CN216696632U

CN216696632U - Coil device

Info

Publication number: CN216696632U
Application number: CN202123320583.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 艾东
Original assignee: Shenzhen United Imaging Research Institute of Innovative Medical Equipment
Current assignee: Shenzhen United Imaging Research Institute of Innovative Medical Equipment
Priority date: 2021-12-27
Filing date: 2021-12-27
Publication date: 2022-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2031-12-27

Abstract

The utility model relates to a coil device, which comprises a cranial coil and a facial coil. The face coil is made of a flexible material wrapped around a radio frequency antenna and is adjustably positioned on the cranium coil to form a dimensionally adjustable receiving space between the face coil and the cranium coil. In conclusion, the coil device can adapt to the head circumference requirements of different crowds to adjust the face coil according to the head circumference sizes of the different crowds, so that the face coil can be well attached to the faces of the different crowds, the attenuation of the signal to noise ratio is reduced, and a clear head image is obtained.

Description

Coil device

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of magnetic resonance imaging, in particular to a coil device.

Background

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a safe imaging optical examination method without ionizing radiation, which is currently used clinically, and is a type of imaging equipment for medical examination, which is mainly made by using the principle of magnetic resonance. Radio Frequency (RF) receive coils, which are an important component in magnetic resonance imaging systems, can be likened to the eye of an adult, and the resulting sharpness of the image is directly proportional to the coil signal-to-noise ratio/sensitivity. Generally, the farther the distance between the coil and the human body part to be scanned is, the lower the signal-to-noise ratio/sensitivity of the coil is, and accordingly the poorer the image definition is, so that the market demands for the design of the magnetic resonance coil that the inner wall of the coil should be attached to the human body as much as possible to ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio.

Currently, the existing magnetic resonance system generally uses a head coil with a hard shell mechanism for imaging the head, and the inner diameter of the coil is often set according to the median value or the average value of the head circumference of the target population, which requires different coil structures to be designed for different people, age or sex, resulting in the need of equipping head coils with different sizes to meet the requirements of different patients in hospital field. However, for patients with different head circumference from the population mean, the rf antenna in the head coil often cannot perfectly fit the head, which causes such patients to select expensive special head coils for scanning or to be forced to accept low snr images.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device that can adapt to different head sizes, and is helpful for satisfying the requirements of magnetic resonance imaging of heads of different people.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the coil device can be adjusted to fit the heads of different people, helping to obtain clear head images respectively.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil apparatus, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the coil apparatus can adjust the size of the space between the face coil and the skull coil, so that the face coil can be tightly attached to the face of the human body, which helps to ensure that the face coil cannot be used because the size of the head of the human body is small and the signal-to-noise ratio cannot be reduced because the size of the head of the human body is large.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the face coil of the coil device is made of flexible material wrapping a radio frequency antenna so as to be adjustable in size to meet user needs of different head sizes.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the material of the facial coil of the coil device has a certain toughness so as to maintain the mask shape.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the material of the cranial coil of the coil device has a certain rigidity, so as to be fixed on a patient bed and support the pressure applied by the head of the patient, thereby ensuring the stability of the structure.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a coil device in which it is not necessary to use expensive materials or complicated structures in order to achieve the above advantages or objects. The utility model thus succeeds and effectively provides a solution, not only to provide a simple coil arrangement, but also to increase the practicality and reliability of the coil arrangement.

To achieve at least one of the above advantages or other advantages and objects of the present invention, there is provided a coil device including:

a cranial coil; and

a facial coil, wherein the facial coil is adjustably disposed to the cranial coil to form a dimensionally adjustable accommodation space between the facial coil and the cranial coil.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the coil device further comprises at least one adjusting mechanism, wherein the adjusting mechanism is disposed between the cranium coil and the facial coil, and the adjusting mechanism is used for tightening or loosening the facial coil to adjust the size of the accommodating space.

