Patents Assigned to Bruker Biospin GmbH
  • Patent number: 7518371
    Abstract: A MAS (magic angle spinning) NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) apparatus, with automatic sample supply by a supply unit (45), is characterized in that an automatic preparation station (44) for samples is provided, with a rotor storage (49) having several rotors (1) for receiving sample material (53) soaked with NMR solution (55), a cap storage (48) with several caps (3), each cap (3) being suited for closing a rotor (1), wherein each cap (3) has a central axial bore (4), several movable pins (5), each being insertable into the central axial bore (4) of a cap (3) to close the bore (4) in the inserted state, a cap handling unit (46b) which can grip a cap (3) from the cap storage (48), move it, and dispose it onto a rotor (1), a plunger (61) for inserting a pin (5) into the bore (4) of the cap (3), and a suctioning device (62) for suctioning excess NMR solution (55) that escapes from the bore (4). The apparatus provides simple and automatic preparation of sample units, in particular, closure of rotors with caps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventors: Manfred Spraul, Martin Hofmann
  • Patent number: 7514928
    Abstract: The invention concerns a magnet configuration comprising a superconducting magnet coil (1) within which a gradient system is to be switched. All low temperature oscillation systems (R1) with a temperature T1<10K within the magnet coil (1) are produced from a material having good electrical conducting properties, and at least one warm oscillation system (R2) with a temperature T2>10K within the magnet coil (1) has worse electrical conducting properties and has a considerably different mechanical resonance frequency (separation approximately 500 Hz or more) than at least one of the low temperature oscillation systems (R1). This reduces the undesired heating power supplied to the low temperature oscillation systems due to mechanical oscillations and induced eddy currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventor: Michael Westphal
  • Publication number: 20090079429
    Abstract: In a method for determining an absolute number of electron spins in an extended sample (3) with the assistance of an apparatus for measuring magnetic resonance, the extended sample (3) is disposed within a measurement volume (2) of a radiofrequency RF resonator (1) of the apparatus during an electron spin resonance measurement (ESR).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2008
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Peter Hofer, Patrick Carl
  • Publication number: 20090072830
    Abstract: A sample exchange device (1), in particular, for an NMR spectrometer, comprising a circumferential chain (22), sample receptacles (7) which are disposed on the chain (22) at equal distances and are connected to each other via webs (23), and a measuring or transfer position (9), wherein each sample receptacle (7) can be moved to the measuring or transfer position (9) by moving the chain (22), characterized in that a chain guidance is provided which guides the circumferential chain (22) along a meandering path. The inventive sample exchange device is particularly economic and does not impair the analysis of the samples.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2008
    Publication date: March 19, 2009
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Volker Reiss, Frank Schneider, Markus Streckfuss
  • Publication number: 20090045895
    Abstract: A cryostat (1) with a magnet coil system including superconductors for the production of a magnet field B0 in a measuring volume (3) within a room temperature bore (2) of the cryostat has a plurality of radially nested solenoid-shaped coil sections (4, 5, 6) which surround the room temperature bore and which are electrically connected in series, at least one of which being an LTS section (5, 6) with a conventional low temperature superconductor (LTS) and at least one of which being an HTS section (4) including a high temperature superconductor (HTS), wherein the LTS section (5, 6) is located in a helium tank (9) of the cryostat (1) along with liquid helium at a helium temperature TL. The apparatus is characterized in that the HTS section (4) is disposed radially within the LTS section (5, 6) in a vacuum portion of the cryostat and is separated from the LTS section (5, 6) by the helium tank (9) wall (9a) facing the room temperature bore.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Publication date: February 19, 2009
    Applicant: BRUKER BIOSPIN GMBH
    Inventor: Arne Kasten
  • Patent number: 7474100
