# Hospital MRI Machine Electrical



## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

Has anyone ever had to wire an MRI machine and all electrical in that room? My specs are saying that I need to use non ferrus metals like aluminum and copper for wireing and conduit because of magnetic fields from the MRI unit. No fluorescent lighting and such. Any input from anyone who's ever worked or installed such a unit?


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Roger has done a lot, you may want to PM him.


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## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

Ive got some pics from one that I did a few years ago.

Do you want me to PM them to you.


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## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

Awg-Dawg said:


> Ive got some pics from one that I did a few years ago.
> 
> Do you want me to PM them to you.


Sure


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

It's pretty simple........follow your specs. The MRI is a giant magnet and you want non-ferrous metals for obvious reasons. I did the one at my areas biggest hospital and we were required to use aluminum rigid conduit and PVC conduit.......no rmc or emt allowed in the room. All copper conductors, all control and instrumentation wiring had to be shielded. 

It's an interesting thing to wire but like I said follow your specs to the letter.:thumbsup:


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

The specs ARE crazy. 
I have done 5-6 of them and used steel EMT and steel boxes in the walls for every one. They are using steel studs arent they?
The main issue with the ferrous metals is that they must be securly mounted so that they can not vibrate at all. 
All of the lighting whips I have done in NMFC. 

The last room I installed had $30k worth of LED MRI can style fixtures. These are specifically made for MRI rooms. Simply run 120v to each of them then plug them together with CAT5 cables to however many dimmers you want. The dimmers are safe to be in the magnet room also. 

Is this job not being engineered?

What manufacturer is providing equipment?


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## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

General will find engineer but currently I'm working with equipment specs only. Siemens imager. No metal in MRI room, so rigid al for pipe and Aluminum ceiling grids and such. Hope i don't use $30 g's worth of led cans cause I only budgeted like $13,000. I did however see in the specs something about using dc lighting in MRI room. Do you recall specs on the lights you used?


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## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

skiatomic said:


> I did however see in the specs something about using dc lighting in MRI room. Do you recall specs on the lights you used?


Here is one type DC lighting.


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## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

Have any costs on this equipment?


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## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

skiatomic said:


> Have any costs on this equipment?


 
Sorry, no idea.


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

This is what was spec on my last one and we installed about 18 of those cans, 120v AC. 
http://www.everbritelighting.com/pages/products/medlux/xls.php

We also installed a sky factory, sky panel which is a scenic LED panel which looks like a window. 

Make sure you get with the shielding company so they provide the correct number of filters (isolation transformers). Every conductor that passes through the shielding into the room has to pass through one of these filters. They have 5 amp models and 30 amp are the only sizes I have seen. 

All of the conductors for the magnet itself pass through a filter panel so you dont have to worry about those.


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## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

Great, thanks for the info! Anything else you can sent my way would be appreciated.


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## skiatomic (Jul 30, 2012)

Okay, just got a quote on these MRI safe led cans... $800.00 a pop! So are there any other suggestions as to what I might use for lighting? Thanks all in advance.


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

skiatomic said:


> Okay, just got a quote on these MRI safe led cans... $800.00 a pop! So are there any other suggestions as to what I might use for lighting? Thanks all in advance.



You can't. It would be best to follow the lighting schedule on the plans, or contact the Architect with a RFI about an alternate fixture.


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

A candle?


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## skokoskoko (Jun 25, 2013)

*Mri*



Bbsound said:


> The specs ARE crazy.
> I have done 5-6 of them and used steel EMT and steel boxes in the walls for every one. They are using steel studs arent they?
> The main issue with the ferrous metals is that they must be securly mounted so that they can not vibrate at all.
> All of the lighting whips I have done in NMFC.
> ...


Few questions here, any network cabling inside of the MRI suite? Any fire alarm systems? Any thermostat wiring? Reason I ask is that all of these signals should be run through an appropriate RF filter OUTSIDE of the shielded MRI room. Reason being is that these signals produce their own magnetic signals, these signals can & do distort MRI images (big magnet that produces images). The 120V going to each fixture in the room, were those circuits run through RF filtering? The dimming signal should be filtered as well. Were the dimmers located outside of the MRI exam room?

Do you remember which manufacturer provided the MRI can lights? 

If you have any pictures I'd be glad to see them.


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

skokoskoko said:


> Few questions here, any network cabling inside of the MRI suite? Any fire alarm systems? Any thermostat wiring? Reason I ask is that all of these signals should be run through an appropriate RF filter OUTSIDE of the shielded MRI room. Reason being is that these signals produce their own magnetic signals, these signals can & do distort MRI images (big magnet that produces images). The 120V going to each fixture in the room, were those circuits run through RF filtering? The dimming signal should be filtered as well. Were the dimmers located outside of the MRI exam room?
> 
> Do you remember which manufacturer provided the MRI can lights?
> 
> If you have any pictures I'd be glad to see them.


