Compact MRI

The project is primarily carried out at Cambridge University by the research team led by Dr Coombs. The research is constituted to address fundamental underpinning research into the development of ultra-high field magnets that will help to advance research into novel materials and to further understand existing ones.


Currently HTS magnets have to be driven by bulky power supplies via thick warm-to-cold current leads, which complicates heat insulation, limits current capacity, and affects field stability. Flux pumping an HTS magnet provides an approach to eliminate the reliance on such power supplies and current leads, opening up the way to a truly compact, transportable and low cost MRI which could be taken to the patients' bedsides. Further weight savings can be achieved by developing an ultra-short magnet.

Mobile near-patient MRI for acute brain imaging is a tantalizing prospect but no clinically usable prototype solution is currently available. The technological challenges are substantial. The magnetic field in traditional MRIs is generated by Low-Temperature Superconductors which operate in liquid helium(@4.2K). This project will explored the possibility of creating an ultra-compact system using HTS and thereby to extend the range of an already proven method of clinical diagnosis, MRI, saving lives and improving recovery prospects.

The ultimate aim of this project is to make MRIs accessible to a greater range of hospitals and patients by reducing capital, infrastructure and running costs and by enabling a mobile solution

It is expected that using the output from this project we will be able to radically change the design of MRI machines, enabling an HTS solution which is smaller lighter and more mobile than current LTS machines.

Flux pump technology and the latest dynamic bridge switching method will be key to providing these high currents with minimal heat loads and minimal infrastructure in comparison to expensive high-current power supplies and warm-to-cold current leads. The resultant effect is that the purchase and running costs of high-field magnets will decrease substantially. Crucially also infra-structure costs will be slashed. A flux pumped HTS magnet does not require MW power supplies neither does it require copious amounts of water cooling to dissipate the waste heat. Thus it is realistic to expect HTS flux pumped magnets to be available which could be installed in any UK (or international) university or hospital enabling a radical sea change in the use of HTS to support medical diagnosis.