Internship Master Thesis: Optimizing Body Coil tuning for MRI production

Philips is a global leader in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems, which play a vital role in diagnosing conditions such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. A key component of the MRI scanner is the body coil, which forms the bore wall and generates the high-power rotating magnetic field needed to excite hydrogen protons. It also receives MR signals for patient positioning.

The body coil is a birdcage resonator made of two rings and 16 rungs, tuned using 64 capacitors. Each coil must be manually tuned to the Larmor frequency (64 MHz for 1.5T, 128 MHz for 3T) due to production tolerances.

Your role:

The goal is to develop an improved tuning methodology for body coils in a production setting. The student will:

• Analyze the current Philips tuning process.
• Review literature on birdcage resonator tuning.
• Use existing electromagnetic models and production data.
• Develop and validate a new tuning method.
• If successful, support real-life implementation during the project.

This project bridges RF engineering and manufacturing optimization, offering a unique opportunity to contribute to real-world MRI technology.

You're the right fit if:

• You are a curious and motivated Master student in Electrical Engineering with a focus on RF.
• Eager to learn the basics of MRI and birdcage resonator design.
• Comfortable working with complex RF systems.
• Proactive in seeking support and challenging existing methods.
• Willing to be in our office in Best for at least three days per week.

How we work together
We believe that we are better together than apart. For our office-based teams, this means working in-person at least 3 days per week.

• Monthly full-time allowance between €500 - €700 gross, depending on educational level. If you perform a part-time internship, you will receive the allowance pro-rata.
• Housing compensation in case of relocating to the vicinity of the office: €300 net if the location is in the vicinity of Amsterdam, €255 net for all other Philips locations. You need to provide a rental contract from the landlord, and your normal home-work travel distance needs to be more than 50 km or travel time (one way trip) needs to be more than 1.5 hours.
• Travel compensation, if you are not eligible for a free public transport card; you will receive a maximum of €192 net.
• Paid holidays per internship term.
• The opportunity to buy Philips equipment at our Philips shop.

About Philips
We are a health technology company. We built our entire company around the belief that every human matters, and we won't stop until everybody everywhere has access to the quality healthcare that we all deserve. Do the work of your life to help the lives of others.