Drawn arc welding systems and methods
AssigneeBrand Shared Services LLC
InventorsEduardo Fernando D'ORACIO DE ALMEIDA, Amrith Singh THAKUR, Diego Arturo EDWARDS SORDO, Lance Edward ZIER, James EGGER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drawn arc welding system includes a weld gun having a stepper motor, a power inverter module configured to receive a single-phase power input and output welding power to the weld gun, and a control module having a stepper motor driver, a user interface, and a controller in communication with the stepper motor driver, the user interface, and the power inverter module. The controller is configured to receive a current for the welding power from the user interface, and instruct the power inverter module to output the current to the weld gun.
Claims20
A drawn arc welding system, comprising:
- a weld gun including a stepper motor;
- a power inverter module configured to receive a single-phase power input and output welding power to the weld gun, wherein the single-phase power input includes an input current of less than or equal to about 20 A;
- and
- a control module including a stepper motor driver, a user interface, and a controller in communication with the stepper motor driver, the user interface, and the power inverter module, the controller being configured to:
- receive a current for the welding power from the user interface;
- and
- instruct the power inverter module to output the current to the weld gun.
A drawn arc welding system, comprising:
- a weld gun including a stepper motor and a trigger;
- a power inverter module including a rectifier and a capacitor, wherein the power inverter module is configured to receive input power from an input power source, wherein the input power source is a single-phase alternating-current power source or a battery;
- and
- a control module including a stepper motor driver, a user interface, and a controller in communication with the weld gun, the stepper motor driver, the user interface, and the power inverter module, the controller being configured to:
- receive an output current from the user interface;
- instruct, in response to activation of the trigger, the power inverter module to supply the output current to the weld gun to perform a weld;
- monitor, during the weld, the output current supplied by the power inverter module to the weld gun;
- and
- stop the power inverter module from supplying the output current to the weld gun in response to determining that the output current is outside of a current tolerance range.
A method for operating a drawn arc welding system, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a power inverter module, single-phase input power with an input current of less than or equal to about 20 A;
- detecting a trigger activation from a weld gun;
- supplying, from the power inverter module, welding power with an output current of less than or equal to about 550 A to the weld gun;
- measuring the output current to collect a plurality of measured current values;
- averaging the plurality of measured current values to generate an average output current value;
- and
- stopping the power inverter module from supplying the output current if one of the plurality of measured current values is greater than or less than a current tolerance from the average output current value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.