    Abstract: A method for driving a power supply (84) of a magnetic field coil (85) for generating a predetermined magnetic field profile B(r,t) in the volume under investigation of a nuclear magnetic resonance (=NMR) apparatus (81), wherein for compensation of distortions caused by the apparatus, an input signal i(t) is predistorted, that predetermines the time behavior of the magnetic field profile, wherein the power supply (84) is driven by the predistorted signal o(t), is characterized in that the predistortion is performed using a transfer function of the form G ? ( s ) = O ? ( s ) I ? ( s ) = ? n = 0 N ? s n ? b n ? n = 0 N ? s n ? a n , with s=?+j?, s ?C, and with N?2, wherein O(s) is the Laplace transform of o(t), and I(s) is the Laplace transform of i(t). This inventive method improves compensation of distortions of one or more gradient fields including their correlations during rapid switching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventors: Frank Schneider, Birk Schütz
  • Patent number: 7464556
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance apparatus comprising a superconducting magnet coil disposed in a cryostat, and a refrigerator for cooling same comprising a compressor (1) for compressing a working gas, and a high-pressure line (2) and a low-pressure line (3) disposed between the compressor (1) and a control valve (5), which periodically connects the high-pressure line (2) and the low-pressure line (3) to at least one connecting line (6) between the control valve (5) and a cold head (4) of the refrigerator, thereby producing pressure pulses through the switched working gas, wherein the control valve (5) and/or connecting line (6) and cold head (4) components are rigidly mechanically coupled to the cryostat, is characterized in that at least one of the above-mentioned lines (2, 3, 6) is branched on the compressor side upstream of the rigidly coupled components, and is symmetrically joined at one of the coupled components in such a manner that the pressure pulses through the working gas are vectorially compensated for at t
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventor: Klaus Schlenga
  • Patent number: 7430872
    Abstract: An NMR apparatus comprising a superconducting magnet coil system, in particular, an NMR spectrometer, with a cryostat which comprises an outer shell and a helium tank which contains the magnet coil system, and with an NMR probe head which is disposed in a room temperature bore of the cryostat and which contains a cooled RF resonator for receiving NMR signals from a sample to be examined and is cooled, together with the NMR probe head, by a cold head of a common, multi-stage, compressor-operated refrigerator, is characterized in that the cold head of the refrigerator is disposed in a neck tube, the upper end of which is connected to the outer shell of the cryostat and the lower end of which is connected to the helium tank in such a manner that the neck tube and the helium tank delimit a helium space, with at least one cooling circuit with thermally insulated transfer lines being provided between the helium space and the NMR probe head, wherein the cryogenic helium in the helium space is used as coolant for the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventor: Marco Strobel
  • Patent number: 7430871
    Abstract: An NMR spectrometer comprising a magnet coil system disposed in the helium tank (8) of a cryostat and an NMR probe head (4) which is disposed in a room temperature bore of the cryostat and contains a cooled RF resonator (13) for receiving NMR signals from a sample to be examined, wherein the helium tank (8) and the NMR probe head (4) are cooled by a common, multi-stage, compressor-operated refrigerator, is characterized in that the common refrigerator comprises a cold head (6) and several heat exchangers (21, 24, 25, 28, 31, 33, 34) at different temperature levels, wherein the refrigerator is disposed at a spatial separation from the cryostat in a separate, evacuated and thermally insulated housing (5), and several cooling circuits (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b) having thermally insulated transfer lines (14a, 14b, 15) are provided between the housing (5) containing the heat exchangers (21, 24, 25, 28, 31, 33, 34) and the cryostat, and also between the housing (5) and the NMR probe head (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventor: Marco Strobel
  • Patent number: 7397241
    Abstract: A method is described for determination of the content of at least one component of a sample by means of a nuclear magnetic resonance pulse spectrometer, with the magnetization of the sample being influenced by a sequence of radio-frequency pulses such that the signal amplitudes to be observed can be determined. The magnetization of the sample is initially saturated, and the signal amplitudes which are determined at each time by the longitudinal and transverse relaxation times T1 and T2 and/or T2* and/or T1p, from which a value for the content of the at least one component is determined, are measured at the same time in a cohesive experimental procedure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Gisela Gauthausen, Andreas Kamlowski, Dieter Schmalbein
  • Patent number: 7397247
