Abstract: A method is presented for manufacturing laminate tile metal pole pieces for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric annular array pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The pole piece is made by placing a plurality of tiles into a mold and filling the mold with an adhesive substance to bind the plurality of tiles into a unitary tile body. The unitary tile body is then removed from the mold and attached to a pole piece base to form the pole piece. The mold cavity surface preferably has a non-uniform contour. The bottom surface of the unitary tile body forms a substantially inverse contour of the mold cavity surface contour.

Abstract: A laminate tile pole piece for an MRI, a method and a mold for manufacturing laminate tile metal pole pieces for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric annular array pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The pole piece is made by placing a plurality of tiles into a mold and filling the mold with an adhesive substance to bind the plurality of tiles into a unitary tile body. The unitary tile body is then removed from the mold and attached to a pole piece base to form the pole piece. The mold cavity surface preferably has a non-uniform contour. The bottom surface of the unitary tile body forms a substantially inverse contour of the mold cavity surface contour.

Abstract: A laminate tile pole piece for an MRI, a method and a mold for manufacturing laminate tile metal pole pieces for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric annular array pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The pole piece is made by placing a plurality of tiles into a mold and filling the mold with an adhesive substance to bind the plurality of tiles into a unitary tile body. The unitary tile body is then removed from the mold and attached to a pole piece base to form the pole piece. The mold cavity surface preferably has a non-uniform contour. The bottom surface of the unitary tile body forms a substantially inverse contour of the mold cavity surface contour.

Abstract: A laminate tile pole piece for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric annular array pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The pole piece is made by placing a plurality of tiles into a mold and filling the mold with an adhesive substance to bind the plurality of tiles into a unitary tile body. The unitary tile body is then removed from the mold and attached to a pole piece base to form the pole piece. The mold cavity surface preferably has a non-uniform contour. The bottom surface of the unitary tile body forms a substantially inverse contour of the mold cavity surface contour.

Abstract: A laminate tile pole piece for an MRI, a method and a mold for manufacturing laminate tile metal pole pieces for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric annular array pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The pole piece is made by placing a plurality of tiles into a mold and filling the mold with an adhesive substance to bind the plurality of tiles into a unitary tile body. The unitary tile body is then removed from the mold and attached to a pole piece base to form the pole piece. The mold cavity surface preferably has a non-uniform contour. The bottom surface of the unitary tile body forms a substantially inverse contour of the mold cavity surface contour.

Abstract: A laminate tile pole piece for an MRI, a method and an apparatus for manufacturing laminate tile metal pole pieces for an MRI. Each laminate tile has a trapezoidal or annular sector shape. The trapezoidal shape allows the tiles to be attached side by side to form a multiple concentric ring pole piece without using oddly shaped edge filler tiles needed to fill a circular pole piece with square tiles. The laminate tiles are formed by unwinding a metal ribbon, guiding the ribbon through an adhesive bath, winding the ribbon on a polygonal bobbin, such as a rectangular bobbin, to form a coil with at least one flat side, removing the coil from the bobbin, cutting the coil into laminate bars and shaping the laminate bars into trapezoidal or annular sector shaped laminate tiles. The apparatus contains an adhesive bath, a polygonal shaped bobbin, bobbin side plates for guiding the ribbon onto the bobbin and pressure plates for controlling the thickness of the coil.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a gradient coil assembly for MR imaging which includes a gradient coil set comprising inner and outer gradient coils, the inner gradient coil located within the outer gradient coil and surrounding or otherwise proximate to an imaging volume. The system further includes means for selectively energizing the inner and outer gradient coils to generate a resultant gradient field in the imaging volume. The energized inner and outer gradient coils are also disposed to collectively generate an eddy current field component in a region between the outer coil and a conductive structure spaced-apart therefrom when the inner gradient coil is displaced along an axis from a specified position with respect to the outer gradient coil.

Abstract: A magnetic field gradient apparatus for use in a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system employing open magnets allows access to a patient while the patient is being imaged. The magnetic field gradient apparatus employs two gradient coil assemblies and a gradient coil amplifier. Each gradient coil assembly has a gradient coil carrier with at least one gradient coil disposed on it. Each gradient coil carrier is comprised of a cylinder with a flange at one end. The gradient coil assemblies are positioned in the bore of each ring of the open magnet and spaced apart from each other allowing access to the patient. The gradient coil amplifier provides current through the gradient coils to create a magnetic field gradient which has high linearity inside an imaging volume. A coil is disposed on cylinders which surround each gradient coil assembly and fit inside the bore of each ring which acts as an active shield and minimizing eddy currents in conductors outside the gradient coil assemblies.

