Magnetic Induction Tomography System and Method

• US 20080258717A1
• Filed: 12/14/2006
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Pinter, Robert, Igney, Claudia Hannelore, Such, Olaf
• Granted Patent: US 8,125,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/222
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0522 Magnetic induction tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0536 Impedance imaging, e.g. by tomography
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/104 using several coupled or uncoupled coils G01V3/101 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention relates to a magnetic induction tomography system and method for studying the electromagnetic properties of an object. In order to provide a high resolution MIT technique without the need of increasing the number of coils, a magnetic induction tomography system (1) for studying the electromagnetic properties of an object (2) is suggested, the system comprising one or more generator coils (4) adapted for generating a primary magnetic field, said primary magnetic field inducing an eddy current in the object (2), one or more sensor coils (5) adapted for sensing a secondary magnetic field, said secondary magnetic field being generated as a result of said eddy current, and means (6, 7, 8, 9) for providing a relative movement between one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) on the one hand and the object (2) to be studied on the other hand.

Claims

1. A magnetic induction tomography system (1) for studying the electromagnetic properties of an object (2), the system comprising

one or more generator coils (4) adapted for generating a primary magnetic field, said primary magnetic field inducing an eddy current in the object (2),

one or more sensor coils (5) adapted for sensing a secondary magnetic field, said secondary magnetic field being generated as a result of said eddy current, and

means (6, 7, 8, 9) for providing a relative movement between one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) on the one hand and the object (2) to be studied on the other hand.

2. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) are arranged in an asymmetric way.

3. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) are arranged in form of an array.

4. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the moving means (6, 7, 8, 9) are adapted to move one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) independent of each other.

5. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the moving means (6, 7, 8, 9) are adapted to rotate one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) relative to the object (2) to be studied.

6. The system (1) as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the moving means (6, 7, 8, 9) are adapted to move one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) along the rotation axis (16).

7. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the system further comprises means (11, 8, 9) for moving the object (2) to be studied relative to the one or more generator coils (4) and/or relative to the one or more sensor coils (5), said means (11, 8, 9) being in particular adapted for rotating the object (2).

8. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the system comprises means (11, 8, 9) for moving the object (2) to be studied from a first measurement position to a second measurement position in a plane relative to the one or more generator coils (4) and/or relative to the one or more sensor coils (5).

9. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the system comprises means (6, 7, 8, 9) for moving one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) from a first measurement position to a second measurement position in a plane relative to the object (2) to be studied.

10. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that there are at least two different generator coils (4) and/or one at least two different sensor coils (5).

11. A magnetic induction tomography method for studying the electromagnetic properties of an object (2), the method comprising the steps of:

generating a primary magnetic field by means of one or more generator coils (4), said primary magnetic field inducing an eddy current in the object (2), and

sensing a secondary magnetic field by means of one or more sensor coils (5), said secondary magnetic field being generated as a result of said eddy current,

thereby providing a relative movement between one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) on the one hand and the object (2) to be studied on the other hand.

12. A computer program for operating a magnetic induction tomography system (1) for studying the electromagnetic properties of an object (2), the system (1) comprising one or more generator coils (4) adapted for generating a primary magnetic field, said primary magnetic field inducing an eddy current in the object (2), one or more sensor coils (5) adapted for sensing a secondary magnetic field, said secondary magnetic field being generated as a result of said eddy current, and means (6, 7, 8, 9) for providing a relative movement between one or more generator coils (4) and/or one or more sensor coils (5) on the one hand and the object (2) to be studied on the other hand, the computer program comprising computer instructions to automatically control the movement(s) of said coil(s) (4, 5) and/or the movement(s) of said object (2), when the computer program is executed in a computer (9).