Design and simulations of low cost and low magnetic field MRI system

Abstract

The paper proposes the design of a low cost and low magnetic field MRI system. The idea behind the low cost and low magnetic field is that the system can be taken to and operated at remote locations suitably. The proposed design operates at a maximum field intensity of 0.2 T. The main magnetic field is proposed to be generated Helmholtz coils based on copper wires as a winding. The strength of gradient magnetic field has been at 75μT. The gradient has been generated using Maxwell coils and Saddle coils. Simulation study has been done where the radius of the Helmholtz coil has been kept at 30cm and the gradient coil has been kept at a radius of 25cm. The RF coil is designed with a radius of 20cm a the resonant frequency of 8.513MHz for 0.2T main magnetic field. Simulation studies performed with COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 reveals homogeneity of main magnetic field within the coil. The homogeneity of magnetic field at the center of Helmholtz coil for one slice of volume has found to be ±1.2 percent.