RF Coil Chassis with Flange Cooling Airflow Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
Magnetic resonance diagnostic apparatuses face challenges in efficiently cooling radio frequency coils within the gantry, leading to increased imaging space temperature and discomfort for subjects, while existing solutions either reduce imaging space or complicate the cooling structure, and struggle with easy attachment/detachment of RF coil units due to air leakage affecting cooling efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A radio frequency coil unit with a tubiform inner cylinder and external cylinder, featuring protruding flanges that form a cooling air flow path, ensuring air-tightness and facilitating easy attachment/detachment by maintaining cooling efficiency despite differences in diameters, using an airflow generating unit to manage cooling air flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the RF coil unit is made independent from the gantry to facilitate easy attachment/detachment, then the ease of operation is improved, but the base portion becomes less close to the wall surface forming the imaging space, causing cooling air to flow out and deteriorating cooling efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the cooling system into two independent parts: a cooling air supply unit separate from the RF coil unit. The cooling air is supplied through a dedicated supply hole in the gantry wall, allowing the RF coil unit to be easily attached and detached without compromising cooling efficiency. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by decoupling the attachment/detachment function from the cooling function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a cooling air supply hole as an intermediary channel between the gantry wall and the RF coil unit. This intermediary structure allows cooling air to reach the RF coil unit even when it is positioned away from the wall surface, maintaining cooling efficiency while enabling easy attachment/detachment operations.
2Reliability
If cooling water is used to cool the RF coil, then the cooling efficiency is improved, but the structure becomes elaborate and the accommodating space becomes large, reducing imaging space
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the complex water-based cooling system with a simpler air-based cooling system. Instead of using cooling water channels and pumps, the system uses cooling air supplied through a dedicated supply hole, significantly simplifying the cooling structure while maintaining adequate cooling efficiency for the RF coil.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the cooling function from the RF coil unit itself and places it in the gantry structure through a separate cooling air supply hole. This extraction eliminates the need for integrated cooling channels within the RF coil unit, simplifying the overall structure and reducing the accommodating space required.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a cover is arranged leaving certain space from the RF coil to prevent heat transfer, then the heat isolation is improved, but the imaging space becomes small and may give the subject an oppressive feeling
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the heat isolation function from the cover structure and implements it through a dedicated cooling air supply hole in the gantry wall. This allows the cover to be positioned closer to the RF coil for better heat isolation without significantly reducing the imaging space, as the cooling function is achieved through the wall penetration rather than through cover positioning.
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
The solution effectively cools the RF coil, maintains imaging space comfort, and simplifies the attachment/detachment process of the RF coil unit by securing air-tightness and optimizing cooling efficiency without compromising the imaging space size.
Implementation Method 1
a flow path of the cooling air is formed as a space surrounded by the inner cylinder, the plurality of flanges and the external cylinder
Data Source
AI summary
A radio frequency coil unit includes a chassis which has a tubiform inner cylinder, a plurality of flanges arranged apart from each other, each of the plurality of flanges provided in a state of protruding outwards from the inner cylinder while in contact with a whole outer circumference surface of the inner cylinder, and a tubiform external cylinder in which each of the plurality of flanges is provided in a state of contacting an inner surface thereof, wherein the chassis forms a flow path of cooling air as a space surrounded by the inner cylinder, the plurality of flanges and the external cylinder, and a radio frequency coil which is mounted on the inner cylinder or the external cylinder to be positioned in the space surrounded by the inner cylinder, the plurality flanges and the external cylinder.