IBEM applied to the design of gradient coils for superconducting MRI

This paper proposes an efficient design method for designing MRI gradient coils on a cylindrical surface geometry, using an inverse boundary element method (IBEM). Based on the approximate current density over the whole coils space, the magnetic field distribution can be obtained in the discrete form. An objective function is found to evaluate the minimum error between actual magnetic field that coils generate and desired magnetic field. Finally, the current distribution is transformed to the winding pattern of gradients via the relationship between current and stream function. This method can be used for coils on arbitrary surface shapes. The design examples of x-gradient coil, z-gradient are shown to demonstrate such method is more efficient and versatile to apply to the design of coils. Such method can also be used to design shim coils.