• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.179-201
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• 2019

Portable low-cost magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems have the potential to enable "point-of-care" and timely MRI diagnosis, and to make this imaging modality available to routine scans and to people in underdeveloped countries and areas. With simplicity, no maintenance, no power consumption, and low cost, permanent magnets/magnet arrays/magnet assemblies are attractive to be used as a source of static magnetic field to realize the portability and to lower the cost for an MRI scanner. However, when taking the canonical Fourier imaging approach and using linear gradient fields, homogeneous fields are required in a scanner, resulting in the facts that either a bulky magnet/magnet array is needed, or the imaging volume is too small to image an organ if the magnet/magnet array is scaled down to a portable size. Recently, with the progress on image reconstruction based on non-linear gradient field, static field patterns without spatial linearity can be used as spatial encoding magnetic fields (SEMs) to encode MRI signals for imaging. As a result, the requirements for the homogeneity of the static field can be relaxed, which allows permanent magnets/magnet arrays with reduced sizes, reduced weight to image a bigger volume covering organs such as a head. It offers opportunities of constructing a truly portable low-cost MRI scanner. For this exciting potential application, permanent magnets/magnet arrays have attracted increased attention recently. A magnet/magnet array is strongly associated with the imaging volume of an MRI scanner, image reconstruction methods, and RF excitation and RF coils, etc. through field patterns and field homogeneity. This paper offers a review of permanent magnets and magnet arrays of different kinds, especially those that can be used for spatial encoding towards the development of a portable and low-cost MRI system. It is aimed to familiarize the readers with relevant knowledge, literature, and the latest updates of the development on permanent magnets and magnet arrays for MRI. Perspectives on and challenges of using a permanent magnet/magnet array to supply a patterned static magnetic field, which does not have spatial linearity nor high field homogeneity, for image reconstruction in a portable setup are discussed.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.30-36
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• 2016

For the magnetic field analysis or design, it is important to know the behavior of the magnetic field in an interesting space. Magnetic field mapping becomes a useful tool for the study of magnetic field. In this paper, a numerical way for mapping the magnetic field within the cylindrical center volume of magnet is presented, based on the solution of the Laplace's equation in the cylindrical coordinate system. The expression of the magnetic field can be obtained by the magnetic flux density, which measured in the mapped volume. According to the form of the expression, the measurement points are arranged with the parallel cylindrical line (PCL) method. As example, the magnetic flux density generated by an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) magnet and a quadrupole magnet were mapped using the PCL method, respectively. The mapping results show the PCL arrangement method is feasible and convenience to map the magnetic field within a cylindrical center volume generated by the general magnet.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.22-25
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• 2001

The research results on the superconducting magnet for whole body MRI are presented. The magnet consists of main coil with 6 solenoid coils, shielding coil with 2 solenoid coils and 6 sets of cryogenic shim coil. The ferromagnetic shim assembly is installed on the inside wall of the room temperature bore for shimming inhomogeneous field components generated due to manufacturing tolerances, installation misalignments and external ferromagnetic materials near the magnet. Also, the magnet is enclosed with the horizontal type cryostat with 80cm room temperature bore to keep the magnet under the operating temperature. The magnetic field distributions within the imaging volume were measured by the NMR field mapping system. Through the test, the central field of magnet was 1.5 Tesla and the field homogeneity of 9.3 ppm has been obtained on 40cm DSV(the diameter of spherical volume) and using this magnet, comparatively good images for human body, fruits and water phantoms have been achieved.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.312-317
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• 2011

NMR over 1 GHz (23.5 T) level has difficulties in design and fabrication with only low temperature superconducting (LTS) wire because of its material characteristics such as the decay of critical current under the magnetic field. Because High temperature superconducting (HTS) tape has a good performance under the extremely high magnetic field, it has been developed for high-field magnet over 23.5 T. In this paper, the LTS magnet was made for applying magnetic fields externally and the HTS coil was designed and fabricated. The electromagnetic field analysis has been done with respect to the structure and the operating current of the LTS and HTS coil. Considering to the field homogeneity and the center field, the design parameters which is suitable for the HTS coil were found. The HTS insert coil was impregnated with epoxy resin in order to prevent the movement of winding during energizing the magnet. The hybrid magnet (LTS/HTS) magnet was fabricated and tested based on the design parameters. The experimental result shows that the LTS background magnet and the HTS insert coil can be operated stable beyond 220 A and 210 A. The final value 4.32 T at the center was acquired.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.21-24
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• 2016

