A two-stage pulse tube cryo-cooled MRI magnet.

A compact, cryogen-free 0.5 Tesla superconducting Magnetic Resonance Imager (MRI) magnet has been conductively-cooled using a two-stage Pulse Tube cryo-refrigerator. With the absence of cold moving parts and seals, Pulse Tube cryo-refrigerators offer lower transmitted vibrations to a MRI magnet and potentially longer MTBF rates. A 7 kW input power compressor package was connected to the Pulse Tube. The Pulse Tube system provided an estimated 1.3 Watts of cooling power at 4.2 K. Vibration measurements made on the vacuum enclosure could not detect vibration or noise due to cryo-refrigerator operation even in the presence of very low levels of background noise. The cryo-refrigerator has been in continuous operation for >4000 hours without degradation of thermal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]