Coil support for a superconducting magnet coil

• Main Authors: XIAOXUE DIAO, ERMAN CITIRIK, LONGZHI JIANG, MARK DERAKHSHAN, WILLIAM LOUIS EINZIGER, BENJAMIN GRONEMEYER
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.01.2013
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INDUCTANCES; MAGNETS; MEASURING; MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES; PHYSICS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TESTING; TRANSFORMERS

A coil support 20 for a superconducting magnet coil, e.g. in an MRI system, includes a main former body 30 of non-metallic composite material, a plurality of channels 32 to accommodate coil windings, end flanges 34, and a metallic splint 26 coupled to the main former body between the end flanges. Load spreaders 28 are coupled to the main former body adjacent one or more of the ends of the splint, with a gap 42 between the end of the splint and the load spreader. When the magnet coils are energised, the gap 42 is closed and the splint 26 makes contact with the load spreader 28. The splint 26 takes the majority of the axial force in the coil support 20, and the load spreaders 28 distribute this force evenly around the end flanges 34 by increasing the contact area of the splint with the flange.