Hospital Mental Teardown - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pm
content: Ok, not sure if this is normal behavior but I had spent the last few days in the hospital and the majority of my time spent there, I was trying to do mental and visual teardowns of their equipment. The brand new CT Scanner was very cool. Shouldn't a person be more concerned about themselves than the equipment? My wife even had a chuckle, at one point she saw me examining one of the devices and stated; "You really want to take that home and take it apart don't you?".Sigh...

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:18:31 pm
content: Not sure what you are saying - sounds perfectly normal to me

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:18:58 pm
content: Not sure it is normal, but.....After being a cabinet maker/furniture builder for years, I tend to notice a lot of mistakes in the craftsmanship of everything everywhere I go. I think it's just part of what makes you, well, YOU.So, you're not the only one that does this.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:32:46 pm
content: You mean like noticing that the lights are not quite centred in the corridor, and that there are 5 tubes that are mercury starved in the long corridor to the ward, or that the cover on some of the socket outlets are cracked..........Or that the battery on the patient monitor is past it's service date by a week, or that the door that holds it is not aligned correctly, with a trapped battery lead bulging it out in one section. That the call button has a loose cord grip, and a cracked housing.I did find one of the maintenance guys there though going out one evening, and had a nice chat with him ( and you do not want to see what is behind those locked service doors either, hanging cables and horror bodge repairs deluxe) and the next day the lights were fixed.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:50:43 pm
content: There's a lot of interesting stuff in hospitals. You can have fun with the blood oxygen sensor (the one that clips on your finger and shines light through it). Put it on your finger and then hold your breath for as long as possible and see how low you can make the reading go. If you're good you should be able to get it below 30% and give the doctors a fright.

author: Towger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 07:52:18 pm
content: When I am brought shopping by the wife, I find looking at the lighting system, ventilating system, fire alarm system and general structure of the building much more interesting than the new pair of shoes she wants to buy.Actually when #3 was born by CS, I thought it better to keep my mouth shut than to ask the surgeon about their new operating theater lights, which appeared consist of separate RGB LEDS behind the diffuser.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:05:51 pm
content: I found myself hacking the IV machine, it was in need of "IVL Maintenance", obviously over that scheduled maintenance period along with the charge cycle of the internal battery which was actually fairly quick compared to the runtime of 6 hours on a 1-1/2 hour charge. Found a maintenance menu and was able to check the status of various items.I also found myself checking the equipment AC plugs to make sure that were hospital grade UL listed and which receptacles were hospital grade.The touchscreen controls on the X-Ray machine had all kinds of goodies but I had no time to explore them, I think the tech would have gotten a bit upset if I had done that.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:07:41 pm
content: Quote from: Towger on April 09, 2015, 07:52:18 pmOh no doubt! I find myself drawn to all of that and more when clothes or shoe shopping with the wife.

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:09:57 pm
content: I read the title as "Mental Hospital teardown", and was intrigued.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:13:53 pm
content: Quote from: Vgkid on April 09, 2015, 08:09:57 pmThat's funny!Although that could be quite intriguing...

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:20:27 pm
content: Quote from: Vgkid on April 09, 2015, 08:09:57 pmI read it as "Mental (i. e. mind) teardown/breakdown in hospital".

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:22:25 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on April 09, 2015, 07:50:43 pm30% and you're dead. Even 70% (unless acclimated) and you're likely dead. A healthy ( non acclimated) person will not be able to get it below 90% (and probably not below 95%). If you're seeing lower it's artifactual

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:27:48 pm
content: I have this problem from the other side. Every time I round on a patient in the ICU and I spot a new piece of monitoring equipment, I find myself looking at it. Patients don't like that.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:31:48 pm
content: Not really, there they tend to have bars.......... Depending on the hospital you might even have chains as well. But as a plus there you do have **very** motivated nursing staff, they are very quick to bring out the sedatives or the cloth restraints.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:32:39 pm
content: Quote from: mtdoc on April 09, 2015, 08:27:48 pmAt least you can read the manual......... Helps to know what that beeping is for.

author: Zeyneb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 08:41:15 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pmWell I just think you diagnosed yourself being an engineer.Nothing close to me however; apart from being engineer I'm also enlightened with autism.

