Design, characterisation and performance of an improved portable and sustainable low-field MRI system

Vos, B. de; Parsa, J.; Abdulrazaq, Z.; Teeuwisse, W.M.; Speybroeck, C.D.E. van; Gans, D.H. de; ... ; Webb, A.G. (2021)

Article / Letter to editor

Low-field permanent magnet-based MRI systems are finding increasing use in portable, sustainable and point-of-care applications. In order to maximize performance while minimizing cost many components of such a system should ideally be designed specifically for low frequency operation. In this paper we describe recent developments in constructing and characterising a low-field portable MRI system for in vivo imaging at 50 mT. These developments include the design of i) high-linearity gradient coils using a modified volume-based target field approach, ii) phased-array receive coils, and iii) a battery-operated three-axis gradient amplifier for improved portability and sustainability. In addition, we report performance characterisation of the RF amplifier, the gradient amplifier, eddy currents from the gradient coils, and describe a quality control protocol for the overall system.

• low field MRI
• MR hardware
• halbach magnet
• gradient coil design
• RF coil array
• RF amplifier
• quality control
• gradient amplifier

• All authors: Vos, B. de; Parsa, J.; Abdulrazaq, Z.; Teeuwisse, W.M.; Speybroeck, C.D.E. van; Gans, D.H. de; Remis, R.F.; O'Reilly, T.; Webb, A.G.
• Date: 2021-07-26
• Journal: Frontiers in Physics
• Volume: 9
• DOI: doi:10.3389/fphy.2021.701157
• Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.701157/full