Simplified Magnetically Shielded Cylinder Using Flexible Magnetic Sheets for High-T_c Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Magnetocardiogram Systems

Abstract

A small and simple magnetic-shielding cylinder using a new high-permeability sheet, developed for magnetic shielding, can reduce the amount of effort expended on taking magnetocardiogram (MCG) measurements. This sheet is made of a nanocrystalline soft-magnetic material (an Fe–Cu–Nb–Si–B alloy) and is flexible and easy to handle. Moreover, magnetostriction of the material is nearly zero, unlike that of the materials used in conventional magnetic shielding. The shielding cylinder is made up of three tubes of various diameters (but having the same length), placed one inside the other. The shielding cylinder is 1.0 m in diameter and 2.0 m long, and it has a shielding factor of about 35 dB at 1 Hz. The shielding cylinder was tested by measuring MCGs using a high- T c superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) gradiometer.