Jens Hfflin1,
Elmar Fischer2, Jrgen Hennig2, Jan G. Korvink, 13
1Lab
of Simulation - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of
Freiburg - IMTEK, Freiburg, Germany; 2Department of Radiology,
University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 3Freiburg
Institute for Advanced Studies - FRIAS, University of Freiburg, Freiburg,
Germany
We present a first prototype of an energy harvesting coil made from insulated copper wire wound on a PMMA holder, designed to fit inside the RF transmission coil of a Bruker AVANCE III MRI spectrometer. The harvesting coil scavenges power from gradient switches and RF pulses and converts these AC signals into a DC voltage suitable for driving a receiving coils preamplifier. To limit power consumption, we used a monolithic IC preamplifier manufactured at the Fraunhofer IAF III-V foundry. We were able to show that the preamplifier could be driven solely by our harvester with no external power supply necessary.