How hospital MRIs, and the planet, could be saved by this PhD student's innovation

A third-year PhD student has created the basis for an always-on MRI magnet that wouldn’t require a power source once charged, nor require constant, and expensive supplies of non-renewable helium. The outcome? Saving hospitals and health care providers tens of thousands in running costs, a cutdown on a finite and expensive resource, and the ability to run critical health infrastructure even without power.

How can this happen? In partnership with supervisors Associate Professor MD Shahriar Hossain and Professor Yusuke Yamauchi, PhD student Hao Liang has successfully utilised magnesium diboride as a superconductor, replacing the current (and aged) niobium-titanium that is currently being used by MRI systems globally.

?? What’s the importance of this?

MRI machines use roughly 56,000 times more helium than we would if we were to blow up a standard-sized balloon. They also require constant power, which is a barrier to low socio-economic areas having access to life-saving healthcare.

With helium supplies diminishing due to heavy usage, and the cost of power rising, solutions are time critical. Enter Hao.

“So the core of an MRI is a superconducting magnet that is made of niobium-titanium. We would like to replace that with our own material; magnesium diboride,” Hao said.

“With our material we can operate without helium, which saves thousands on maintenance costs and helps regional areas or villages in under-developed countries that can’t currently afford MRI systems.

“Further, we’ve shown that once you charge our superconducting magnet, with some adjustments we can cut off the power source and it can be powered forever in what’s known as persistent mode.”

An ARC Linkage project grant, coupled with support from United States industry partner Hyper Tech, have allowed the trio to further focus on the fabrication of superconductor joints (on top of their already-researched magnets).

As Associate Professor Hossain explains, this greatly reduces pressure on manufacturing, which scraps or wastes bulk material with current methods.

“Without a quality joint, this persistent mode cannot be operated. This joint is critical to get the current needed for high performance,” Hossain said.

"Currently, repairing a joint means healthcare providers need to quench the MRI – which means they remove all helium – forcing them to find, and pay for, bulk helium re-start it, at a massive cost.

“With our technology, once the joint is reacted, you can locally repair it – if one joint fails, you repair only that joint – that’s the technology we’re working on.”

Think of the joints as a circle of links keeping the MRI system functioning. If we can create both better magnets using superconductors, and better links between those magnets, we can improve the system from the ground up and improve access to healthcare across the globe.

World-renowned nano-architect Professor Yusuke Yamauchi is known for his ability to zero in on a problem, and find a solution using materials science.

“The system to make the superconductor joint is, of course, unique; not only in it’s development, but also the material processing and material engineering, which is key,” Yusuke said.

“With the introduction of the porosity, or space, of the material we can improve the performance – the less porous the better.”

?? Read Hao’s impressive paper here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6668/ad02c7