    Abstract: An apparatus for determining a quantitative property of a sample substance by means of magnetic resonance is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a conveyor for conveying sample containers containing the sample substance through a measuring station. The measuring station comprises a magnet system for generating a constant magnetic field of high homogeneity. The measuring station, further, comprises a probe head adapted for letting sample containers be conveyed therethrough and for generating a high frequency magnetic field. A magnetic resonance measuring unit determines the quantitative property of the sample substance contained in the probe head. The probe head excites and detects, resp., the magnetic resonance essentially only within that section of the sample container which contains the sample substance. The probe head comprises a split-ring resonator which, as seen in a conveying direction of the conveyor, has a passage cross-section for letting run the sample containers therethrough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Marian Kloza, Dieter Schmalbein, Diether Maier
  • Publication number: 20080157771
    Abstract: The invention concerns a magnet configuration comprising a superconducting magnet coil (1) within which a gradient system is to be switched. All low temperature oscillation systems (R1) with a temperature T1<10K within the magnet coil (1) are produced from a material having good electrical conducting properties, and at least one warm oscillation system (R2) with a temperature T2>10K within the magnet coil (1) has worse electrical conducting properties and has a considerably different mechanical resonance frequency (separation approximately 500 Hz or more) than at least one of the low temperature oscillation systems (R1). This reduces the undesired heating power supplied to the low temperature oscillation systems due to mechanical oscillations and induced eddy currents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2007
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventor: Michael Westphal
  • Patent number: 7391212
    Abstract: A resonator apparatus and a method for electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements are disclosed. The resonator apparatus comprises a dielectric resonator and a sample vessel extending through the resonator. The sample vessel is configured as one single flexible tube. Means are provided for conveying a liquid sample substance through the flexible tube. According to the method a liquid sample substance is guided through the sample vessel, wherein the sample substance is gated by cyclically conveying and stopping, resp., a flow of the sample substance. A measurement is conducted within the resonator when the flow of sample substance is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Diether Maier, Dieter Schmalbein, Andreas Kamlowski, Marian Kloza, Peter Hoefer
  • Publication number: 20080139394
    Abstract: A superconducting magnetic field coil (1; 21; 31; 41; 51; 61) comprising at least one coil section (42; 43) which is wound in layers, is characterized in that, in at least one layer (11, 12, 13, 14, 101, 102, 103, 104) of the coil section (42; 43) N (with N?2), superconducting wire sections (A, B, C, D, E) are wound in parallel, such that the windings of the N wire sections (A, B, C, D, E) are adjacent to each other and the N wire sections (A, B, C, D, E) are connected in series. The inventive magnetic field coil can be produced at highly reduced costs, in particular, when the magnetic field coil has a comparatively large layer length.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventor: Klaus Schlenga
  • Patent number: 7385398
    Abstract: A radio frequency coil arrangement for magnetic resonance measurements as well as a probe head for measuring resonance signals by utilizing such a radio frequency arrangement are disclosed. The radio frequency coil arrangement comprises a scroll coil having a stripe being spirally wound about a longitudinal axis, and having ends being provided with terminals for feeding and/or receiving radio frequency signals. The stripe, as seen in a plane unwound view, is configured in a Z-shape with a middle, broad section as well as two lateral, narrow sections being offset with respect to each other in a lateral direction, such that the lateral sections do not overlap in the lateral direction when the stripe is wound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Heinz Zeiger, Baudouin Dillmann
  • Publication number: 20080115520
    Abstract: A cold head (20; 30) for a cryo refrigerator comprises at least one refrigerator tube (5), at least one pulse tube (6, 9), and one feed line (4) for feeding a working gas from a turning valve (3) of the cryo refrigerator to a warm end of the regenerator tube (5), wherein a cold end of the pulse tube (6, 9) is connected to a cold end of the regenerator tube (5) via a connecting line (7, 8), and wherein a buffer line (10, 11) extending to a buffer volume (14, 15) of the cryo refrigerator is provided at a warm end of the pulse tube (6, 9), is characterized in that a first reversing valve (21) is provided in the feed line (4), and a second reversing valve (23; 31, 32) is provided in the buffer line (10, 11), such that, in a rinsing state of the reversing valves (21, 23; 31, 32), the turning valve (3) and the buffer volume (14, 15) are separated from the regenerator tube (5) and from the pulse tube (6, 9), and the regenerator tube (5) and the pulse tube (6, 9) can be rinsed via the reversing valves (21, 23; 31, 32
