Systems and methods for providing location services for a welding power supply

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016167153-A1
Application number	US-201414572482-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 16, 2014
Priority date	Dec 16, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments described herein include wireless control of a welding power supply via portable electronic devices, such as dedicated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) welding remote devices, cellular radio telephones, satellite radio telephones, laptops computers, tablet computers, and so forth. In particular, operating parameters and statuses of the welding power supply may be modified by the portable electronic device, as well as be displayed on the portable electronic device. A pairing procedure may be used to pair the welding power supply and the portable electronic device in a wireless communication network. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, a method of providing location services for the welding power supply includes utilizing location data for the portable electronic device controlling the welding power supply as an approximation for the location of the welding power supply.

First claim

1 . A welding power supply comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to convert an input power into an output power for a welding operation; wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with a portable electronic device via a wireless communication network; and control circuitry configured to pair the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in the wireless communication network, to control operation of the power conversion circuitry based at least in part on commands received wirelessly from the portable electronic device via the wireless communication network, and to set location data for the welding power supply equal to location data of the portable electronic device.

2 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to transmit operational data to the portable electronic device for temporary storage and geotagging when the control circuitry determines that the wireless communication circuitry has no access or limited access to a telecommunication infrastructure.

3 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive a request for a location of the welding power supply from an external system, and to respond to the request for the location of the welding power supply with the location data of the portable electronic device.

4 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to store the location data of the portable electronic device in a memory of the welding power supply.

5 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the pairing and the wireless communication are secured using security keys stored in both the portable electronic device and the control circuitry, and wherein the security keys are not shared between the portable electronic device and the control circuitry via the wireless communication network during the pairing or the wireless communication.

6 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to pair the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in a 1:1 paired relationship.

7 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication network is an IEEE 802.11x-based WI-FI wireless network.

8 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication network is an IEEE 802.15.1 BLUETOOTH wireless network.

9 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication network is an IEEE 802.15.4 wireless network with or without a ZIGBEE™ software stack.

10 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the portable electronic device is a cellular radio telephone.

11 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the portable electronic device is a satellite radio telephone.

12 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the portable electronic device is a laptop computer.

13 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the portable electronic device is a tablet computer.

14 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the portable electronic device is a dedicated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) remote control device.

15 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the welding power supply is an engine-driven welding power supply.

16 . The welding power supply of claim 1 , wherein the welding power supply is powered by a lithium-ion battery, a lithium-magnesium battery, or a fuel cell.

17 . A method comprising:
pairing a portable electronic device with a welding power supply in a wireless communication network; controlling operation of the welding power supply based at least in part on commands received wirelessly from the portable electronic device via the wireless communication network; and setting location data for the welding power supply equal to location data of the portable electronic device.

18 . The method of claim 17 , comprising temporarily storing and location tagging operational data in the portable electronic device when the portable electronic device has no access or limited access to a telecommunication infrastructure.

19 . The method of claim 17 , comprising receiving a request for a location of the welding power supply from an external system, and responding to the request for the location of the welding power supply with the location data of the portable electronic device.

20 . The method of claim 17 , comprising storing the location data of the portable electronic device in a memory of the welding power supply.

21 . The method of claim 17 , wherein pairing the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in the wireless communication network comprises using security keys stored in both the portable electronic device and the welding power supply, and wherein the security keys are not shared between the portable electronic device and the welding power supply via the wireless communication network during the pairing.

22 . The method of claim 17 , wherein pairing the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in the wireless communication network comprises pairing the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in a 1:1 paired relationship.

23 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the wireless communication network is an IEEE 802.11x-based WI-FI wireless network, an IEEE 802.15.1 BLUETOOTH wireless network, an IEEE 802.15.4 ZIGBEE™ wireless network, or any other wireless network.

24 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the portable electronic device is a cellular radio telephone, a satellite radio telephone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or a dedicated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) remote control device.

25 . A welding power supply comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to convert an input power into an output power for a welding operation; wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate with a portable electronic device via a wireless communication network; location circuitry configured to determine a location of the welding power supply; and control circuitry configured to pair the portable electronic device with the welding power supply in the wireless communication network, to control operation of the power conversion circuitry based at least in part on commands received wirelessly from the portable electronic device via the wireless communication network, and to share location data for the welding power supply with the portable electronic device.

26 . A welding power supply comprising:
power conversion circuitry configured to convert an input power into an output power for a welding operation; communication circuitry configured to communicate with a location services device via a weld cable coupled to the welding power supply; and control circuitry configured to control operation of the power conversion circuitry, and to set location data for the welding power supply equal to location data received from the location services device via the weld cable.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Denis Marc Lee
• Hsu Christopher

Classifications

• B23K9/1062

  with computing means · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W12/04

  Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA] · CPC title

• B23K9/1087 Primary

  Arc welding using remote control · CPC title