Coded welding consumable
First Claim
1. A method of encoding data on a metal welding wire including the steps of:
- a) moving a welding wire along a path;
b) providing coded information;
c) providing an encoding mechanism along said path to impart the coded information on to said welding wire; and
, d) activating said encoding mechanism to impart said coded information on to said welding wire as said welding wire moves past said encoding mechanism.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Information pertaining to characteristics of consumables such as metal welding electrode wire and shielding gas and which characteristics are useful in connection with adjusting welding parameters in an arc welding process and/or selecting between operating modes in a welding system are encoded on welding wire and/or on other memory components such as bar code labels and tags, RFID cards and tags, IC cards, and Touch Memory buttons, and the memory device is scanned prior to and/or at the point of use of the welding wire or shielding gas for enabling tracking of product distribution, manual and/or automatic selection of an operating mode for the welding system, manual and/or automatic adjustment of welding parameters in a given operating mode, consumables inventory, and the like.
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Citations
76 Claims
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1. A method of encoding data on a metal welding wire including the steps of:
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a) moving a welding wire along a path;
b) providing coded information;
c) providing an encoding mechanism along said path to impart the coded information on to said welding wire; and
,d) activating said encoding mechanism to impart said coded information on to said welding wire as said welding wire moves past said encoding mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of controlling an electric arc welding process having a plurality of operating conditions and wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing welding wire and the workpiece, including the steps of:
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a) scanning a welding accessory for coded information on said welding accessory; and
,b) monitoring, controlling and/or selecting at least one of the plurality of operating conditions in response to said coded information obtained from said welding accessory. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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- 60. A system for controlling an electric arc welding process wherein a welding wire is advanced toward a workpiece and a welding arc is established between the advancing wire and the workpiece comprising a stored source of coded information on a welding accessory, a scanner to scan the coded information and output a signal indicative of said coded information, and a control mechanism to monitor, select and/or control the operation of the welding process in accordance with said signal.
- 73. A welder for performing a welding process, said welder comprising a feeder for directing welding wire toward a workpiece from a supply of welding wire in a container, said welding wire including coded information related to the end of the wire in the container, a code reader to detect said coded information, and an indicator that indicates that said container is nearly empty of said wire.
Specification