Government of the United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Commerce

Timothy P Quinn

R Bruce Madigan

Thomas A Siewert

A method of sensing and controlling an arc welding process employs a high equency rate of sampling of electrical signals from the welding circuit. The sampled signals are operated upon by predetermined processes to determine electrical resistance, shielding gas quality, and short circuit frequency. The process measurements are compared to a predetermined set of tolerance levels and evaluated using a window technique that updates the evaluation of the data samples at the sampling rate.

Sensing ARC welding process characteristics for welding process control

A method and apparatus for preventing catastrophic melting of the contact be in continuously-fed consumable electrode arc welding due to wire feed interruptions by monitoring the movement of the wire electrode with a high frequency sensor such as all optical encoder having a resolution on the order of &lt;0.1 second and switching off the power to the welding apparatus if the wire electrode speed falls below a predetermined threshold.

Prevention of contact tube melting in arc welding

An gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is monitored by disposing a light intensity sensor in the vicinity of the arc, such that the output signal from the sensor is responsive to the intensity of the arc. The arc light intensity is analyzed to determine the arc length, and to determine of the mode of metal transfer and whether the welding process is proceeding as intended.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

Timothy P Quinn