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2007
    Publication date: May 22, 2008
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventor: Marco Strobel
  • Patent number: 7368911
    Abstract: A method for testing a new superconducting wire involves charging an actively shielded magnet coil configuration which comprises a first partial region which can be superconductingly short-circuited using an additional switch. A superconductor to be tested under increased current load is used in this first partial region, thereby preventing superconductor in the second partial region from being subjected to this increased current load. Operating currents are determined for both partial regions that have the desired excess current in the first partial region, with the overall field B0 only slightly differing from the standard operating field of the magnet coil configuration. The operating currents are adjusted through initial charging of the overall magnet coil configuration, thereby taking into consideration the inductive coupling between the partial regions and after closing of the additional switch, by continued charging or discharging in the second partial region only.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Frantz, Robert Schauwecker
  • Patent number: 7365540
    Abstract: A co-axial magnet configuration for the production of a magnetic field and investigational volume which is suitable for measurement of magnetic resonance has at least one superconducting solenoid coil or solenoid coils which are radially nested within each other, wherein the windings of the solenoid coil(s) in a radial region about the axis of the magnetic configuration are disposed between r1 and r2, wherein r1<r2 is characterized in that the windings are surrounded by at least one rotationally symmetric magnet body made from ferromagnetic material which extends over a radial region between r3 and r4 wherein r3<r4 wherein r2<r3<1.3 r2 and r4>1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2008
    Assignee: Bruker Biospin GmbH
    Inventor: Michael Westphal
  • Publication number: 20080088312
    Abstract: A MAS (magic angle spinning) NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) apparatus, with automatic sample supply by a supply unit (45), is characterized in that an automatic preparation station (44) for samples is provided, with a rotor storage (49) having several rotors (1) for receiving sample material (53) soaked with NMR solution (55), a cap storage (48) with several caps (3), each cap (3) being suited for closing a rotor (1), wherein each cap (3) has a central axial bore (4), several movable pins (5), each being insertable into the central axial bore (4) of a cap (3) to close the bore (4) in the inserted state, a cap handling unit (46b) which can grip a cap (3) from the cap storage (48), move it, and dispose it onto a rotor (1), a plunger (61) for inserting a pin (5) into the bore (4) of the cap (3), and a suctioning device (62) for suctioning excess NMR solution (55) that escapes from the bore (4). The apparatus provides simple and automatic preparation of sample units, in particular, closure of rotors with caps.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Publication date: April 17, 2008
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Manfred Spraul, Martin Hoffmann
  • Publication number: 20080084207
    Abstract: A method for testing a new superconducting wire involves charging an actively shielded magnet coil configuration which comprises a first partial region which can be superconductingly short-circuited using an additional switch. A superconductor to be tested under increased current load is used in this first partial region, thereby preventing superconductor in the second partial region from being subjected to this increased current load. Operating currents are determined for both partial regions that have the desired excess current in the first partial region, with the overall field B0 only slightly differing from the standard operating field of the magnet coil configuration. The operating currents are adjusted through initial charging of the overall magnet coil configuration, thereby taking into consideration the inductive coupling between the partial regions and after closing of the additional switch, by continued charging or discharging in the second partial region only.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2006
    Publication date: April 10, 2008
    Applicant: Bruker BioSpin GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Frantz, Robert Schauwecker