According to an embodiment of the utility model, the adjustment mechanism comprises a base arranged to the cranium coil and a rotation member rotatably arranged to the base, wherein the face coil comprises a mask body portion and a side wing portion extending outwardly from an edge of the mask body portion, wherein the side wing portion is correspondingly arranged between the rotation member and the base of the adjustment mechanism to tighten or loosen the face coil by cooperation between the rotation member and the base.

According to an embodiment of the utility model, the rotating part of the adjusting mechanism is arranged to press against the flank part.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the base of the adjusting mechanism includes a base and two supporting pieces, wherein the two supporting pieces are spaced apart from each other on the base, and the rotating piece is rotatably disposed between the two supporting pieces to form a through slot between the rotating piece and the base.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the rotating member of the adjusting mechanism includes a hobbing portion located between the two support members and a knob portion axially extending from the hobbing portion, wherein the hobbing portion of the rotating member is pressed against the wing portion, and the knob portion is located outside the two support members of the base.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the side wing portion of the face coil is provided with teeth matching with the hobbing portion of the rotating member, so that the hobbing portion of the rotating member is engaged and pressed against the side wing portion of the face coil.

According to an embodiment of the utility model, the base of the adjustment mechanism is detachably mounted to the cranial coil.

According to an embodiment of the utility model, the facial coil further includes a connector that is electrically connectable with the mask body portion, and the connector is removably electrically connected to the cranial coil.

According to an embodiment of the utility model, the cranial coil is made of a hard material and the facial coil is made of a flexible material.

In summary, compared with the current market which costs a lot of labor and time and designs head coils with different apertures or sizes, the utility model provides a faster and more efficient solution, namely, the utility model provides a coil device which can adjust the face coils for patients with different head circumference, so that the face coils can better fit the faces of different patients, thereby reducing the attenuation of the signal-to-noise ratio and obtaining clear head images. In addition, the face coil in the coil device is detachable, so that the maintenance and the cleaning are convenient; and the radio frequency antenna is wrapped by flexible materials, so that the process is simple and the cost is reduced. At the same time, the coil assembly also reduces the stress and claustrophobia that can be experienced by a patient when positioned in a rigid, closed, conventional head coil.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a coil device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 shows an exploded view of the coil arrangement according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 shows a schematic view of a relaxed state of the coil arrangement according to the above-described embodiment of the utility model;

fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a tightened state of the coil arrangement according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the main element symbols: 1. a coil device; 10. a cranial coil; 100. an accommodating space; 20. a face coil; 21. a mask body portion; 211. an eye window; 212. a nose bridge window; 22. a flank portion; 220. teeth; 23. a connector; 30. an adjustment mechanism; 300. a through groove; 31. a base; 311. a substrate; 312. a support member; 32. a rotating member; 321. a hobbing part; 322. a knob portion.

The present invention is described in further detail with reference to the drawings and the detailed description.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "disposed" or "mounted" to another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When a component is referred to as being "disposed on" another component, it can be directly on the other component or intervening components may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly secured to the other element or intervening elements may also be present.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the utility model herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the utility model. As used herein, the term "or/and" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Aiming at different people (such as different age groups, different sexes or different races) needing different sizes of head coils, the utility model designs the coil device which can adapt to the head circumference requirements of different people to adjust the face coils according to the head circumference sizes of different people, so that the face coils can be well attached to the faces of different people, the attenuation of the signal-to-noise ratio is reduced, and a clear head image is obtained.

Specifically, referring to fig. 1 to 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a coil device 1 including a cranium coil 10 for fitting to a cranium of a human body and a face coil 20 for fitting to a face of a human body. The face coil 20 is made of a flexible material wrapped with a radio frequency antenna, and the face coil 20 is adjustably disposed on the cranium coil 10 to form an adjustable-sized receiving space 100 between the face coil 20 and the cranium coil 10 for fittingly receiving human heads of different sizes to reduce signal-to-noise attenuation.

