SBIR-STTR Award

The objective of this project is the development of a 0.2T "desktop" Magnetic Resonance Imaging system (MRI) for human limbs or small animals and materials. The design is based on a permanent magnet, thus requiring no external power or cryogenic maintenance. Because of the minimal fringe field of the magnet, such a system can be sited in normal office space. During Phase I, a permanent magnet will be manufactured and tested. This prototype magnet will have a field of 0.2T. Phase I will also include simple NMR measurements to map the magnetic field, adjust the shimming, and measure the achievable imaging volume. Phase II would be to build a complete imaging system around this magnet and a set of pulsed gradient coils. Finally, Phase III would be production of a MRI desktop system.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:We hope to develop a small MR system for office use in both orthopedic and pediatric applications.National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The objective of this SBIR Phase II proposal is to build a complete 0.2 T 'desktop' MR imaging system based on the design of the permanent magnet built during Phase I. The first step in Phase II will be to produce a full scale magnet with a 178 mm gap capable of imaging human extremities, small animals, or materials. Concurrently, shim coils, pulsed gradient coils and RF coils will be designed and built for the magnet. Thermal drift studies done on the half scale magnet indicate that thermal shielding and stabilization will be required for the full scale magnet. The imaging console including the observe channel will be based on existing and/or new hardware from Tecmag controlled by a Macintosh II computer. Commercial amplifiers will be used for the RF and DC gradients. Imaging will be done in a rapid 3D volume acquisition mode (spin-echo, echo-planar or projection-reconstruction to make the best use of the S/N at 0.2T, and 2D views will be selected via multiplanar postprocessing software.