Philips BlueSeal Magnet
Transition your department towards more productive helium-free MR operations
Based on a decade of innovation, Philips BlueSeal is a fully sealed magnet designed to simplify your MR installation, reduce lengthy and costly disruptions in your MR services, and help your department transition to sustainable helium-free operations. This revolutionary magnet operates with only seven liters of liquid helium and is fully sealed – freeing up your mind and operations from potential helium complications.
With BlueSeal magnet, Philips aims to help MR facilities overcome potential helium-related issues of classic magnet design and eliminate radiology department's dependency on scarce helium supply. What's more, the system can achieve hours of continuous high-performance scanning and offers a leading field-of-view of 55 cm for a wide bore 1.5T system.
Key Features
- Forget About Helium: Micro-cooling technology, fully sealed system.
- Easy Siting: No vent-pipe, significantly lighter design.
- Uninterrupted MR: Adaptive intelligence and EasySwitch solutions minimize downtime.
- High Performance: Designed for excellent clinical performance with a 55cm FOV.
Forget About Helium
In contrast to classic magnet technology, which requires around 1,500 liters of liquid helium for cooling during operation, Philips BlueSeal uses highly efficient, new micro-cooling technology that requires only a negligible amount (<0.5% of today's volume) of liquid helium for cooling. This fraction of the usual amount of liquid helium is placed in the magnet during manufacturing and then fully sealed, enclosing the precious coolant for the rest of its life. Due to the magnet being sealed, no helium can escape, either suddenly during a loss of field or gradually. This reduces long interruptions to MR services that can result from helium issues. Moreover, it means that the magnet does not have to be refilled with liquid helium during its lifetime, avoiding any cryogenic work on the magnet at your facility.
The magnet coils sit in the vacuum instead of in the helium vessel and are cooled by cooling tubes that are thermally connected to the magnet coils. The helium circulates through gravity and is cooled by the cold head. Cold helium gas is denser and is heavier than warm helium gas. As such, the cold gas sinks downward and moves through the cooling tubes along the superconducting coil section. While taking up heat from this coil, the helium gas warms up slightly, expands and gets lighter. As a consequence, the helium gas goes up and comes in contact with the cold head, where it is cooled. The process then repeats itself.
Pressure Control: In case of spontaneous loss of field, the temperature of the superconducting coils increases and the pressure in the cooling system increases to a medium pressure that is fully contained. This pressure is four times lower than the pressure that was used when filled during manufacturing (at room temperature). The magnet is fully designed to accommodate this and meets the ASME and PED standards related to pressurized vessels.
Comparison: Classic magnet technology uses ~1,500 liters of liquid helium, while BlueSeal micro-cooling technology uses ~7 liters of liquid helium.
Designed to Facilitate Low Siting and Other Construction Costs
The BlueSeal magnet can dramatically reduce installation costs. On a classic magnet with large amounts of liquid helium, long vent pipes must be installed to meet safety requirements and direct helium to an outside vent in case of a magnet quench. With the BlueSeal magnet, no helium can escape due to the magnet being sealed. There is no need for a vent pipe, significantly reducing construction costs.
Philips BlueSeal is also lightweight with a minimum siting limitation of 3,700 kg. This is around 900 kg lighter than its predecessor, a decrease in weight that can potentially facilitate easier siting, reduce floor adaptations and further lower construction costs.
On-site Safety Procedures: IEC International standard 60601-2-33 describes the particular requirements for the safety of magnetic resonance equipment for medical diagnosis. Since the BlueSeal magnet has a fractional amount of helium contained in a closed cooling system, no helium can escape during a loss of field. As a result, several IEC requirements do not apply, which helps to simplify on-site safety procedures:
- NO provisions for supply of liquid cryogen (e.g., procedures after gas release or precautions against lack of oxygen).
- NO safety provisions in the event of a quench (e.g., emergency plan in the event of a quench).
Towards Uninterrupted MR Operations
Despite the extreme caution exercised by MR users, 54% of imaging facilities experienced 1 or 2 magnetic items becoming attached to the MRI magnet within the last 3 years. With classic MR systems, when a magnetic item becomes stuck in the magnet, you need to call the service engineer to ramp down the magnet or perform a voluntary quench. This disrupts a facility's MR services and causes massive revenue loss. For MR users, almost 30% report their MR machine still not to be operational after 3 days. The required refill of Helium also costs a lot of money.
The BlueSeal magnet takes the next step toward uninterrupted, more productive daily MR operations. Relying on unique digital controllers and 24/7 e-Alerts connectivity, the BlueSeal magnet qualifies as the first magnet driven by adaptive intelligence to support a set of unique service functionalities called EasySwitch.
