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MacRobert Award
2003 Finalist
Oxford Instruments Superconductivity
 Oxford
Instruments Superconductivity from
Oxfordshire has developed the ‘Discovery’
900 MHz superconducting magnet.
Superconducting magnets are the power behind
NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance)
spectrometers and have created new
possibilities for research in the fields of
proteomics and genomics allowing the
identification of three-dimensional
structure of proteins and other biological
macromolecules. The 900MHz represents the
latest milestone for Oxford Instruments, who
have been manufacturing NMR magnets since
1971, and represents a key advance in
enabling life science and drug discovery
applications. The finalist team includes
Martin Townsend, project manager; senior
engineers, Graham Hutton and Marc Simon; and
principal engineers George Farmer and Dr
Ziad Melhem.
Innovation
 By
increasing the field strength of the NMR
magnet up to 900MHz, larger and more complex
molecules can be studied, their structures
and relationships determined, with greater
resolution and sensitivity than has ever
been possible. At the height of a
double-decker bus and weighting 8 tonnes, it
has a magnetic field 400 000 times stronger
than the Earth’s magnetic field and can wipe
a credit card from five metres. The
superconducting magnet needs to provide a
very stable field at 900 MHz that cannot
drift more than 10 parts in 10 billion per
hour. The magnet requires around 180 miles
of superconducting wire, and special
techniques were developed to create and fix
a wire of this length in place that could
also withstand the stresses experienced by
the magnet in operation (typically 200
Tonnes of axial load). To prevent the magnet
suddenly losing superconductivity, which
could result in an energy release equivalent
to the power of 4 kg of TNT, special systems
were put in place to manage the energy
release and to keep the superconducting
material at ultra low temperatures -271°
Kelvin, which required new developments in
cryogenic technology. To achieve this high
level of performance, Oxford Instruments has
developed and patented several unique magnet
features, including new technology for
superconducting wire (UltraSN™), coil
production (Sigmabond™), superconductor
jointing techniques (FemtoOhm™) and an
energy management system. These advances are
critical for the understanding of disease
and the development of pharmaceuticals.
“The 900MHz is one of
the most technically challenging magnets
ever developed’ said Martin Townsend,
Project Manager. “It’s wonderful that the
commitment and hard work of our workforce
has been recognised by the MacRobert Award.
The 900 MHz represents the culmination of
years of research and planning, with
innovation not just in engineering
techniques, but also in business practice
and infrastructure.”
Commercial Applications
Oxford Instruments
Superconductivity has already installed the
world’s largest commercial wide-bore NMR
magnet at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Washington, USA and a second
900 MHz system at Yokohama City University,
Japan. Further orders have been placed
worldwide, including two systems co-funded
by the UK Government and the Wellcome Trust.
For further details please visit Oxford Instruments website at www.oxford-instruments.com/SCNCHP1
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