Quench Protection System of a Whole-Body Non-impregnated 1.5 T Superconducting MRI Magnet

Abstract

A quench protection system for an actively-shielded whole-body 1.5 T MRI magnet made with wire-in-channel NbTi conductor is presented with two types of coil sub-divisions. The MRI magnet must operate for many years in the hospital, and thereby, it must be completely self-protecting by means of self-activating quench propagation heaters to spread the normal zone in a larger volume of the magnet during a quench i.e. the passive protection system. The total stored energy of the magnet is about 3.7 MJ. The voltage and the temperature of the coils have been simulated with two types of passive quench protection systems using OPERA-Quench program. The maximum inter-layer quench voltage generated in the asymmetric sub-division is 70 V/layer with a peak voltage of 2.6 kV and a hot spot temperature of 248 K. The maximum inter-layer quench voltage generated in the symmetric sub-division is 45 V/layer with a peak voltage of 1.7 kV and a hot spot temperature of 185 K. During a quench, an average driving voltage of 1.3 kV and the associated current of 1.75 A is generated in both quench propagation circuits of the magnet with the symmetric sub-division. The 5 G safety line explodes beyond the permissible limits during a quench of the magnet with the asymmetric sub-division, whereas the 5 G safety region is retained within the permissible limit in case of quench of the magnet with symmetric sub-division.