Actively shielded multi-layer gradient coils optimized for cooling

J. Leggett, S. Crozier, R. Bowtell University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Very large magnetic field gradients are required in a variety of NMR experiments. Access to such gradients is often limited by the rapid increase in gradient coil resistance with efficiency, resulting from the reduction in conductor cross-section as the number of wires increases. Adopting a multi-layer approach to coil design gives a more favourable scaling. The three-dimensional nature of the resulting current distribution, however, could cause difficulties in cooling the coil’s underlying layers. Here we describe a new method for designing screened multi-layer coils optimised for cooling, which is based on a model of heat flow in the coil.