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 09:06:46 pm
content: Lighting is a very good thing to observe when out and about. So many different types, different uses, different faults etc. Recently I've seen several LED retrofit lamps flickering in commercial settings (probably they failed).I had an MRI scan a few years ago and couldn't help but wonder how the machine worked.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 09:08:28 pm
content: Quote from: mtdoc on April 09, 2015, 08:22:25 pmOK, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But I believe people who have trained to hold their breath for several minutes, like free divers, really can see the saturation reading go low enough to raise eyebrows. A completely unpracticed person here can drop it down into the low 80's:

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 09:14:47 pm
content: Quote from: steve30 on April 09, 2015, 09:06:46 pmWhat I know is that an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) uses an extremely strong magnetic field which briefly alters the electrons in your atoms and when they fall back to their normal orbits or positions they release energy that can be detected and measured.I'm sure there is more to than that, but that is a general idea as far as I know.

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2015, 11:25:01 pm
content: Quote from: Zeyneb on April 09, 2015, 08:41:15 pmAutists,ADHD, engineers, scientists... aren't they the same?Fuck off neurotypical! Only mad people are able to change the world!I know many very intelligent people that have not typical behaviours. Many of them have some autistic or ADHD traits, despite many of them develop advanced social skills.My private tutor is a retired EE that worked at the telecommunications sector. He's very intelligent but disorganized, but he's able to read and understand new concepts at speed of light! He likes to talk and sometimes get out of topic (we may end up talking about transportation and other topics), but corrects himself fastly. He explains stuff in a very didactic way, better than all my teachers at the vocational training school. I wish I had a father like him, but I'm aware I pay him to teach mehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60P1xG32Feo.

author: TSL
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 12:32:26 am
content: Yep I hear ya.I had to have some Xrays done and they had new digital machines and I got engrossed in a conversation with the Xray tech about how it all worked while my wife was freaking out in the waiting room wondering why I was taking so long!cheersTim

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 12:46:40 am
content: Quote from: IanB on April 09, 2015, 09:08:28 pmThe body can adapt (via a few different physiological mechanisms) to lower oxygen saturation levels. Chronic lung disease and altitude being the most common causes. I've seen someone at altitude with an O2 sat of 65% functioning fine.QuoteUnless they have lung disease or otherwise acclimated to hypoxia it is artifactual. Just because it displays a low number doesn't mean their SpO2 is actually that low. It happens all the time. For example peripheral vasoconstriction (which some people can learn to do on command) will cause artifactually low readings. But if they can drop it down reliably and hold it for more than a second or two, it's a neat party trick!

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 03:45:03 am
content: Lol, i do that all the time. Always curious enough to wonder how something might work...

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 04:27:48 am
content: Last time I was at the hospital they gave me a shot of morphine. I can tell you the ceiling tiles were EXTREMELY interesting to me for some reason.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 05:04:53 am
content: Quote from: IanB on April 09, 2015, 09:08:28 pmI've worked on SpO2 and SaO2 meters. Its very hard to reduce your blood oxygen enough to notice any significant change in the meter's reading, even if you are the type who can hold their breath for several minutes. Maybe your meter is doing something strange.

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 06:29:56 am
content: In my opinion its way easier to trigger a (closely-set) Heart rate alarm than anything else by will, while there are some external things that can help to get artificial low SpO2 readings.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:16:15 am
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pmthis is completely normal!it's always worth asking someone there about the equipment, if they have time they may show you more or explain somethingwas in last year for a gastroscopy, sadly i didn't have time to have a chat, the endoscope looked like it would be useful all over the home or on the car... checking out the cylinder bores, chassis cavities, seeing whats stuck under the sofa etc

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:28:43 am
content: I always find myself thinking about the designers thinking when they designed any piece of equipment, a sort of reverse engineering of the designer.

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 09:00:24 am
content: IR type blood oxygen level meters are indicators at best. If you read manual, it states meter works only under ideal conditions and meter readings cannot be trusted otherwise. Low reading is most likely bogus.These meters is an equivalent of contact less voltage indicating sticks. Voltage stick is a POS by design in my and many other users opinion when compared to a DMM and should not be trusted. However, equivalent of DMM in blood oxygen metering requires blood samples and costly medical equipment, so IR is reasonable way to go.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 09:09:05 am
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pm

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:14:52 am
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pmI take it there weren't any decent looking nurses then?

