Systems and methods to detect faults in wire feed motor drive circuits
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorsGregg Donald Prochnow, Maxwell Bode Brock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example welding-type system includes: processing circuitry; and a machine readable storage medium comprising a machine readable instruction, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to: control a first switch to disconnect a motor circuit from a motor power source, the motor circuit comprising a wire feed motor and a second switch; control the second switch to permit current to flow while the first switch disconnects the motor circuit from the motor power source during a test period; and in response to feedback indicative of a current through the motor circuit while the first switch is open and the second switch is closed, detecting a fault condition associated with the motor circuit.
Claims17
A welding-type system, comprising:
- processing circuitry;
- first power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to welding-type power having a welding-type voltage;
- second power conversion circuitry, the second power conversion circuitry configured to output a second voltage less than the welding-type voltage;
- and
- a machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
- connect the first power conversion circuitry to a motor circuit to perform a welding-type operation;
- and
- control a first switch to disconnect the motor circuit from a motor power source, the motor circuit comprising a wire feed motor and a second switch;
- disconnect the first power conversion circuitry from the motor circuit and connect the second power conversion circuitry to the motor circuit during a test period;
- control the second switch to permit current to flow while the first switch disconnects the motor circuit from the motor power source during the test period;
- in response to feedback indicative of a current through the motor circuit while the first switch is open and the second switch is closed, detecting a fault condition associated with the motor circuit.
A welding-type system, comprising:
- processing circuitry;
- and
- a machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
- control a first switch to disconnect a motor circuit from a motor power source, the motor circuit comprising a wire feed motor and a second switch;
- control the second switch to permit current to flow while the first switch disconnects the motor circuit from the motor power source during a test period;
- in response to feedback indicative of a current through the motor circuit while the first switch is open and the second switch is closed, detecting a fault condition associated with the motor circuit;
- and
- in response to detecting the feedback, control the welding-type system in a weld disable condition including at least one of:
- opening the first switch to prevent connection of the motor power source to the motor circuit,
- opening the second switch to prevent current flow through the motor;
- controlling the motor power source to de-energize the motor;
- or
- controlling a power conversion circuitry to turn off an output of the power conversion circuitry.
A welding-type system, comprising:
- processing circuitry;
- a motor power conversion circuit configured to convert at least a portion of welding-type power to motor drive power and to output the motor drive power to drive the wire feed motor;
- and
- a machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
- control a first switch to disconnect a motor circuit from a motor power source, the motor circuit comprising a wire feed motor and a second switch;
- control the second switch to permit current to flow while the first switch disconnects the motor circuit from the motor power source during a test period;
- in response to feedback indicative of a current through the motor circuit while the first switch is open and the second switch is closed, detecting a fault condition associated with the motor circuit;
- and
- control the wire feed motor by modulating the motor drive power using at least one of the first switch or the second switch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.