In recent years, the iron-dominated high-temperature superconductor (HTS) quadrupole magnets are being developed for heavy ion accelerators. Field analyses for iron-dominated quadrupole magnets were based on the normal-conducting (NC) quadrupole magnet early in the development for accelerators. Some conclusions are still in use today. However, the magnetic field of iron-dominated HTS quadrupole magnets cannot fully follow these conclusions. This study established an HTS quadrupole magnet model and an NC quadrupole magnet model, respectively. The harmonic characteristics of two magnets were analyzed and compared. According to the comparison, the conventional iron-dominated quadrupole magnets can be designed for maximum field gradient; the HTS quadrupole magnet, however, should be considered with varying field gradient. Finally, the HTS quadrupole magnet was designed for the changing field gradient. The field quality of the design was improved comparing with the result of the previous study. The new design for the HTS quadrupole magnet has been suggested.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.384-389
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• 2008

The cental magnetic field of an HTS magnet consisting of pancake windings can be increased if the magnet is excited by multiple power sources. Multiple power sources enable all pancake windings to conduct their critical currents. The HTS magnet consisting of pancake windings was excited by separate power sources in this paper. Critical currents of each pancake winding were determined by using optimization technique. Fabrication of the BSCCO magnet consisting of 10 pancake windings is described and test results of the BSCCO magnet are given. Central magnetic field and perpendicular magnetic field of the magnet excited by multiple power sources were compared with those of the magnet excited by a single power source.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2013

AMR (Active Magnetic Regenerative) refrigerators require the large variation of the magnetic field and a HTS magnet can be used. The amount of AC loss is very important considering the overall efficiency of the AMR refrigerator. However, it is very hard to estimate the precise loss of the HTS magnet because the magnetic field distribution around the conductor itself depends on the coil configuration and the neighboring HTS wires interact each other through the distorted magnetic field by the screening current Therefore, the AC loss of HTS magnet should be calculated using the whole configuration of the HTS magnet with superconducting characteristic. This paper describes the AC loss of the HTS magnet by an appropriate FEM approach, which uses the non-linear characteristic of HTS conductor. The analysis model is based on the 2-D FEM model, called as 'magnetic field formulation and edge-element model', for whole coil configuration in cylindrical coordinates. The effects of transport current and stacked conductors on the AC loss are investigated considering the field-dependent critical current. The PDE model of 'Comsol multiphysics' is used for the FEM analysis with properly implemented equations for axisymmetric model.

• Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.23-29
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• 2009

The unique features of HTS offer opportunities and challenges to a number of applications. In this paper we focus on NMR and MRI magnets, illustrating them with the NMR/MRI magnets that we are currently and will shortly be engaged: a 1.3 GHz NMR magnet, an "annulus" magnet, and an $MgB_2$whole-body MRI magnet. The opportunities with HTS include: 1) high fields (e.g., 1.3 GHz magnet); 2) compactness (annulus magnet); and 3) enhanced stability despite liquid-helium-free operation ($MgB_2$whole-body MRI magnet). The challenges include: 1) a large screening current field detrimental to spatial field homogeneity (e.g., 1.3 GHz magnet); 2) uniformity of critical current density (annulus magnet); and 3) superconducting joints ($MgB_2$magnet).

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.521-527
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• 1988

At present superconducting magnets have been feasible for many applications which require high field or highly homogeneous field that it is too difficult to be produced by conventional electromagnets. This paper is a stuny on Donble Helmholtz superconducting magnet and newly configurated superconducting magnet that realize highly homogeneous field with the minimum magnet volume. Nonlinear programming method is effectively used for the minimum volume of superconducting magnet that realizes the desired field intensity and high homogeneity. The results on Double Helmholtz and newly configurated superducting magnets that are presented in this paper are largely improved.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.39-43
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• 2021

This study deals with the ferromagnetic shims design based on the spherical harmonic coefficient reduction method. The design method using the sequential search method is an intuitive method and has the advantage of quickly reaching the optimal result. The study was conducted for a 400 MHz all-REBCO magnet, which had difficulty in shimming due to the problem of SCF (screening current induced field). The initial field homogeneity of the magnet was measured to be 233.76 ppm at 20 mm DSV (Diameter Spherical Volume). In order to improve the field homogeneity of the magnet, the ferromagnetic shim with a thickness of 1 mil to 11 mil was constructed by a design method in which sequential search algorithm was applied. As a result, the field homogeneity of the magnet could be significantly improved to 0.24 ppm at 20 mm DSV and 0.05 ppm at 10 mm DSV.