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US 8,558,139 B2Granted
Hybrid welding systems and devices
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorBruce Patrick Albrecht
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hybrid welding device including a fuel cell and an energy storage device that cooperate to power a welding operation and/or an auxiliary operation are provided. In some embodiments, the hybrid welding device may also include an engine coupled to a generator that is configured to supplement the power provided by the fuel cell and/or the energy storage device. The hybrid welding device may be adapted to provide power for a welding operation and/or an auxiliary operation when operated as a standalone unit and/or when connected to a primary source of utility power.
Claims7
A hybrid welding device, comprising:
- a fuel cell configured to consume a fuel source to generate a substantially constant power output for a welding operation;
- an energy storage device configured to discharge a supply of stored energy to provide power to supplement the fuel cell power output while a welding power output combined with an auxiliary power output exceeds the fuel cell power output and to be charged by the fuel cell power output while the combined welding power output and auxiliary power output level is below the fuel cell power output;
- and
- power conversion circuitry coupled to at least one of the fuel cell and the energy storage device and configured to receive the power from the fuel cell, to receive the power from the energy storage device, and to convert the received power to the welding power output and the auxiliary power output.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.