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:30:03 am
content: I was in hospital a while ago for some knee surgery and spent a while recovering with an "on demand" painkiller dispenser hooked up to my arm. I didn't need it and didn't want it. I just felt uncomfortable with something that *could* give me a lethal dose of morphine.I asked the nurse to remove it and she said "Don't worry. It's been programmed to not be able to go over a set limit."My reply: "I work in IT. Get it out or I'm ripping it out."It's not that I don't trust whoever wrote the embedded software did their best and it was fairly thoroughly tested. It's just that a bugs happen.

author: deephaven
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:41:06 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on April 10, 2015, 09:09:05 amIt's about time you got hold of one to take apart Mike!

author: Skimask
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 12:36:36 pm
content: Quote from: Stonent on April 10, 2015, 04:27:48 amYou ain't kidding!!!I got to make an ambulance trip to the local ER almost 2 years ago after falling off a ladder, then falling on the same ladder, then falling off it again.The roof of the ambulance was almost as interesting as the drop ceiling tiles.One of my contracts is for maintaining certain pieces of hospital equipment, so I get to tear stuff down on almost a daily basis.There's a reason why I have to pay a buttload for insurance, and why I get paid big $$$ to do it right the first time, every time.

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 02:27:12 pm
content: Quote from: Fred27 on April 10, 2015, 10:30:03 amTherac minus 25. Certainly they happen.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 02:45:56 pm
content: Quote from: Fred27 on April 10, 2015, 10:30:03 amHa! That's a great story!PCA machines are common as stink and I've never heard of one malfunctioning to give too much medication. Usually the patients complain that it is broken and not giving them enough!I'm sure it could happen but there's probably not enough medication in the machine at any one time to kill you even if you got it all at once. I think.....

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 04:01:56 pm
content: Morphine is rather wonderful, in my case I felt like I was floating 15cm above the bed and I didn't have a care in the world. It's easy to understand how heroin can be so addictive as, chemically, it is very similar.If you ever get a chance to see a CAT machine operating without the covers then take it. Hundreds of Kg rotating at speed on a perfectly balanced assembly is an engineering thing of beauty. Just take your watch off first.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 04:16:27 pm
content: Quote from: German_EE on April 10, 2015, 04:01:56 pmNo problem with watches around CT scanners. Are you thinking of MRIs ?You do want to have some lead shielding on around the CT scanner though.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 05:19:40 pm
content: Quote from: mtdoc on April 10, 2015, 04:16:27 pm

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 05:48:43 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on April 10, 2015, 07:16:15 amOh it is useful, I bought a cheap one on eBay, and it has come in useful to do that. Saved me from tearing stuff down just to inspect it for problems, just by using the probe to go in and look inside instead to see if the cleaning I had done via the slot was good enough. Good, seeing as the item is a 20kg steel casting that always removes a lot of skin and demands a blood sacrifice on the sharp edges of the housing to get it out. Plus you can read numbers on parts without having to remove them to see the label in the concealed section.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 06:50:01 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on April 10, 2015, 05:48:43 pmi did have one of the cheap ones somewhere, handheld thing with a goose neck, usually with the worlds shittest camera and lcd screen

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:24:27 pm
content: Bingo, but it does do the job, and is small enough to get into small spaces easy enough. Would not like the swallow it though, or have it go look from the other end though.You know the hospital endoscope is used for both sides, you just hope that they sterilised it correctly between uses though. especially if it has tooling in the tip.

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:30:59 pm
content: Dirty Endoscopes just got into the crosshair of US FDA, after being suspect to help spreading resistant bacteria:http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm434871.htm

author: M4trix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:39:38 pm
content: Quote from: babysitter on April 10, 2015, 07:30:59 pm

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:40:30 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on April 10, 2015, 06:50:01 pmEndoscopes and boroscopes are quite different! Don't try to use a boroscope for home endoscopy!

