US 12,233,490 B2
Welding power supply
Yuichi Miyajima, Osaka (JP)
Assigned to DAIHEN Corporation, Osaka (JP)
Filed by DAIHEN Corporation, Osaka (JP)
Filed on Jun. 10, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/435,714.
Claims priority of application No. 2018-114433 (JP), filed on Jun. 15, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2019/0381597 A1, Dec. 19, 2019
Int. Cl. B23K 9/10 (2006.01); H02J 7/00 (2006.01); H02M 7/06 (2006.01); H02M 7/539 (2006.01); H02J 7/34 (2006.01); H02M 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC B23K 9/1062 (2013.01) [B23K 9/1043 (2013.01); H02J 7/0068 (2013.01); H02M 7/06 (2013.01); H02M 7/539 (2013.01); H02J 7/345 (2013.01); H02M 1/0009 (2021.05)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A welding power supply for applying an alternating voltage across a welding electrode and a workpiece, comprising:
a DC power supply circuit that outputs DC power;
a first inverter circuit provided with a plurality of switching elements, the first inverter circuit being configured to receive the DC power from the DC power supply circuit to output AC power;
a current sensor that detects output current from the first inverter circuit; and
a controlling circuit that controls the DC power supply circuit and the first inverter circuit;
wherein, in switching an output polarity of the first inverter circuit, the controlling circuit is configured to in a single switching operation of output polarity of the first inverter circuit: (1) stop an output of the DC power supply circuit to the first inverter circuit; (2) then provide a short-circuit state of the output of the DC power supply circuit by setting all of the switching elements to ON, whereby the output current decreases during the short-circuit state; and (3) then switch one of the switching elements that was ON before the short-circuit state to OFF while simultaneously restarting the output of the DC power supply circuit to the first inverter circuit when an absolute value of an instantaneous value of the output current decreases to or below a first threshold value,
wherein the plurality of switching elements comprise at least a first switching element and a second switching element, and
in switching a state with the first switching element being ON to another state with the second switching element being ON, the controlling circuit is configured to:
set the first switching element to ON and set the second switching element to OFF in a period after the output of the DC power supply circuit is stopped as recited in (1) and before the short-circuit state is provided as recited in (2);
set both the first switching element and the second switching element to ON in a period after the short-circuit state is provided as recited in (2) and before the absolute value of the instantaneous value of the output current decreases to or below the first threshold value as recited in (3); and
set the first switching element to OFF and keep the second switching element to ON in a period after the absolute value of the instantaneous value of the output current decreases to or below the first threshold value as recited in (3) and the output of the DC power supply circuit to the first inverter circuit is restarted.