System and method of coil design to reduce magnetic coupling

1. A method of manufacturing an electromagnet coil for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

generating a coil surface representation defining a surface to contain the electromagnet coil;

defining a set of performance metric functions, the set including aa first mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a first position of the electromagnet coil and a second electromagnet coil, and (ii) a second mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a second position of the electromagnet coil and the second electromagnet coil;

defining a performance functional based on the coil surface representation and the set of performance metric functions;

optimizing the performance functional;

generating a current density pattern over the coil surface representation based on the optimized performance functional; and

obtaining coil windings defining the electromagnet coil from the current density pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of performance metric functions further includes at least one of (i) a field shape function defining a degree of matching between a field shape of the electromagnet coil and a target field shape, and (ii) a field strength function.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the performance functional includes setting a constraint on the mutual inductance function.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the performance functional includes applying a weighting parameter to the mutual inductance function.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of performance metric functions further includes another mutual inductance function corresponding to a third electromagnet coil.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the performance functional includes minimizing the performance functional.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the coil windings includes:

generating a stream function representing the current density pattern; and

selecting contours based on the stream function.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein obtaining the coil windings further includes:

iteratively adjusting at least one of a spacing of the contours and an offset of the contours relative to the stream function, to minimize the mutual inductance between the electromagnet coil and the second electromagnet coil.

9. A computing device for design of an electromagnet coil for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the computing device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to:

generate a coil surface representation defining a surface to contain the electromagnet coil;

define a set of performance metric functions, the set including aa first mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a first position of the electromagnet coil and a second electromagnet coil, and (ii) a second mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a second position of the electromagnet coil and the second electromagnet coil;

define a performance functional based on the coil surface representation and the set of performance metric functions;

optimize the performance functional;

generate a current density pattern over the coil surface representation based on the optimized performance functional; and

obtain coil windings defining the electromagnet coil from the current density pattern.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the set of performance metric functions further includes at least one of (i) a field shape function defining a degree of matching between a field shape of the electromagnet coil and a target field shape, and (ii) a field strength function.

11. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured, to define the performance functional, to set a constraint on the mutual inductance function.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured, to define the performance functional, to apply a weighting parameter to the mutual inductance function.

13. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the set of performance metric functions further includes another mutual inductance function corresponding to a third electromagnet coil.

14. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured, to optimize the performance functional, to minimize the performance functional.

15. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured, to obtain the coil windings, to:

generate a stream function representing the current density pattern; and

select contours based on the stream function.

16. The computing device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured, to obtain the coil windings, to:

iteratively adjust at least one of a spacing of the contours and an offset of the contours relative to the stream function, to minimize the mutual inductance between the electromagnet coil and the second electromagnet coil.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of a computing device to:

generate a coil surface representation defining a surface to contain an electromagnet coil for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system;

define a set of performance metric functions, the set including aa first mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a first position of the electromagnet coil and a second electromagnet coil, and (ii) a second mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between a second position of the electromagnet coil and the second electromagnet coil;

define a performance functional based on the coil surface representation and the set of performance metric functions;

optimize the performance functional;

generate a current density pattern over the coil surface representation based on the optimized performance functional; and

obtain coil windings defining the electromagnet coil from the current density pattern 1, A method of manufacturing an electromagnet coil for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

generating a coil surface representation defining a surface to contain the electromagnet coil;

defining a set of performance metric functions, the set including a mutual inductance function defining mutual inductance between the electromagnet coil and a second electromagnet coil;

defining a performance functional based on the coil surface representation and the set of performance metric functions;

optimizing the performance functional;

generating a current density pattern over the coil surface representation based on the optimized performance functional; and

obtaining coil windings defining the electromagnet coil from the current density pattern.