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:41:11 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on April 10, 2015, 07:24:27 pm+1 - bought one on a whim as it was discounted a Maplin, but turned out to be a real lifesaver for threading wiring through the ring structure of this thing:

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 07:48:23 pm
content: That one is a nice thing you did Mike.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 08:23:20 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 09:14:47 pmSimplified explanation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.1. Normal medical MRI only uses hydrogen nuclei (protons). Electrons only affect the results slightly.2. A proton has a fixed magnetic moment, aligned with its spin.3. In a constant magnetic field, regardless of the angle between the spin direction and the field, the magnetic moment will precess around the magnetic field direction at a frequency proportional to the magnetic field. 15 kG = 1.5 T gives 64 MHz.4. Applying appropriate radio-frequency alternating magnetic fields at that frequency (past this it gets real complicated) can rotate the net magnetization of a population of protons away from equilibrium (aligned with the DC field) until it is perpendicular to the field direction. The magnetization rotating around that axis will induce a field in the receive coil.5. Applying a "gradient field" modifies the static field in a well-defined fashion with respect to position. Thus, the signal from the rotating magnetization will be a sum of different frequencies, depending on how many protons are at different locations with different frequencies. The pulsed gradient field is responsible for most of the jackhammer noise inside the bore.6 Fourier analysis therefore can "reconstruct" the distribution of protons/cm^3 that gave the observed signal, when combining the data from different gradient directions.7. Past that, please go to detailed references.MRI is generally considered safe, with these well-known exceptioins:A. Totally screws up a pacemaker due to the strong magnetic fields.B. Can move surgically-implanted ferrous objects (such as, God forbid, aneurism clips) in nasty ways.C. Too much applied RF power will overheat tissue. Electronic failure can give localized overheating.D. Will mess up your credit card's magnetic stripe and you can't pay the bill.and others.

author: M4trix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:09:52 pm
content: What about the amalgam (metal) tooth fillings ?

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:30:07 pm
content: I have several amalgam fillings and one gold onlay, and there was no problem in my MRIs done last year. I was also wearing my wedding ring (14K solid gold). The regions of interest for the MRI exam did not include the jaw or left hand. When I was working in MRI years ago, there was no safety problem with amalgam fillings, but they degraded the image quality near the fillings.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:35:28 pm
content: I've spent one night as an adult in hospital, however I was so drunk I can remember very little about it apart from informing the staff that I was allergic to lumpy mashed potato.Guess what they fed me.I also visited a friend in a mental hospital. Saw very little technology there and was far most concerned for my friend than anything else.Whilst I'm sure that there is lots of interesting things to study I will do my best to avoid being near it.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2015, 10:59:52 pm
content: Quote from: M4trix on April 10, 2015, 10:09:52 pmNot an issue. Only ferrous metals are a problem but even then it depends where they are in the body. Stainless steel orthopedic hardware when fixated into bone is usually ok. It's ferrous metal in soft tissue that can do damage as it travels to the MRI magnet!

author: TSL
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 12:37:51 am
content: I love the fact that PET scanners use antimatter and draw their pictures from the resultant gamma rays.cheersTim

author: johnh
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 08:09:15 am
content: I asked to look in the the insides of radiotherapy treatment machine, that was being used on me.Couldn't see much apart from waveguides.

author: atferrari
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 10:45:05 am
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on April 09, 2015, 07:15:04 pmMy personal variation is just asking simple, concrete technical questions (just to learn basic data, not to put in evidence anybody's ignorance). It seems I am getting nowhere every time.From my collection:To the radiologist while preparing my right foot for an Xray image.For how long the Xray emission goes to take this image?In 3 to 10 seconds I have it on the monitor. Nothing more technical than that.To the oculist when going for new glassesHow this machine knows the condition of my eyes? What it measures?It tells the graduation you need. Couldn't get any more technical than that.To the lady sticking electrodes to me for an ECG.What voltages are you measuring to get the ECG?Silently staring at me.To the she doctor doing an US study of my stomachWhat frequency are you using to get this image?Ultrasound.One, rather deceiving to the optical technician (who has heavily studied Optics at the uni), impossible repeat here.After asking him two or three question about basic lenses configurations, the only he could explain was the optics in an eyeball.I decided to refrain myself of further questions to anyone in the health business. As their customer, I cross fingers.

author: VK5RC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 11:06:51 am
content: @atferrariXRay about 0.05 Sec for standard limb/CXR, depends on Xray tube voltage and current settings.ECG about 10-15mV at the skin surface, the little box like shape on an ECG is a 10mV/200mS calibration signalTo be honest mostly they actually have other issues on their mind, like what is actually going on in the diagnostic image or getting all the technical aspects correct etc.AUTOPSY the ULTIMATE teardown, there ain't no putting that back together!

