WCN Autumn 2010

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WCN Issue N° 43 6
Single phase AC welders are under pressure of extinction
due to new regulations coming up from several electric
companies that require high demand customers such as
customers that use electric resistance welders to have
balanced loads on their electric systems. Another reason
that we all have to respect is efficiency and conservation of
energy. An unbalanced electrical load/system is not efficient
and therefore losses of electric energy occur.
The most commonly used AC welding control technology
is single-phase. The majority of users try to balance the
loads by connecting resistance welders to different phases,
but this is commonly misinterpreted. When a single-phase
resistance welder is used, the load can increase from zero
to over 1,000 Amps only at a single phase. It is difficult to
synchronise multiple resistance welders to weld at the same
exact time for the same exact period of time unless all the
welders are connected with a main control. This cannot be
accomplished when these different welders are welding
different material because the welding times and parameters
are governed by each jobs’ material physical properties.
The solution to this problem is the use of three-phase welder
controls. The three electric phases are converted to DC
and then passed to the welding transformer. The result is
balanced load.
Another very important attribute of the DC welder is that the
time of the weld can be controlled very accurately. On the
AC welding control the minimum weld time is a cycle, for
example, on a 60Hz system, 1/60th of a second. On the
DC welder controlling the welding time is easy as low as
a millisecond (1/1000th of a second). There is also tighter
control of the electrical parameters and therefore we can
produce better quality welds for less energy. DC welding
provides more consistent and enhanced quality welds than
the older AC technology, resulting in increased performance.
The drawback to this technology is initial cost, which,
following the basic rules of economics, hopefully will
decrease as demand and supply increases.
The automatic welder option installed on AIM equipment
uses a DC mid-frequency control that allows the user to
define the weld times in milliseconds. Welding schedules
and parameters for each individual job are saved with the
job data on a single file, thus providing time savings for
setup.
The AccuForm product line, and its options, is offered for
both 2D and 3D capabilities with wire bending capacities up
to 16mm (5/8") and carries a two-year limited warranty.
AIM Inc – USA
Fax: +1 630 458 0730
Email:
Website:
Single-phase AC welders facing extinction?
AIMwelder in action ▲ ▲
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