Forge Of Hephaestus

3 Axis Positioner

This is, currently, the crown jewel of my work at Sunnybrook.

 

Here you can see a 3 axis positioning system with an integrated tank for water and an ultrasound transducer mounted on a quick disconnect coupling. This system is for pre-clinical work only—not for use with humans. It is fully MR compatible, non-magnetic, and very stable.

 

The design weighs in at about 60lbs (25Kg)  when full of water. The system needs the weight while in an MRI due to the heavy vibration caused during imaging. The tank uses two rubber bellows (not seen) to couple the transducer support rod to the tank side wall. This prevents leakage of water. Not seen are the experiment plates, RF imaging coils and walls.

 

To either end you can see hand wheels that allows the Z axis to be manipulated manually.

 

It was a complicated design that was pushed ahead on a crash development program, taking over three weeks to design, and an additional 6 weeks to build and test. The system has been tested with GE 1.5T MRIs, Siemens 3T and soon to be Phillips 3T MRIs.

 

This design will soon be followed by smaller systems for use in 7T pre-clinical MRIs.