System and method of communicating in a welding system over welding power cables
AssigneeLincoln Global, Inc.
InventorsJames P Zucker, Alexander Craig Mehlman, Nicholas Uguccini, Mike Volzer, Nicholas Trinnes
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Abstract
Systems and methods of the present invention are directed to welding systems having a welding power supply and wire feeder, where the power supply and wire feeder communicate over the welding power cables. In exemplary embodiments, the wire feeder communicates with the power supply over the welding cables using current draw pulses which are generated and recognized by the power supply. Similarly, the power supply generates voltage pulses which are transmitted over the welding power cables and recognized by the wire feeder.
Claims20
A welding system, comprising:
- a welding power source comprising a controller having a first receiver, a first transmitter and a current sense circuit;
- a wire feeder comprising a communication circuit having a second receiver, a second transmitter, a current sink circuit having a current shunt regulator and switches, and a voltage sense circuit;
- and
- at least one welding power cable coupled to each of said welding power source and said wire feeder which carries a welding power from said welding power source to said wire feeder during a welding operation;
- wherein said wire feeder communicates with said welding power source over said at least one welding power cable by the current sink circuit generating a current draw signal which is detected by said current sense circuit in said welding power source;
- wherein said welding power source communicates with said wire feeder over said at least one welding power cable by generating a voltage pulse signal which is detected by said voltage sense circuit in said wire feeder;
- wherein said current draw signal comprises a plurality of current draw pulses generated by said wire feeder and said voltage pulse signal comprises a plurality of voltage pulses;
- and
- wherein the current draw signal has a frequency in a range of 10 Hz to 10 kHz.
A welding system, comprising:
- a welding power source comprising a controller having a first receiver, a first transmitter and a current sense circuit;
- a wire feeder comprising a communication circuit having a second receiver, a second transmitter, a current sink circuit having a current shunt regulator and switches, and a voltage sense circuit;
- and
- at least one welding power cable coupled to each of said welding power source and said wire feeder which carries a welding power from said welding power source to said wire feeder during a welding operation;
- wherein said wire feeder communicates with said welding power source over said at least one welding power cable by the current sink circuit generating a current draw signal which is detected by said current sense circuit in said welding power source;
- wherein said welding power source communicates with said wire feeder over said at least one welding power cable by generating a voltage pulse signal which is detected by said voltage sense circuit in said wire feeder;
- wherein said current draw signal comprises a plurality of current draw pulses generated by said wire feeder and said voltage pulse signal comprises a plurality of voltage pulses;
- and
- wherein the wire feeder is configured to monitor a temperature of the current sink circuit and control the current draw signal based on the temperature of the current sink circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.