Cooling of a MRI system
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorGerardus Bernardus Jozef Mulder
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having an open superconducting magnet system (1) includes a number of horizontally oriented superconducting coils (3–10) in a cryogenic container (11). The cryogenic container contains a liquid cooling medium for cooling the superconducting coils which are located within the cryogenic container. At its top, the cryogenic container is provided with a recondensor (23) for continuously liquefying the cooling medium. The magnet system has a circuit for guiding the liquid cooling medium from the recondensor along at least part of the superconducting coils.
Claims17
A magnetic resonance imaging system having an open superconducting magnet system, which includes:
- a number of horizontally oriented superconducting coils, each superconducting coil being disposed in an associated local reservoir, each of the local reservoirs including an overflow edge, which is located at or above a lower side of the associated superconducting coil;
- a cryogenic container for containing a liquid cooling medium for cooling the superconducting coils which superconducting coils are located with their associated local reservoirs within the cryogenic container;
- a recondensor disposed at a top of the cryogenic container for liquifying cooling medium evaporating from the container;
- and
- a circuit for cascading the liquid cooling medium liquefied by the recondensor from local reservoir to local reservoir such that the cooling medium liquid flows form the overflow edge of one of the local reservoirs to a lower of the local reservoirs and from the overflow edge of the lower local reservoir to a still lower local reservoir.
A magnetic resonance system comprising:
- at least first and second horizontally oriented upper superconducting coils disposed above a subject receiving region;
- at least first and second horizontally oriented lower superconducting coils disposed below the subject receiving region;
- a cryogenic container which encompasses the first and second upper superconducting coils and the first and second lower superconducting coils, the cryogenic container having a bottom and a top;
- a cooling medium disposed in the cryogenic container, the cooling medium having a liquid state in which it flows by gravity from the cryogenic container top toward the cryogenic container bottom and a gaseous state in which it rises to the cryogenic container top;
- a recondensor at the cryogenic container top which condenses the gaseous state cooling medium into the liquid state;
- a liquid cooling medium circuit which guides the liquid cooling medium from the recondensor to the first upper superconducting coil and from the first superconducting coil to the second upper superconducting coil and from the second upper superconducting coil to the lower superconducting coils.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.