Almost all of these questions were addressed in my previous posts including a link to the actual lighting fixtures I installed. 

There was no network cables in the magnet room, no thermostat.

The dimmer control surfaces are inside the magnet room, all lighting control was inside the room. But remember, this entire lighting system is specifically designed and made to be installed in MRI rooms. 

Read over the entire thread and if you have any additional questions I would be happy to answer.


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## spook (Oct 20, 2011)

I've wired one before I thought it was the coolest job I've ever been on. All the lighting was led with pots over the table and led strips up in the bulk heads. All of it was controlled by a leviton controller. tAll data and power had to go thru rf filters on the back which we were told were $5000 a pop on average. The fire alarm was a sniffer unit using the orange blaze piping to the unit outside with a pre action system to allow you to evacuate before the halon snuffed the fire out. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as the hospital was very strict on that part.


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## denny3992 (Jul 12, 2010)

Never mri but did a ct/pt scan room, it had lead lined drywall and all boxes in walls needed lead patches over boxes to keep lead intact


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## Hackster (Jun 15, 2013)

denny3992 said:


> Never mri but did a ct/pt scan room, it had lead lined drywall and all boxes in walls needed lead patches over boxes to keep lead intact


Even screw holes need lead over them. I remember when I used to make these flaps out of the sheets of lead to fold over the head of toggle bolts.


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

denny3992 said:


> Never mri but did a ct/pt scan room, it had lead lined drywall and all boxes in walls needed lead patches over boxes to keep lead intact


Completely different type of room. 
The lead keeps X-rays in the room, and are line of sight.
The MRI copper shielding keeps RF signal out, and has to be (not literally) airtight.
The MRI steel sheeting shielding controls the amount of magnetism affecting surrounding areas.


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## skokoskoko (Jun 25, 2013)

Bbsound said:


> Almost all of these questions were addressed in my previous posts including a link to the actual lighting fixtures I installed.
> 
> There was no network cables in the magnet room, no thermostat.
> 
> ...


Thanks for clearing that up, should have read it all at first. Was kind of curious that spec called for steel conduit in the magnet room. Guess if it's well secured to building structure that shouldn't be a problem. Only potential issue I see in that is a varying magnetic field can induce a current in the steel conduit, this current in turn induces a magnetic field (Yay electromagnetism) which could possibly interfere with the images. 

Saw the links before and thanks for that. Also would do you remember manufacturer for those 5–30A rf filters? Were they ac and dc rated?


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## skokoskoko (Jun 25, 2013)

skiatomic said:


> General will find engineer but currently I'm working with equipment specs only. Siemens imager. No metal in MRI room, so rigid al for pipe and Aluminum ceiling grids and such. Hope i don't use $30 g's worth of led cans cause I only budgeted like $13,000. I did however see in the specs something about using dc lighting in MRI room. Do you recall specs on the lights you used?


I'm using these on a project. Not sure about price though. 
SmartLED™ MRI Lighting Systems by kirlin lightning 

http://www.kenall.com/Products/Product-Categories/Healthcare/MRIImaging-Suites.htm

As far as I know kirlin is the go to manufacturer for mri exam room lightning. They provide all of the equipment necessary.


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## Bbsound (Dec 16, 2011)

skokoskoko said:


> Thanks for clearing that up, should have read it all at first. Was kind of curious that spec called for steel conduit in the magnet room. Guess if it's well secured to building structure that shouldn't be a problem. Only potential issue I see in that is a varying magnetic field can induce a current in the steel conduit, this current in turn induces a magnetic field (Yay electromagnetism) which could possibly interfere with the images.
> 
> Saw the links before and thanks for that. Also would do you remember manufacturer for those 5–30A rf filters? Were they ac and dc rated?


I dont remeber the manufacturer of the filters, they were provided by the shielding contractor that built the copper room.


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## 360max (Jun 10, 2011)

Awg-Dawg said:


> Ive got some pics from one that I did a few years ago.
> 
> Do you want me to PM them to you.


we want to see them too :whistling2:


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## leland (Dec 28, 2007)

Awg-Dawg said:


> Ive got some pics from one that I did a few years ago.
> 
> Do you want me to PM them to you.



Share them with us please. The rooms i have done in the past were done with MC lite (AL sheath) .
fiber boxes. the lights were reg FL. drop ins. in a framed ceiling with the lead panels. Walls were lead sheathed panels as well.


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## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

Its kinda weird, Im working in the same MRI right now. If anyone needs any pictures of any equipment I can get them.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Look at all the good scrap.


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