MRI−PAC
Facilities
The Center is housed in a secure 1800 sq. ft. laboratory in the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering. Its two primary instruments are a 2.0T Varian Inova Imager and a low−field (2Mhz proton) Maran Resonance Spectrometer. Another Maran system specialized for high pressure has recently been obtained. This combination of low field systems and high field MRI make this facility unique to all engineering colleges in the U.S.
The high field imaging machine uses a horizontal Oxford Superconducting Magnet with a 43cm clear bore. The ADC front−end has a fast 0.5 MHz bandwidth that is 5x faster than the standard medical imager. Moreover, the machine has been upgraded with state−of−the−art quadrature birdcage rf coils and chemical−shift, diffusion, backplane reconstruction and other specialty pulse sequences. These modifications make the instrument ideal for advanced imaging of materials, flows and the visualization of structures at 100 micron resolution. Although an imaging system, this scanner can be also used as a very large volume spectrometer. This allows the use of large specialized NMR probes enabling experiments at the extremes of pressure and temperature − experiments not possible in common NMR spectrometers.
Associated with the imager are Temco fiberglass Hassler sleeve corebarrels for running corefloods and a variety of supporting equipment, including Quizzix and Isco constant pressure/constant flow pumps and various metallic pressure vessels and Hassler sleeve cells for coreplugs and whole core. There is a Ruska coreplug porosimeter and a Phoenix Precision Helium porosimeter. Large volume NMR probes are available for 13C, F, D as well as various geometry 1H probes. Current temperature control uses an FTS Airjet.
The low field 2 MHz Resonance Instruments Maran 2 spectrometer has gradient capability along the z-axis. This is the standard apparatus used to support NMR log interpretation with NMR relaxation measurements on one−inch diameter samples. These low field instruments are beginning to be used to study bone and other biological samples as well as colloidal suspensions and emulsions. There is in addition a non−proton heat exchanger system for measurements at elevated (reservoir) temperatures and a plastic NMR cell for live fluids at up to 4000 psig pressure. The center recently acquired a second low field system as a gift from Halliburton. This system is capable of much higher pressure measurements on larger samples.
The Center has excellent supporting equipment; test and measurement electronics, computers and a Luxtron fluoroptic thermometer, which works without interference in strong rf and magnetic fields. The Center uses a Bartington MS−2 magnetic susceptibility instrument and an APS fluxgate magnetometer to characterize its samples.
The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering provides excellent supporting facilities. Included in this is a full PVT lab with a rolling ball viscometer for viscosity measurements at reservoir conditions.
Other Facilities
The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering provides standard supporting facilities. Included in this is a full Ruska PVT lab with a rolling ball viscometer for viscosity measurements at reservoir conditions.
The Center has Temco fiberglass Hassler sleeve corebarrels for running corefloods in the Varian imager. We have a variety of supporting equipment, including Quizzix and Isco constant pressure/constant flow pumps and various metallic pressure vessels and Hassler sleeve cells for coreplugs and whole core. We have a Ruska coreplug porosimeter and a Phoenix Precision whole−core porosimeter.