Installation of $3.2M Magnet Successful Milestone in Ongoing Facilities Switch

Tracey Wszalek and Mike Smith stood on the edges of the ground-level opening to the Beckman Institute basement watching as a skilled crane operator cautiously lowered a brand new $3.2M, 14-ton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine into the concrete pit with just a foot or two to spare on each of the four sides. With the crane coming perilously close to the emerald green bay windows on the Institute’s north side, the magnet was lowered down onto stacks of plastic and wood pallets in the basement, from where it was eventually moved into its location in the new Beckman basement facilities for the Institute’s Biomedical Imaging Center (BIC).

For Wszalek, Associate Director of BIC, and Smith, Associate Director for Operations at the Beckman Institute, the installation of the new magnet marked yet another milestone in the more than year long switch of BIC’s facilities with those of Beckman’s Illinois Simulator Laboratory. And another success as the newest addition to the BIC MRI lineup, a whole-body 3T MRI scanner from Siemens called the MAGNETOM Trio, was installed on July 8th and ramped up and running smoothly a couple of days later.

For their parts, Smith and Wszalek said they weren’t worried as the expensive new magnet was moved from the truck to the basement opening and into the pit. For one reason, Beckman didn’t take possession until it was installed and working properly. Secondly, both were confident in the people and planning that were integral to the operation.

“It was terribly exciting,” Wszalek said of the installation of the new magnet. “It is amazing how quickly you can become attached to some hunk of metal, but I think it is because of the possibilities it represents. Then you marvel at the coming together of so many trades and disciplines to make something happen. I was confident that Mike had the right people.”

“If you come up with a sound plan and you have the right crew of people to do it, and you put the right team together and you manage them and respect their opinions, you really don’t have a lot to fear,” Smith said.
The successful installation was just one of many moves over the past year as the BIC facility is being relocated from its original building on the south campus into the Beckman Institute and the Illinois Simulator Laboratory (ISL) is being moved into the former BIC building.

Much of the complicated switch has been accomplished but there is still more work to do, including moving the ISL’s driving simulator from the basement into the south campus building. Moving the driving simulator out will allow BIC’s 3T head-scanner magnet to be moved into the basement (planned for Oct. 10th), marking the final step in the operation. Installing and ramping up the state-of-the-art Siemens Trio magnet was a milestone indicating the process is nearing completion.

Smith said the magnet was shipped by air from Germany to Chicago in a trailer truck that also contained its accompanying pieces. It was moved into place July 8th, with a cloudburst delaying things for an hour or so. Just as workers were attaching the crane cables to the magnet rain forced them to re-cover the magnet with the accordion-like shell of the trailer until the storm passed.

Once the skies cleared and the magnet was lowered into the basement, it was moved from the bottom of the pit to the specially-designed room in a process called “cribbing” that involved using plastic crates and wooden beams and boards for support, and hydraulic jacks combined with old-fashioned manpower to muscle the 28,000-pound machine into place.

Special radio frequency (RF) shielded rooms were built for the incoming magnets to ensure safety and prevent vibration effects from the instruments. The new magnet was ramped up and running a few days after its installation, followed by testing and training procedures.