US 12,403,543 B2Granted

Systems and methods to start arc welding

AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.

InventorsRobert R. Davidson, Peter Mehn, John Smith

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Abstract

Systems and methods to start arc welding are disclosed. An example welding-type power supply includes: power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to welding-type power; and control circuitry configured to: prior to a welding operation, control the power conversion circuitry to stop outputting the welding-type power to a wire electrode; and in response to identifying contact between the wire electrode and a workpiece: control the power conversion circuitry to output an arc starting current to the wire electrode; control a feed motor of a welding torch to retract the wire electrode; control the feed motor to advance the wire electrode based on a first parameter of the welding operation; and control the power conversion circuitry to output the welding-type power to the wire electrode based on the first parameter or a second parameter of the welding operation.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A welding-type power supply, comprising:

power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to welding-type power, and configured to output the welding-type power to output terminals;
a touch detection circuit coupled to the output terminals, in parallel with the power conversion circuitry, and configured to output a touch detection signal via the output terminals;
and
control circuitry configured to:
prior to a welding operation, disable output of the welding-type power to the output terminals by the power conversion circuitry;
monitor the output terminals based on the touch detection signal to identify a contact between a wire electrode and a workpiece coupled to the output terminals;
and
in response to identifying the contact between the wire electrode and the workpiece:
control the power conversion circuitry to output an arc starting current to the output terminals to initiate an arc;
while the arc starting current is being output to the output terminals, control a feed motor of a welding torch to retract the wire electrode;
control the feed motor to advance the wire electrode based on a first parameter of the welding operation;
control the power conversion circuitry to output the welding-type power to the output terminals based on the first parameter or a second parameter of the welding operation;
monitor for a threshold voltage;
and
when the threshold voltage is reached, (1) change to a transition mode and start a timer or (2) switch to a ramp-in mode.

12 more elements

A welding-type power supply, comprising:

power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to welding-type power, and configured to output the welding-type power to output terminals;
a touch detection circuit coupled to the output terminals, in parallel with the power conversion circuitry, and configured to output a touch detection signal via the output terminals;
and
control circuitry configured to:
while the power conversion circuitry is not outputting the welding-type power to the output terminals:
control the touch detection circuit to output the touch detection signal to a wire electrode via the output terminals;
monitor the output terminals based on the touch detection signal to identify contact between the wire electrode and a workpiece coupled to the output terminals;
in response to identifying the contact, control the power conversion circuitry to output an arc starting current to the output terminals to initiate an arc and control a feed motor of a welding torch to retract the wire electrode while the arc starting current is being output to the output terminals;
monitor for a threshold voltage;
and
when the threshold voltage is reached, (1) change to a transition mode and start a timer or (2) switch to a ramp-in mode.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.