Abstract: A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system for use in a medical procedure employs an open main magnet allowing access to a portion of a patient within an imaging volume, for producing a main magnetic field over the imaging volume; a set of open gradient coils which provide magnetic fields gradients over the imaging volume without restricting access to the imaging volume; a radiofrequency coil set for transmitting RF energy into the imaging volume to nutate nuclear spins within the imaging volume and receive an MR response signal from the nuclear spins; and a pointing device for indicating the position and orientation of a plane in which an image is to be acquired; an image control means for operating power supplies for the gradient coils and the RF coils to acquire an MR signal from the desired imaging plane; and a computation unit for constructing an image of the desired imaging plane.

Abstract: A method for minimizing the inhomogeneity of a static magnetic field, produced by a main magnet, over a selected arbitrary volume, by operation of a plurality N of shimming coils each independently producing an associated shimming magnetic field having an associated inhomogeneity which is a function of spatial location over that same volume, uses the steps of: measuring the magnitude of the main magnet field, in the absence of all shimming fields, at a plurality of locations X.sub.i upon the surface of an imaginary sphere enclosing the arbitrary volume; measuring the polarity and magnitude of each of the N shimming fields, with respect to the polarity and magnitude of a D.C. current flowing through the associated shimming coil, at the same plurality of locations X.sub.i upon the imaginary sphere surface; determining the weighted mean-square variation of the total field at each of another plurality of points Y.sub.

Abstract: Accurate estimates of the instantaneous mean frequency of a time varying signal are achieved at favorable and adverse signal-to-noise ratios by an improved time domain approach. Demodulated in-phase and quadrature signals are sampled and delayed. Noise in both terms of a simple arc tangent algorithm, whose denominator has products of time samples shifted at least one time period with respect to itself, is uncorrelated and removed by low pass filtering. One embodiment is a pulsed ultrasonic Doppler system with quadrature detection to measure and display blood velocity as a function of time.

Abstract: High contrast image data is acquired from metal and other hard surfaces with varying roughness and reflectivity on which characters are impressed by vibrapeening or laser marking. The optical scanner applies normal illumination and a linear photodiode array detects light reflected normal to the surface and within a narrow acceptance angle, so that characters appear dark and the background light. The detector signal is preprocessed to remove nonuniform background variations and yield image data which can be fed to conventional character recognition equipment.

Abstract: An improved target for storage of electric charge, in an electron beam addressable memory, utilizes an anodic oxide grown upon a semiconductor layer, forming part of a semiconductor diode structure. The anodic oxide is overlayed with a planar film of conductive material and the target structure is scanned with an electron beam for writing of electric charge storage therein and reading of the electron charge patterns therefrom over relatively greater numbers of erase/write operations relative to a target having a thermally-grown oxide layer.

Abstract: A data acquisition system, for use in computerized x-ray tomography equipment, comprises hundred data transmission channels, each of which includes a ramp comparison type (i.e., a single slope) A/D converter. The comparator elements in the converters may exhibit substantial propagation delays which contribute to offsets in the values of data transmitted through the channels.The effect of comparator propagation delays may be reduced by preconditioning each converter before each digitization: a small signal voltage is injected into each converter. The injected voltage is then removed by a linear integration which is terminated in response to an output signal from the comparator element. A negative residue voltage remains on each converter circuit which, during a subsequent digitization, functions to cancel the offsets produced by propagation delays in that circuit.

Abstract: A tomographic x-ray imaging system comprises a large plurality of parallel data acquisition channels which integrate and digitize signals from an array of x-ray detectors. Calibration pulses are injected into each data acquisition channel to permit measurement of drift in electronic gain and dc offset parameters. Separate x-ray detectors continuously monitor the intensity of the x-ray source.The measured values for channel gains, dc offsets, and source intensity are fed to a digital computer where they are automatically combined with x-ray transmission data to compensate for system drift and extend the period between calibration measurements.

Abstract: A resistive gate field effect transistor (FET) is disclosed in which the gate comprises a resistive film overlying an insulating layer and in contact with both the source and drain electrodes. This provides an integrated circuit, bidirectional voltage limiter in which the limiting voltage can be tailored to almost any value likely to be found on an integrated circuit. In another form of the present invention, a conductive gate is added between the resistive gate and the substrate.