Gradients in Ultra High Field (UHF) MRI. In: Hennig J, Speck O, editors. High-Field MR Imaging. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2012. pp. 27-40. [DOI: 10.1007/174_2011_200]

Analysis on matrix gradient coil modeling

OBJECTIVE

The current distribution of the matrix gradient coil can be optimized via matrix gradient coil modeling to reduce the Lorentz force on individual coil elements. Two different modeling approaches are adopted, and their respective characteristics are summarized.

METHODS

The magnetic field at each coil element is calculated. Then, the Lorentz force, torque, and deformation of the energized coil element in the magnetic field are derived. Two modeling approaches for matrix gradient coil, namely, optimizing coil element current (OCEC) modeling and optimizing coil element Lorentz force (OCEF) modeling, are proposed to reduce the Lorentz force on individual coil elements. The characteristics of different modeling approaches are compared by analyzing the influence of the weighting factor on the performance of the coil system. The current, Lorentz force, torque, and deformation results calculated via different modeling approaches are also compared.

RESULTS

Coil element magnetic fields are much weaker than the main magnetic field, and their effect can be ignored. Matrix gradient coil modeling with different regularization terms can help to decrease the current and Lorentz force of coil elements. The performance of the coil system calculated via different modeling approaches is similar when suitable weighting factors are adopted. The two modeling approaches, OCEC and OCEF, can better reduce the maximum current and Lorentz force on individual coil elements compared with the traditional modeling approach.

CONCLUSIONS

Different modeling approaches can help to optimize the current distribution of coil elements and satisfy various requirements while maintaining the performance of the coil system.

Analysis of coil element distribution and dimension for matrix gradient coils

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this work is to analyze the influence of the distributions and dimensions of the coil elements and to present a method for improving the performance of the matrix gradient coil.

METHODS

Three typical models (five structures in total) are presented, and a double-layer biplanar matrix gradient coil is used to install coil elements. Two metrics, namely, the role of coil elements and mutual inductance between coil elements, are proposed to assess the performance of coil systems. An optimization approach to design matrix gradient coils is introduced based on analyzing the distributions and dimensions of coil elements. The flexibility of the magnetic field generation of the designed coil structure is demonstrated by generating full third-order spherical harmonic fields and different oblique gradient fields.

RESULTS

Matrix gradient coils with suitable distributions are capable of generating target magnetic fields. The role of coil elements quantitatively illustrates that the coil elements have different impacts on generating magnetic fields. Increasing the coil element dimension within a certain range can reduce the mutual inductance between coil elements and improve the performance of the coil system. The designed novel double-layer biplanar matrix gradient coil achieves an acceptable performance in generating different magnetic fields.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed metrics can provide theoretical support for designing matrix gradient coils and evaluating their performance. The role of coil elements contributes to analyzing the distributions of coil elements to decrease the number of coil elements and power amplifiers. The mutual inductance between coil elements can be a reference for designing the dimensions of coil elements.