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 12:24:24 pm
content: Ahh my world ... medical imaging.

author: albert22
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 02:23:07 pm
content: A priest, a drunkard, and an engineer are sentenced to death by guillotine. The executioner asks the priest if he wants to face upward or downward when he meets his fate. The priest says that he would like to die face up, so that he will be looking toward heaven when he dies.The blade of the guillotine is raised and released. It comes speeding down and suddenly stops just inches from his throat. This is seen as a sign from God, and the priest is set free.Next, the drunkard goes to the guillotine. He also decides to die face up hoping that he will be as fortunate as the priest. Once again, the blade stops inches from the throat. Again, a miracle, and the drunkard is set free.The engineer is next. He too decides to die facing up. The executioner slowly raises the blade of the guillotine. Suddenly the engineer exclaims, "Wait a minute! I see what your problem is."

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2015, 11:08:20 pm
content: Great jokeSince this is a hospital thread allow me to tell the medical equivalent:A surgeon, an internist, a pathologist and a radiologist are duck hunting a see a bird overhead. They need to identify it to know if it's in season.The internist says "it could be a mallard, but might also be a common loon, then again maybe it's the endangered purple pygmy goose."The radiologist chimes in "the silhouette is consistent with a mallard, bit I can't be sure due to some shadowing from those passing clouds and..."Suddenly the surgeon raises his shotgun and blasts it out of the sky then turns to the pathologist and says "hey you, go get that bird and tell me what it is"I suppose you could add the engineer who would then ask "what was the velocity and angle of the shot?"

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2015, 12:33:05 pm
content: Yes, there's the story of the tech who took his CRO into the MRI room, quite spectacular.The CRO was slammed against the bore wall and slowly spread itself around the curve, splintering and creaking as it went. Or metal framed plastic chairs attempting to be used to hold the door open.Some of it is quite scary stuff, especially when something like a gas cylinder gets airborne.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2015, 04:38:06 pm
content: Quote from: johnh on April 11, 2015, 08:09:15 amThe "plumbing" inside a linear accelerator unit used for radiotherapy has two functions:1. Waveguide from the klystron or magnetron to the accelerating cavities (gas filled or vacuum for insulation). The microwave circuit includes a circulator that dumps reflected power into a water-cooled load.2. The vacuum section, with cathode/electron gun, accelerating cavities, and electron target (where the high-energy electrons stop and make photons by Bremsstrahlung). The cathode is pulsed negative (with or without grid) and the anode is grounded and water cooled.There is also a hardwired pulse generator (solid state or thyratron switch) that applies appropriate high-voltage pulses to the klystron/magnetron and the cathode to emit electrons and accelerate them to high energy. Typically, the pulses are < 50 kV, but the final electron energy can be as high as 25 MeV due to the very high electric field inside the high-Q cavities and careful phasing of the RF fields.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2015, 09:09:15 pm
content: Quote from: aargee on April 12, 2015, 12:33:05 pmI started working on MRI RF hardware when the field was brand new, and there were accidents due to unfamiliarity with strong fields. The worst one I remember, not involving patient injury, was an oxygen cylinder (steel) that flew towards the magnet, pinning a workman. The first responder was a police officer, and his (steel) sidearm flew out of his holster towards the incident.If I remember correctly, luckily there were no fatalities.A side-industry quickly developed, for non-ferrous IV hangers, and other non-ferrous versions of normal medical hardware. Field engineers were always annoyed when they found that the reported problems often involved paper clips stuck to the hardware, distorting the main field (which must be extremely uniform in space over a useful patient volume).

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2015, 09:15:33 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on April 12, 2015, 09:09:15 pmI believe Ben Krasnow (Applied Science Video blogger) had a business doing just that.

author: rollatorwieltje
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 12, 2015, 09:28:54 pm
content: A few years ago there was an incident over here where a hospital bed was pulled into an MRI scanner. Luckily the patient fell off before the bed slammed into the scanner. It took 5 days to remove the bed from the scanner... Don't mess with these things.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2015, 10:17:11 pm
content: All this talk about MRIs.Dave, we need an MRI teardown!Keep checking the dumpster.