- (e) receiving by said RF receiving means an RF signal from said at least one product in said container, said RF signal being a result of said excitation of said at least one product by said MR apparatus;
- (f) processing and analyzing said received RF signal to determine data of said at least one product.
A method for inspecting a product having nuclei that can be magnetically polarized by a static magnetic field, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing at least one product having said nuclei, said product being enclosed in a container including an electrically conductive barrier which substantially encloses said product;
- (b) providing a MR apparatus for inspecting said at least one product in said container, said apparatus having means for generating a static magnetic field, RF transmitting means and RF receiving means;
- (c) positioning said container for inspection in said MR apparatus;
- (d) exciting said product in said container with an RF magnetic field generated by said RF transmitting means of said MR apparatus, at least a substantial portion of said electrically conductive barrier being oriented transversely to an orientation of said RF magnetic field during excitation;
- (e) receiving by said RF receiving means an RF signal from said at least one product in said container, said RF signal being a result of said excitation of said at least one product by said MR apparatus;
- (f) processing and analyzing said received RF signal to determine data of said at least one product.
A method for inspecting a product having nuclei that can be magnetically polarized by a static magnetic field, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing at least one product having said nuclei, said product being enclosed in a container including an electrically conductive barrier which entirely encloses said product;
- (b) providing a MR apparatus for inspecting said at least one product in said container, said apparatus having means for generating a static magnetic field, RF transmitting means and RF receiving means;
- (c) positioning said container for inspection in said MR apparatus;
- (d) exciting said product in said container with an RF magnetic field generated by said RF transmitting means of said MR apparatus, at least a substantial portion of said electrically conductive barrier being oriented transversely to an orientation of said RF magnetic field during excitation;
- (e) receiving by said RF receiving means an RF signal from said at least one product in said container, said RF signal being a result of said excitation of said at least one product by said MR apparatus;
- (f) processing and analyzing said received RF signal to determine data of said at least one product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.