Comparing the Power Losses of Power Supplies for Fast-Field Cycling Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Equipment

The main feature of the Fast-Field Cycling (FFC) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) power supplies is to drive a controlled current fulfilling the requirements of this technique. This feature allows fast switching the current of the FFC magnet and performing accurate and repetitive current cycles. When designing this equipment the power losses is not a fundamental parameter of the optimization process but are estimated in order to validate the topology of the final solution giving that the efficiency of the power solution influences the power consumption, and therefore the operational costs, which should be minimized. Under this context, from the power efficiency viewpoint, the power losses of two possible solutions are compared and discussed in this paper. Typical FFC current cycles are used as reference in order to balance the pros and cons of both solutions.