It is noted that when performing magnetic resonance imaging on the head of a patient with a smaller dimension of the head circumference, the coil apparatus 1 of the present invention can make the face coil 20 close to the face of the patient to reduce the attenuation of the signal-to-noise ratio only by correspondingly adjusting the face coil 20 to reduce the dimension of the accommodating space 100; when the head of the patient with a larger size of the head circumference is subjected to magnetic resonance imaging, the coil device 1 of the present invention needs to adjust the face coil 20 correspondingly to increase the size of the accommodating space 100, and still can ensure that the face coil 20 fits the face of the patient to obtain a clear image.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the coil device 1 may further include at least one adjusting mechanism 30, wherein the adjusting mechanism 30 is disposed between the cranial coil 10 and the facial coil 20, and the adjusting mechanism 30 is used for tightening or loosening the facial coil 20 to adjust the size of the accommodating space 100 to fit different head circumferences without re-customizing the adapted head coil for persons with different head circumferences.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 1 to 4, the adjusting mechanism 30 of the coil device 1 includes a base 31 disposed on the cranium coil 10 and a rotating member 32 rotatably disposed on the base 31, wherein a portion of the face coil 20 is disposed between the rotating member 32 and the base 31, so that the face coil 20 and the cranium coil 10 can form the accommodating space 100, facilitating to correspondingly adjust the size of the accommodating space 100 by the rotation of the rotating member 32.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the face coil 20 may include a mask body 21 and two side wings 22 extending outward from left and right edges of the mask body 21, respectively, wherein the two side wings 22 are respectively and correspondingly disposed between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31 of the two adjustment mechanisms 30 to tighten or loosen the face coil 20 by the fit between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31, so that the size of the receiving space 100 formed between the face coil 20 and the skull coil 10 is reduced or increased.

Preferably, the wing portions 22 of the face coil 20 integrally extend outward from the left and right ear sides of the mask body portion 21, so that the face coil 20 has an integral structure.

It is to be understood that, in the above example of the present invention, the number of the adjustment mechanisms 30 in the coil device 1 is two; of course, in other examples of the present invention, the coil device 1 may include only one adjusting mechanism 30, and in this case, one of the side wings 22 of the face coil 20 may be disposed between the rotating part 32 and the base 31 of the adjusting mechanism 30, and the other side wing 22 is directly fixed to the skull coil 10; alternatively, the face coil 20 may also include a side wing portion 22 at one side edge of the mask body portion 21, wherein the side wing portion 22 is disposed between the rotation element 32 and the base 31, and the other side edge of the mask body portion 21 may be directly secured to the cranial coil 10.

It is noted that, as shown in fig. 1 to 4, the rotation piece 32 of the adjustment mechanism 30 is provided so as to be able to press against the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 placed between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31, so that the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 can be restrained between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31. It is understood that the minimum distance between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31 in the adjustment mechanism 30 is smaller than the thickness of the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20, so that the rotation piece 32 of the adjustment mechanism 30 can be pressed against the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 placed between the rotation piece 32 and the base 31.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the base 31 of the adjusting mechanism 30 may include a base 311 and two supporting pieces 312, wherein the two supporting pieces 312 are spaced apart from each other on the base 311, and the rotating member 32 is rotatably disposed between the two supporting pieces 312 to form a through slot 300 between the rotating member 32 and the base 311 of the base 31. In other words, the depth of the through slot 300 is smaller than the thickness of the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 to ensure that the rotating member 32 can be pressed against the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 passing through the through slot 300. It is understood that the depth of the through groove 300 is substantially the distance between the rotation piece 32 of the adjustment mechanism 30 and the base 311 of the base 31, and the wing portions 22 of the face coil 20 can be deformed to be thin to pass through the through groove 300.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the rotating member 32 of the adjusting mechanism 30 includes a hobbing portion 321 located between the two supporting members 312 and a knob portion 322 axially extending from the hobbing portion 321, wherein the hobbing portion 321 of the rotating member 32 is pressed against the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 placed between the rotating member 32 and the base 31, so that when the hobbing portion 321 is rotated by the knob portion 322, the wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 is driven by the hobbing portion 321 to tighten or loosen the face coil 20, so that the size of the accommodating space 100 is adjusted. In other words, when the user twists the knob portion 322 forward to rotate the rolling portion 321, the wing portion 22 of the facial coil 20 is driven by the rolling portion 321 to tighten the facial coil 20, so that the size of the accommodating space 100 is reduced to meet the demand of people with smaller head circumference; when the user reversely twists the knob portion 322 to rotate the rolling portion 321, the wing portion 22 of the facial coil 20 is driven by the rolling portion 321 to loosen the facial coil 20, so that the size of the accommodating space 100 is increased to meet the requirement of people with large head circumference. It is understood that the forward rotation and the reverse rotation mentioned in the present invention are opposite, such as when the forward rotation is counterclockwise, the reverse rotation is clockwise, and vice versa, as long as tightening or loosening of the face coil 20 can be achieved.

