Switchable birdcage coil

• US 7,501,828 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Varian Incorporated (Agilent Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Suddarth, Steven A., Rath, Alan R., Wong, Wai Ha
• Primary Examiner(s): Shrivastav; Brij B
• Application Number:
  US12/004,150
• Time in Patent Office: 447 Days
• Field of Search: 324300-322, 600407-445, 296/021
• US Class Current: 324/322
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34046 Volume type coils, e.g. bird-cage coils; Quadrature bird-cage coils; Circularly polarised coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34076 Birdcage coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3657 Decoupling of multiple RF coils wherein the multiple RF coils do not have the same function in MR, e.g. decoupling of a transmission coil from a receive coil

Abstract

A switchable birdcage coil functioning as a transmitter coil and a separate RF surface coil functioning as the receiver coil are utilize in NMR and MRI apparatus. To prevent the switchable birdcage coil from absorbing energy by coupling to the receiver coil or by absorbing power from the RF field produced by the precessing nuclear spins, one or more of the reactive elements of the birdcage coil are switched from a normal reactive impedance state to a high impedance state. The high impedance state is formed by switchably combining the reactive element with a complementary reactive element thereby forming parallel resonant high impedance circuit that is tuned to resonate at the NMR frequency.

Claims

1. An NMR birdcage coil switchably operating in a transmit and a receive modes comprising:

a plurality of identical cells connected in a ladder pattern, each cell having an upper and a low ring reactive elements interconnected therebetween by a leg reactive element, and

a complementary reactive element having leads switchably connecting to said reactive elements of one or more cells and forming a parallel resonant circuit therewith for switching said reactive elements from a normal reactive impedance state to a higher impedance state during the receive mode of operations.

2. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 1, wherein said complementary reactive element is tuned to resonate at NMR frequency.

3. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 1, further comprising switch circuit comprising:

PIN diodes electrically coupling each said lead of said complementary reactive element to one of said reactive elements of said one or more cells;

a swithable DC voltage bias supply; and

RF choke coils coupling said PIN diodes to said bias supply and providing RF frequency isolation between said complementary reactive element or elements and said bias supply, wherein said PIN diodes is switched by switching voltage polarity of said bias supply between electrically non-conducting and conducting states of said PIN diodes resulting in switching said NMR birdcage coil from the transmit to the receive mode.

4. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 1, further comprising:

an upper ring formed by a first number of spaced apart and connected in series said upper ring reactive elements being capacitor elements, each having a first capacitance value;

a lower ring formed by a second number being equal to said first number of spaced apart and connected in series said low ring reactive element being capacitor elements, each having a second capacitance value;

said upper and lower rings being separated along a common axis;

a plurality of said leg reactive elements comprising a first number of inductor elements disposed spatially from said axis and parallel therewith and coupling the upper and the low rings by interconnecting each said inductor element with a pair of adjacent capacitors in the upper ring and a corresponding pair of adjacent capacitors in the lower ring;

an intermediate ring formed by said complementary reactive elements being a second number of inductor elements equals to the number of capacitor elements in the upper or lower ring;

a set of diode elements disposed parallel to said axis, each said diode element having the same polarity and interconnecting the pair of adjacent capacitors in said lower ring with a corresponding pair of adjacent inductor elements in the intermediate ring; and

means for switching said diodes between conductive and a non-conductive state, said conductive and non-conductive state causing to switch said NMR birdcage coil from the receive to the transmit mode.

5. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 4, wherein the means for switching said diodes comprises a bias supply coupled to the diode elements via said second number of inductor elements for activating and deactivating said diode elements between the conducting and non-conducting states.

6. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 5, further comprising a ring of parallel resonant circuits formed by coupling said capacitor elements in said low ring to corresponding inductor elements in said intermediate ring, wherein the coupling occurs due to a forward bias current passing through said diode elements, which makes them electrically RF conductive.

7. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 6, wherein frequencies of said parallel resonant circuits are tuned to an NMR frequency for increasing impedance within said cells and preventing current flow to the neighboring cells.

8. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 1, further comprising:

an upper ring and a lower ring of periodically spaced, connected in series equal numbers of said reactive elements being inductor elements, each having the same inductance value, said upper and lower ring being separated along a common axis;

a set of periodically spaced and parallel to said axis said complementary reactive elements being capacitor elements, which interconnects adjacent inductors in the upper ring with corresponding adjacent inductors in the lower ring; and

means for switching a mode of operation of said NMR birdcage coil from the transmit to the receive mode by providing an inductor element in parallel with one or more said complementary reactive element.

9. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 8, wherein said means for switching the mode of operation comprises a number of inductance elements equals to a number of capacitor elements, wherein each inductance element is switchably connected in parallel with each said capacitor element.

10. The NMR birdcage coil of claim 9, wherein the parallel combination of a said switchable inserted inductance and a said leg capacitor forms a circuit that resonates at the NMR frequency.

11. A method of switching a NMR birdcage coil between a transmit and a receive modes of operation, said NMR birdcage coil comprising a plurality of identical cells connected in a ladder pattern, each cell having an upper and a lower ring reactive elements interconnecting by a leg reactive element, comprising:

providing a complimentary reactive element to one or more reactive elements;

switchable connecting one of said cell reactive elements to the complimentary reactive element forming a parallel resonant circuit therewith; and

switching the mode of operation of the birdcage coil from the transmit to the receive mode by tuning said parallel resonant circuit to a frequency of the NMR signals for forming a high impedance circuit and inactivating the birdcage coil.

12. The method of switching a NMR birdcage coil of claim 11, further comprising electrically coupling one of said cell reactive elements to the complimentary reactive element via PIN diodes;

and

electrically coupling the PIN diodes to a DC bias supply via RF choke coils.

13. The method of switching a NMR birdcage coil of claim 12, where switching the mode of operation further comprising:

switching PIN diodes between electrically non-conducting and conducting states by switching voltage polarity of the DC bias supply.

14. The method of switching a NMR birdcage coil of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a high-pass birdcage coil with an upper and a lower ring comprising capacitor elements, and leg elements being inductor elements;

providing an intermediate ring formed by the complementary reactive elements comprising a number of inductor elements;

providing same polarity for the PIN diodes; and

interconnecting via the PIN diode a pair of adjacent capacitors in a lower ring with a corresponding pair of adjacent inductor elements of said intermediate ring.

15. The method of switching a NMR birdcage coil of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a low-pass birdcage with an upper and a lower ring comprising inductor elements, and leg elements being capacitor elements;

interconnecting adjacent inductors in the upper ring with corresponding adjacent inductors in the lower ring by the complementary reactive elements being capacitor elements; and

providing switchably an inductor element in parallel with each said capacitor element for switching a mode of operation of the birdcage coil.