Quench analysis of 1.5 T superconducting MRI magnet

A national project on indigenous development of whole body 1.5 T superconducting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system has been initiated by Meity Govt. of India. This MRI magnet will have multi-coil solenoidal structure to be operated at a current density of 140 A/mm². The total stored magnetic energy will be 4.5 MJ. This high stored energy of the magnet makes it crucial to design an efficient quench protection system for the magnet to prevent any damage due to either localized temperature rise or any voltage arcing during the quench. This paper presents the details of the quench characteristics of the MRI magnet simulated using OPERA. The transient thermal mapping of the magnet is also discussed in detail in the paper. A comparison has been made of the quench behavior of the magnet using different types of quench protection systems.