US 12,406,790 B2
System and method for converting helium bath cooling system for a superconducting magnet of a magnetic resonance imaging system into a sealed cryogenic system
Dogan Celik, Florence, SC (US); Kabindra Ram Bhattarai, Columbia, SC (US); Yuye Jiang, Florence, SC (US); Richard Thomas Hackett, Sumter, SC (US); Charles Dudley Yarborough, Florence, SC (US); Stuart Paul Feltham, Florence, SC (US); Longzhi Jiang, Florence, SC (US); and Harold Monroe James, Florence, SC (US)
Assigned to GE Precision Healthcare LLC, Wauwatosa, WI (US)
Filed by GE Precision Healthcare LLC, Waukesha, WI (US)
Filed on Oct. 10, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/484,005.
Prior Publication US 2025/0118474 A1, Apr. 10, 2025
Int. Cl. H01F 6/04 (2006.01); G01R 33/34 (2006.01); G01R 33/38 (2006.01); G01R 33/3815 (2006.01); H01F 6/06 (2006.01)
CPC H01F 6/04 (2013.01) [G01R 33/34023 (2013.01); G01R 33/3403 (2013.01); G01R 33/3804 (2013.01); G01R 33/3815 (2013.01); H01F 6/06 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A superconducting magnet system for a magnetic resonance imaging system, comprising:
a coil support structure having a body; and
a superconducting magnet having a plurality of coils disposed about the body of the coil support structure; and
a helium vessel encompassing the coil support structure and the superconducting magnet; and
a cooling system comprising:
a network of tubes disposed within the helium vessel and configured to transport helium within, wherein the network of tubes is retroactively thermally coupled to the plurality of coils;
a liquid helium storage system located within the helium vessel;
a helium recondenser located outside the helium vessel to recondense vapor helium to liquid helium; and
one or more tubes coupling the helium storage system to the helium recondenser, wherein where the one or more tubes pass through the helium vessel is retroactively vacuum sealed to make the helium vessel a sealed helium vessel, wherein the cooling system is configured to keep a uniform temperature between the sealed helium vessel and the plurality of coils; and
wherein each coil of the plurality of coils is thermally coupled to a respective tube of the network of tubes via a thermocoupling assembly, wherein the thermocoupling assembly comprises a flat thermoconductive metal strap disposed on a respective coil, a thermoconductive metallic wire overwrap wound about both a portion of the flat thermoconductive metallic strap and the respective coil, and ends of the flat thermoconductive metal strap are coupled to a thermoconductive metallic plate coupled to the respective tube.