Welding power supplies and user interfaces to control output polarity for welding power supplies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12162102-B2
Application number	US-201916427876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2018
Publication date	Dec 10, 2024
Grant date	Dec 10, 2024

Abstract

Welding power supplies and user interfaces to control output polarity for welding power supplies are disclosed. An example welding power supply includes: a first terminal and a second terminal configured to be connected to welding equipment; power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to weld power and to output the weld power via the first and second terminals; an interface, including: one or more first input devices configured to receive a selection of a wire feeding weld process; and one or more second input devices configured to receive a selection of a polarity of the weld power; and control circuitry configured to, in response to receiving, via the interface, an input associated with at least one of the wire feeding weld process or the selection of the output polarity, control the polarity of the weld power output via the power conversion circuitry to the first and second terminals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A welding power supply, comprising:
a first terminal and a second terminal configured to be connected to welding equipment;
power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to weld power and to output the weld power via the first and second terminals;
an interface, comprising:
one or more first input devices configured to receive a selection of a wire feeding weld process; and
a second input device configured to:
receive a selection of a value of a welding parameter having a range of the selectable values of the welding parameter, wherein the welding parameter is a different parameter than the polarity of the weld power; and
in response to exceeding the range of the selectable values of the welding parameter via the second input device, receive a selection of the polarity of the weld power; and

control circuitry configured to, in response to receiving, via the interface, an input associated with at least one of the wire feeding weld process or the selection of the output polarity, control the polarity of the weld power output via the power conversion circuitry to the first and second terminals.

2. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the power conversion circuitry comprises at least one of a full bridge topology or a half bridge topology.

3. The welding power supply as defined in claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the polarity of the weld power by controlling a commutator portion of the power conversion circuitry.

4. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the interface is configured to receive the selection of the polarity of the weld power in association with a weld inductance parameter.

5. The welding power supply as defined in claim 4 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to, in response to selection of the polarity of the weld power, control the weld inductance parameter to have a predetermined value.

6. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the interface is configured to receive the selection of the polarity of the weld power in association with a selection of a flux-cored electrode wire type.

7. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the interface is configured to display an indication of the selected polarity in response to receiving the selection of the polarity of the weld power or the selection of the wire feeding weld process.

8. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the interface comprises communications circuitry configured to communicate with a remote device, the control circuitry configured to transmit, via the communications circuitry, at least one of an indication of the polarity of the weld power or an indication of the selected wire feeding weld process.

9. The welding power supply as defined in claim 8 , wherein the communications circuitry is configured to communicate with the remote device via at least one of the first and second terminals.

10. The welding power supply as defined in claim 8 , wherein the interface is configured to receive the selection of a wire feeding weld process and the selection of a polarity of the weld power via the communications circuitry.

11. The welding power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the range of the selectable values of the welding parameter is a numerical range.

12. A welding power supply, comprising:
a first terminal and a second terminal configured to be connected to welding equipment;
power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to weld power and to output the weld power via the first and second terminals;
an interface, comprising:
a first input device configured to receive a selection of a wire feeding weld process or a non-wire feeding weld process; and
a second input device configured to:
receive a first input selection of an inductance parameter of the weld power for a first wire feeding weld process, the inductance parameter having a range of the selectable values via the second input device; and
in response to exceeding the range of the selectable values of the inductance parameter via the second input device, receive a selection of the polarity of the weld power; and

control circuitry configured to, in response to receiving, via the interface, an input associated with the wire feeding weld process from the first input device and an input associated with the first wire feeding weld process or the second wire feeding weld process or the second input selection of the output polarity, control the polarity of the weld power output via the power conversion circuitry to the first and second terminals.

13. The welding power supply as defined in claim 12 , wherein the power conversion circuitry comprises at least one of a full bridge topology or a half bridge topology.

14. The welding power supply as defined in claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the polarity of the weld power by controlling a commutator portion of the power conversion circuitry.

15. The welding power supply as defined in claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to, in response to the second input selection of the polarity of the weld power, control the weld inductance parameter to have a predetermined value.

16. The welding power supply as defined in claim 12 , wherein the interface is configured to receive the second input selection of the polarity of the weld power in association with a selection of a flux-cored electrode wire type as the second wire feeding weld process.

17. The welding power supply as defined in claim 12 , wherein the interface is configured to display an indication of the selected polarity in response to receiving the second input selection of the polarity of the weld power or the selection of the second wire feeding weld process.

18. The welding power supply as defined in claim 12 , wherein the interface comprises communications circuitry configured to communicate with a remote device, the control circuitry configured to transmit, via the communications circuitry, at least one of an indication of the polarity of the weld power or an indication of the selected wire feeding weld process.

19. The welding power supply as defined in claim 18 , wherein the communications circuitry is configured to communicate with the remote device via at least one of the first and second terminals.

20. The welding power supply as defined in claim 18 , wherein the interface is configured to receive the selection of a wire feeding weld process and the second input selection of a polarity of the weld power via the communications circuitry.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Kadlec Mark S
• Decoster Al J
• Pfaller Andrew J

Classifications

• B23K9/1062

  with computing means · CPC title

• B23K9/1006

  Power supply · CPC title

• B23K9/1087 Primary

  Arc welding using remote control · CPC title

• B23K9/0953 Primary

  using computing means · CPC title