WEEKEND EDUCATIONAL COURSE
MR Systems Engineering
ORGANIZERS: Blaine A. Chronik, Ph.D. & Greig C. Scott, Ph.D.
 
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate to Advanced
Saturday, 7 May 2011
OVERVIEW
This one-day course will provide a practical description of fundamental concepts and practices in MR systems engineering. MRI engineers and physicists from industry, academia and clinical environments will speak on the general topics of magnets, gradients, shims, system design, medical device interactions and RF electronics. The overall goal of this program is to enable new researchers to employ more advanced engineering methods in their MRI research.
 
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course participants should be able to:
« Recognize the basic hardware components of an MRI scanner and how they interact;
 « Describe the basic methods for magnet, gradient, and shim design;
 « List practical limitations in the construction of magnets, gradients, and shim systems;
 « Identify and describe the basic mechanisms by which medical devices interact with the magnet and gradients within an MRI scanner; and
 « Explain the RF electronic subsystems that interface with RF coils.
Click on to view the abstract pdf and click on to view the video presentation.
     
  System Overview & Magnets  
08:30 Overview of the MRI System   R. Scott Hinks, Ph.D.
09:00 Magnets: Theory   Darren Houlden, C.Phys., Minst.P., B.Sc.
09:30 Magnets: Reality   Ian Wilkinson, Ph.D.
10:00 Break  
  10:00 -10:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  Shims & Gradients  
10:30 Shimming: Fields, Coils, & Control   Piotr M. Starewicz, Ph.D.
11:00 Gradient Coils: EM, Heating, & Mechanical   Richard W. Bowtell, Ph.D.
11:30 Gradient Amplifiers: Power & Control   Juan A. Sabate, Ph.D.
12:00 Break  
  12:00 - 12:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  Devices in the Scanner: Low Frequency Interactions  
13:30 Overview of Device Interactions Blaine A. Chronik, Ph.D.
14:00 kHz (Gradient) Interactions   Paul M. Glover, Ph.D.
14:30 Modeling Low Frequency Interactions Blaine A. Chronik, Ph.D.
15:00 Break  
  15:00 - 15:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  RF Electronics  
15:30 RF Power Amps: Introduction   Frederick H. Raab, Ph.D.
16:00 RF Preamps   Ralph G. Oppelt, Ph.D.
16:30 Console Electronics   Pascal P. Stang, M.Sc.
17:00 Adjournment  
  17:00-17:15 Meet the Teachers