Patent ID: 7365542

Claim:
An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet to impress spatially dependent changes to a polarizing magnetic field and an RF transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF magnetic fields from an RF transmit coil to excite MR signals and to acquire MR signals using an RF receiver coil assembly to create MR images, the RF coil assembly comprising: a pair of RF coil modules, each RF coil module comprising: a set of overlapping RF coils; and a housing rigidly supporting the set of overlapping RF coils; and at least one hinge connected to each of the pair of RF coil modules and configured to perm it the pair of RF coil modules to rotate between an unflexed position and a flexed position; wherein each of the pair of RF coil modules further comprises: a rib attached thereto; and a plurality of electrical components for each RF coil in the set of overlapping RF coils; and, wherein the rib comprises a printed circuit board of at least one side, having an electrical circuit for each RF coil in the set of overlapping RF coils, and wherein the plurality of electrical components for each RF coil is electrically connected to a corresponding electrical circuit.