The EasySwitch solutions are designed to minimize unexpected downtime and avoid major disruptions to your radiology practice. With EasySwitch, if a magnetic item becomes stuck in the bore, the magnet can easily be discharged and re-energized by hospital personnel from behind the MR console. This means these types of incidents can be resolved in just a few hours.
The magnet is also equipped with both a water-cooled compressor and an air-cooled compressor. The air-cooled compressor is used as a back-up when there is no cold water supply. The BlueSeal magnet's adaptive intelligence will switch to the air-cooled compressor and switch back again when the cooling water provision is restored.
The fully sealed BlueSeal magnet eliminates your radiology department's dependency on scarce helium supply and prevents unexpected helium costs.
Resolve Small Incidents in Just a Few Hours
- Incident: Magnetic item becomes stuck in the bore.
- Resolution: Easily discharge the magnet, from behind the MR console, by hospital personnel. (< 6 hours*)
- Resolution: Easily re-energize the magnet, from behind the MR console, by hospital personnel. (< 2 hours*)
- Follow-up: Continue patient planning and scanning.
- Follow-up: Philips Service engineer inspects the magnet homogeneity, at a time that is convenient for you.
Patient Emergency Ramp Down: In case of a patient emergency, the system will ramp down immediately after pushing the Emergency Ramp Down Unit button (ERDU).
| Type of ramp-down | Conditions to ramp-down | Timing | What happens in the cooling system? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Controlled ramp-down (object stuck in bore) | Hospital personnel from the operator console | Bring magnet off field and back to field in less than 6 hours, including automatic ramp-down, cool-down time, ramp-up time | All helium moves to gas state and remains contained in the fully sealed cooling system. Helium gas remains cold. |
| Emergency ramp-down (patient emergency) | Technologist upon the push of the ERDU button | Immediate ramp-down. < 3 days to be back in operation. | All helium moves to gas state and remains contained in the fully sealed cooling system. Helium gets warmer. The cryo-compressor will cool down the magnet to <4K. |
High-Performance by Design
BlueSeal magnet would not be such a game-changer if it only revolutionized MR operations. In parallel, Philips placed a great deal of emphasis on creating a magnet design that delivers excellent clinical performance. Thanks to highly efficient cooling properties from its micro-cooling system, the BlueSeal magnet does not compromise in performance specifications for homogeneity, homogeneity stability over time, FOV, BO-stability over time. Furthermore, the magnet offers a leading homogeneous field-of-view of 55cm for a 1.5T 70cm system and a wealth of new clinical capabilities that help you answer the most challenging demands.
Clinical Properties: The resulting magnet performance is amongst the best in the industry, with excellent homogeneity, high gradients linearity and a superb field-of-view.
Did You Know?
- Worldwide, MRI scanners alone are responsible for 20% of helium consumption. In the USA, the figure is as high as 31%.
- Across vendors, more than 65% of MRI users experienced a quench in the last 10 years.
- More than 60% of MRI users had a situation with items stuck to the magnet in the last 3 years.
- After reading about sealed technology, 2 out of 3 customers would prefer an MRI that would not require helium.
Technical Specifications
| BlueSeal magnet design | BlueSeal micro-cooling system | BlueSeal adaptive-intelligence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field strength | 1.5T | Type of cryogen: Liquid helium (~7 liters) | Type of magnet controller: Digital, adaptive-intelligent |
| Magnet design | Ultra compact, lightweight and sealed | Micro-cooling technology: Yes | Self ramp-up unit: Yes, digital |
| Magnet weight (with cryogen) | 2,300 kg (5,071 lbs) | Cryogen boil-off: Not applicable, fully sealed | Self ramp-down unit: Yes, adaptive-intelligent rate |
| Minimum siting limitation | 3,700 kg (8,157 lbs) | ||
| Open bore diameter | 70 cm (incl. shim, gradient & QBC) | ||
| Maximum FOV | 55 cm x 55 cm x 50 cm | ||
| Cryogen refill interval | Not applicable, fully sealed | ||
| Vent-pipe requirements | Not applicable, fully sealed | ||
| Innovations | EasySwitch, cooled compressor and 24/7 monitored e-Alert | EasySwitch |
For more information, please visit www.philips.com/blueseal or contact healthcare@philips.com.
© 2021 Koninklijke Philips N.V. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Trademarks are the property of Koninklijke Philips N.V. or their respective owners.
Document number: 4522 991 66041 * FEB 2021
