Welding source POWER WAVE 455 for pulse welding process GMAW – power from Lincoln Electric

The present electronical elements for power circuits are beside other industrial fields also applied in construction of new welding sources for all methods of arc welding.

Perhaps the biggest development and application of the new electronic elements in the welding sources for arc welding has been applied in the welding sources for GMAW (MIG/MAG) technology.

The effort of the manufacturers of the welding sources is aimed at the possibility of control of the weld metal transfer to the weld pool in the spray regime of GMAW (MIG/MAG) technology. Control of the weld metal transfer in the short-circuiting regime is also possible and the only welding source, which is able to control electronically the short-circuiting transfer has been developed and introduced into market by Lincoln Electric firm under the trade name STT. STT source could originate, thanks to big research potential of Lincoln Electric, which has nearly 1200 employees in The Research and Development Department in Cleveland. Thanks to this background, the products of this firm belong to absolute world class in the field of arc welding. STT source was described in detail in No.2/1999 of magazine ZVÁRANIE.

Welding sources for the spray regime control, GMAW (MIG/MAG) methods, use so called invertor connection of the source part with the possibility of easy control of all electric factors, which participate in the entire welding process. These sources are operating with wire feeders, which are provided with superstandard functions and are controlled by source, or they control it. These assemblies of sources and feeders enable the control of the weld metal transfer to weld pool in the spray (non- short- circuiting) sphere, by pulsation of welding current and voltage. This brings a lot of benefits for users of these welding sources:

Some sources enable to the welding operator to change in a limited way the preset parameters in such a way, in order that the function of entire proces is maintained. The individual tested parameters can be entered into memory, whose capacity and configuration differs according to manufacturer. System of attendance and arrangement of individual controls varies with individual manufacturers, however the necessity of control of these sources through microprocessors remains.
Attendance of these sources depends on character and complexity of controls. Lincoln Electric has recently introduced on European market new type of welding source POWER WAVE 455 with a wire feeder POWER FEED 10, provided with a new control system, easy to use, which does not bother the welding operator with a large number of unimportant data and supports intuitive control. Description of this source is given further on in this text.

Pulsed welding source with digital control POWER WAVE 455

Welding source POWER WAVE 455 in connection with POWER FEED 10 represents new way in the design of the top, digitally controlled invertor sources for GMAW, SMAW welding in hard industrial conditions. New characteristic feature of this design is the control of the source and feeder from one panel situated on the POWER FEED 10. The controlling information for this source are coming into the welding source POWER WAVE 455 from the feeder POWER FEED 10.
The source enables setting both the flat (CV) and steep characteristics (CC). It is possible to use it than for the following methods:

Arrangement of control panel on the feeder POWER FEED 10 varies according to customer´s requirement
- enables to equip this source with an easy CV characteristics for GMAV (MIG/MAG) welding, nevertheless for pulse welding, there are possibilities for individual interference into the welding characteristics. This source can be also provided with a small panel for the possibility to set the welding parameters into the six read-only memories and two variable memories. Choice of parameters from the memories is possible from the control panel or through the change-over switch on the welding gun. Change of program is possible during the operation of the source, so that the operator can prepare in advance two sets of welding parameters, which he can frely change during welding.

The source offers to user a range of installed synergic curves for unalloyed materials, high-alloy materials, aluminium and its alloys with silicon or manganese and cored wires. Synergic curves are available both for pulse welding and for welding without pulses.

The chosen control system is easy to understand and easy to use, so that the training of the welding operator is short. The controlling electronics and microprocessor control are installed under the control panel of the feeder and do not bother uselessly the operator with a large number of data. The optimal configuration of individual elements (panels, interconnecting cables and other accessories) are chosen by customer in accordance with his need, corresponding to his particular purpose.

POWER FEED 10 is a new type of wire feeder. It contains complete control circuits and the controls for setting of the welding source POWER WAVE 455. New design of the feeding mechanism does not require for its maintenance and attendance any tools – replacement of rolls and cleaning. POWER FEED 10 is provided with automatic loading of wire.

Features of POWER WAVE 455/POWER FEED 10

Modular arrangement of this source and feeder enables easy maintenance, built-in thermal fuses against overloading and electronical protection against excessive current are for user an assurance of a high reliability of entire equipment. Welding source POWER WAVE 455 with feeder POWER FEED 10 are for the user the guarantee of high output, easy attendance, modern design and high reliability supported by 3-year warranty.

Detail information will be given by CZ WELD team.

CZ WELD s.r.o., Pod brizkami 800, 530 02 Pardubice, Czech Republic, tel./fax: +420 466 303 210
info@czweld.cz, http://www.czweld.cz