Patent ID: 7615998

Claim:
An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a superconducting magnet to impress a polarizing magnetic field and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF signals to an RF coil assembly to acquire magnetic resonance images, wherein the superconducting magnet comprises a plurality of superconducting magnet coils; a quench protection system including a heater positioned adjacent to the superconducting magnet; a power supply configured to supply power to the at least one heater; and a first switch connected to the heater and connected to the power supply, the first switch configured to make and break an electrical connection between the heater and the power supply; and a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to: detect a quench condition of the superconducting magnet and to compare an inductive voltage in any of the plurality of superconducting magnet coils during a magnet ramp to a threshold; and actively control the quench protection system of the superconducting magnet in response to the detected quench condition.