More preferably, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the side wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 is provided with teeth 220 matching with the toothed portion 321 of the rotating member 32, so that the toothed portion 321 of the rotating member 32 is meshingly pressed against the side wing portion 22 of the face coil 20, and the side wing portion 22 of the face coil 20 can be synchronously driven by the toothed portion 321 of the rotating member 32, so as to precisely adjust the size of the accommodating space 100. It can be understood that, since the wing portions 22 of the face coil 20 and the rolling tooth portions 321 of the rotating member 32 are engaged with each other, mutual sliding between the wing portions 22 of the face coil 20 and the rolling tooth portions 321 of the rotating member 32 does not occur, thereby effectively preventing the size adjustment of the receiving space 100 from being affected by the sliding.

Most preferably, the knob portion 322 of the rotation member 32 is located at a position outside the two supporting members 312 of the base 31 so that the user holds the knob portion 322 to rotate the roller portion 321.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, the mask body 21 of the face coil 20 has an ergonomic structure so as to better fit the human face, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and help to obtain a clear facial image.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the mask main body 21 is provided with an eye window 211 and a nose bridge window 212 corresponding to the eyes of the human body, for avoiding the eyes and the nose bridge, so that the mask main body 21 is more closely attached to the face of the human body, and the rf antenna in the mask main body 21 is ensured to be closer to the face of the human body. In addition, when the coil device 1 is used, the eye windows 211 and the nose bridge windows 212 of the mask main body portion 21 correspond to the eyes and the nose bridge, respectively, so that the mask main body portion 21 can be prevented from applying physical pressure to the eyes, which helps to protect the eyes, and the mask main body portion 21 can be prevented from covering the nostrils, which is convenient for the user to breathe normally. Meanwhile, the user can observe the surrounding environment through the eye window 211, so that the generation of depression or claustrophobia is avoided, and the psychological stress of the user is relieved.

It is noted that the flexible material for preparing the face coil 20 can be, but is not limited to, implemented as a material such as foam EVA, artificial leather, or PU leather, which helps to simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the manufacturing cost. In other words, the face coil 20 has certain flexibility so as to perform shape-following fine adjustment according to the shape and size difference of the face of the human body during use, so as to better fit the eye and nose parts of the human body; but also has a degree of flexibility or tension such that the face coil 20 maintains its ergonomic configuration, such as an arcuate shape, for the user's head to be placed in the receiving space 100 between the face coil 20 and the cranium coil 10.

Furthermore, the radio frequency antenna of the face coil 20 is prepared mainly for contributing to the radio frequency signal of the face imaging. In other words, the rf antennas are each provided with some distributed capacitance for generating resonance at a specific frequency to contribute to the rf signal for facial imaging. It is understood that the radio frequency antenna may be, but is not limited to being, implemented as a closed coil made of a conductive material such as a copper substrate, a liquid metal, a coaxial wire, or a conductive silver paste, respectively.

According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the base 31 of the adjusting mechanism 30 may be, but is not limited to, detachably mounted to the cranial coil 10. For example, the base 31 is inserted into a positioning hole of the cranium coil 10 by a positioning pin, so that the face coil 20 can be detached from the cranium coil 10 for maintenance or cleaning. Of course, in other examples of the present invention, the base 31 may be fixed to the cranium coil 10, and the face coil 20 may still be detached from the cranium coil 10 because the side wings 22 of the face coil 20 can be drawn out from between the rotating member 32 of the adjusting mechanism 30 and the base 31.

