title: 3D-gradient coil structures for MRI designed using fuzzy membership functions.
abstract: The design of high-performance gradient coils is essential for modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications. This work presents a new and alternative design methodology that explores three-dimensional (3D) solution space by combining fuzzy membership functions to model and re-shape the coil structure, given the magnetic field, electrical and mechanical constraints. The method was applied to design a short, unshielded asymmetric gradient coil for breast imaging. The resulting dome-shape coil has superior gradient performance compared to a standard fingerprint coil. New quadrupolar gradient coil designs for breast imaging are also obtained with the proposed method.
authors.affiliation: School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia. hsanchez@itee.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trakic
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crozier
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004867:Equipment Design; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012984:Software