PCM Backup Cooling for Uninterrupted Medical Imaging Scans
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Solution Overview
Problem
Diagnostic medical imaging systems face shutdown due to overheating when there is a disruption in cooling water supply, leading to incomplete patient scans and inconvenience.
Innovation Solution
A passive, uninterrupted cooling system using phase change materials (PCMs) that absorb waste heat during power failures or cooling disruptions, maintaining the cooling system temperature within operational limits to complete scans.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a closed-loop cooling system is used to maintain PDA temperature within operational windows, then detector temperature control is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to shutdown when facility water supply is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a backup heat exchanger and phase change materials into the cooling system before water supply disruption occurs. These components are pre-positioned and pre-configured to activate automatically when the primary cooling system fails, ensuring continuous temperature control without shutdown during facility water supply disruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a backup heat exchanger as an intermediary component that can transfer heat from the coolant to ambient air or alternative cooling sources when the primary facility water cooling system is unavailable. This intermediary mechanism bridges the gap between the coolant and available cooling resources, maintaining system reliability during water supply disruptions.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the cooling system operates continuously to complete patient scans, then scan completion is improved, but heat accumulation increases during power failures or cooling disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes phase change materials (such as phase change slurry or encapsulated phase change materials) that absorb excess heat by transitioning from solid to liquid phase. These materials are positioned in thermal communication with the coolant flow path, allowing them to passively absorb heat during power failures or cooling disruptions, thereby maintaining coolant temperature within operational limits and enabling scan completion.
3Temperature
If coolant flow rate is increased to maintain temperature during disruptions, then temperature control is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements passive cooling mechanisms including phase change materials and backup heat exchangers that automatically activate and regulate coolant temperature without requiring additional energy input or active control during water supply disruptions. The phase change materials self-regulate temperature through their phase transition properties, eliminating the need for energy-intensive active cooling systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables completion of patient scans by absorbing heat with PCMs, ensuring the system operates within temperature specifications, reducing the need for rescheduling and minimizing operational disruptions.
Implementation Method 1
The passive, uninterrupted cooling system incorporates one or more phase change materials (PCMs) that maintain the cooling system temperature at the material's melting temperature, while absorbing the imaging system's waste heat.
Implementation Method 2
A sufficient thermal mass of the PCM is incorporated within the cooling system to absorb imaging system waste heat for sufficient time to complete the imaging scan prior to melting of all of the material.
Data Source
AI summary
A passive, uninterrupted cooling system continues to absorb waste heat generated with a diagnostic medical imaging system during a patient scan, in the event of a power failure incident or disruption of cooling water supply within an imaging facility. The passive, uninterrupted cooling system incorporates one or more phase change materials (PCMs) that maintain the cooling system temperature at material's melting temperature, while absorbing the imaging system's waste heat. This enables clinicians to complete an in-progress imaging scan of a patient within the scanning system's operational temperature specifications. In some embodiments, the PCMs absorb transient heat spikes generated during patient scans, in order to maintain a relatively consistent cooling system operational temperature. In some embodiments, the passive, uninterrupted cooling system is used to cool PET/CT, PET, or CT imaging systems.