Notably, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the face coil 20 further includes a connector 23 that is electrically connectable to the rf antenna of the mask body portion 21, and the connector 23 electrically connects the face coil 20 to the cranial coil 10, so as to simultaneously power the rf antennas in the face coil 20 and the cranial coil 10 through a unified power supply port for respective magnetic resonance imaging.

Preferably, the connector 23 of the face coil 20 is removably electrically connected to the cranium coil 10 to facilitate removal of the face coil 20 from the cranium coil 10 for maintenance or repair. It is understood that the connector 23 of the face coil 20 may be, but is not limited to being, electrically connected to the cranial coil 10 by plugging.

More preferably, the connector 23 of the facial coil 20 extends outwardly from the top of the head of the mask body portion 21, so that the connector 23 of the facial coil 20 makes electrical connection at the top of the head of the cranial coil 10, avoiding a user from touching the connector 23, helping to ensure a stable electrical connection.

It is worth mentioning that according to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the cranial coil 10 of the coil device 1 may be made of a hard material wrapping a radio frequency antenna so as to fix the cranial coil 10 on an object such as a hospital bed and support the pressure applied by the head and neck of a patient, while ensuring the stability of the whole structure. It is understood that the hard material for preparing the cranial coil 10 may be, but is not limited to, hard plastic, polymer material or metal material, and the like, which will not be described in detail herein.

The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the utility model. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A coil device, comprising:

a cranial coil (10); and

a face coil (20), wherein the face coil (20) is adjustably disposed to the cranium coil (10) to form a dimensionally adjustable accommodation space (100) between the face coil (20) and the cranium coil (10).

2. The coil arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the coil arrangement further comprises at least one adjustment mechanism (30), wherein the adjustment mechanism (30) is arranged between the cranial coil (10) and the facial coil (20) respectively, and the adjustment mechanism (30) is used to tighten or loosen the facial coil (20) to adjust the size of the receiving space (100).

3. The coil arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the adjustment mechanism (30) comprises a base (31) arranged to the cranium coil (10) and a rotation element (32) rotatably arranged to the base (31), wherein the face coil (20) comprises a mask body portion (21) and a side wing portion (22) extending outwardly from an edge of the mask body portion (21), wherein the side wing portion (22) is correspondingly arranged between the rotation element (32) and the base (31) of the adjustment mechanism (30) to tighten or loosen the face coil (20) by cooperation between the rotation element (32) and the base (31).

4. A coil arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the rotary part (32) of the adjusting mechanism (30) is arranged to press against the flank part (22).

5. The coil device according to claim 4, characterized in that the base (31) of the adjustment mechanism (30) comprises a base (311) and two support members (312), wherein the two support members (312) are arranged at intervals on the base (311) and the rotation member (32) is arranged rotatably between the two support members (312) to form a through slot (300) between the rotation member (32) and the base (311).

6. The coil device according to claim 5, characterized in that the rotary piece (32) of the adjustment mechanism (30) comprises a hobbing portion (321) between the two support pieces (312) and a knob portion (322) extending axially from the hobbing portion (321), wherein the hobbing portion (321) of the rotary piece (32) bears against the flank portion (22) and the knob portion (322) is located outside the two support pieces (312) of the base (31).

7. The coil device according to claim 6, characterized in that the flank portion (22) of the face coil (20) is provided with teeth (220) matching the tooth rolling portion (321) of the rotating member (32) so that the tooth rolling portion (321) of the rotating member (32) is meshingly pressed against the flank portion (22) of the face coil (20).

8. A coil arrangement according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the base (31) of the adjustment mechanism (30) is detachably mounted to the cranial coil (10).

9. The coil arrangement according to any of the claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the face coil (20) further comprises a connector (23) galvanically connectable with the mask body portion (21), and in that the connector (23) is detachably electrically connected to the cranial coil (10).

10. A coil arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the cranial coil (10) is made of a hard material and the facial coil (20) is made of a flexible material.