Design of virtual instrument for automatic temperature visualization in magnetic fields using LabVIEW in combination with fiber-optical temperature measurement

Abstract

Temperature measurement in magnetic fields is indispensable for Magnetic Resonance safety studies and for temperature calibrations during Magnetic Resonance applications. A selection of these procedures is subject to the application of MR-compatible robotic systems. The existing problem for the software version NI LabVIEW 2013 is the lack of an instrument to automatically process data from a fiber-optical temperature measurement device. In this work a virtual instrument for this specific software version is designed in order to automatically visualize temperature in magnetic fields. The setup consists of a magnetic field tolerant fiber-optical temperature measurement device being connected to temperature samples and a Microsoft based Computer System. Results show a functional software instrument for automatic temperature measurement with a maximum delay of 0.14 s. We conclude that the developed instrument is highly suitable for automated biomedical applications and can be adapted to future versions of LabVIEW software.