CNI: Notes from the Underground

The CNI scanner upgrade has begun! As you can see from the picture – the guts have been pulled out.

 


 
Adam and the CNI team are in constant discussion with the Stanford Construction team (led once again by Fred Sutton!) who is overseeing the modifications to infrastructure, and with the GE team that is disassembling the current system and installing the new one.  Mostly progress is straight ahead. But there are issues, too. For example, Adam is making calculations about the heat exchanger that removes heat from the MRI scanner, using the campus chilled water system.  The contractor ordered a replacement system that is far bigger than we need (purple thing).  The exchanger is over-qualified and will take up a lot of space and make other work inconvenient.  Adam is considering possible solutions to the problem; this was the topic of today’s CNI management meeting.  In addition to the parts, we had a discussion about some new quantitative information about the critical nature of controlling the temperature of the water. Despite the heat exchanger issue, the schedule for the upgrade remains unchanged. Of course, it is not possible for us to be 100% certain about this timing, so please view the following dates as our current best estimates rather than a hard commitment.  We will keep updating our best estimates, but we want to offer them now so that people who are planning subject recruitment can make more informed decisions.

• System installation should be complete by March 6; that’s when GE leaves
• The next week (March 9-13) we will be testing,  adjusting protocols, and and user training  for the new operating system
• We anticipate that we will be ready on March 16 for normal scanning.

For those of you scheduling subjects, our plan is to open up the calendar for new signups one month in advance (mid-February). We plan to send additional updates every few days, sooner if there is something new to report.

The CNI Team