Local Coil

• US 20130119988A1
• Filed: 11/13/2012
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Driemel, Daniel, Greim, Helmut, Wolf, Steffen
• Granted Patent: US 9,274,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/322
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34007 Manufacture of RF coils, e.g. using printed circuit board technology; additional hardware for providing mechanical support to the RF coil assembly or to part thereof, e.g. a support for moving the coil assembly relative to the remainder of the MR system
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34092 RF coils specially adapted for NMR spectrometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3415 comprising arrays of sub-coils , i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/365 Decoupling of multiple RF coils wherein the multiple RF coils have the same function in MR, e.g. decoupling of a receive coil from another receive coil in a receive coil array, decoupling of a transmission coil from another transmission coil in a transmission coil array
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56518 due to eddy currents, e.g. caused by switching of the gradient magnetic field

Abstract

A local coil for a magnetic resonance tomography device includes a plurality of antenna elements. Each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements has two conductor tracks. The conductor tracks are disposed on opposite sides of an insulator and are connected electrically conductively to one another by plated through-holes through the insulator. In areas, in which conductor tracks of at least two antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements cross, at least one antenna element of the at least two antenna elements only has a conductor track on one side of the insulator.

Claims

1. A local coil for a magnetic resonance tomography device, the local coil comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements,

wherein an antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements has two conductor tracks that are disposed on opposite sides of an insulator and are connected electrically-conductively to one another by plated through-holes through the insulator, and

wherein in at least one area, in which conductor tracks of at least two antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements cross, at least one antenna element of the two antenna elements only has a conductor track on one side of the insulator.

2. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein only in the at least one crossing area of the at least two antenna elements, in which the conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements cross one another, at least one antenna element of the at least two antenna elements only has a continuous conductor track on a lower side of the insulator, and at least one further antenna element of the at least two antenna elements only has a continuous conductor track on an upper side of the insulator.

3. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein conductor tracks of more than two antennas of the plurality of antennas cross in crossing areas.

4. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the crossing conductor tracks of a subset of antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are spaced apart from one another without electrical contact.

5. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements has at least two conductor tracks running in parallel to one another in an area.

6. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thickness of the insulator of the antenna element, the height of the conductor tracks of the antenna element, or the thickness of the insulator of the antenna element and the height of the conductor tracks of the antenna element are at least double a skin depth of a material, of which the conductor tracks are made.

7. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conductor tracks are made of copper.

8. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least in areas, at which capacitors are inserted into the local coil, at which conductor tracks cross, or at which capacitors are inserted into the local coil and at which conductor tracks cross, conductor tracks of a respective antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements are connected to one another by plated through-holes.

9. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein in areas, in which two antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are closest to one another without crossing one another, conductor tracks of the two antenna elements run in parallel to one another on a same side of the insulator.

10. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein in one or more areas, in which conductor tracks of at least two antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements run in parallel to one another on a same side of the insulator, the conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements are slotted by slots.

11. The local coil as claimed in claim 10, wherein the conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements are slotted by the slots with an unchanged outer conductor track width compared to a non-slotted area.

12. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two conductor tracks have a slot that lies symmetrically to a slot of a conductor track of a further antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements.

13. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein on one or more slots of one or more conductor tracks of the plurality of antenna elements, a first bar that runs on an inner side of the conductor track is wider than a second bar opposite the first bar, the second bar running on an outer side of the conductor track.

14. The local coil as claimed in claim 13, wherein the inner side of the conductor track of the antenna element is a side pointing towards a central point, and the outer side of the conductor track of the antenna element is a side pointing away from the central point.

15. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the antenna element or another antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements has at least three layers of conductor tracks above one another.

16. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the crossing of conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements includes that at least one conductor track of a first antenna element of the at least two antenna elements runs at right angles or obliquely across at least one conductor track of a second antenna element of the at least two antenna elements.

17. The local coil as claimed in claim 16, wherein the crossing of the conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements includes that the at least one conductor track of the first antenna element of the at least two antenna elements runs at right angles or obliquely across the at least one conductor track of the second antenna element of the at least two antenna elements without electrical contact.

18. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein in areas, in which the conductor tracks of the at least two antenna elements cross, at least one antenna element of the at least two antenna elements only has a conductor track on one side of the insulator to the extent that the conductor track of the at least one antenna element is interrupted on the other side of the insulator in the area.

19. The local coil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insulator comprises a carrier material, a printed circuit board, or the carrier material and the printed circuit board.

20. The local coil as claimed in claim 3, wherein crossing conductor tracks of a subset of antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are spaced apart from one another without electrical contact.