SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MULTIPLE PROCESSES IN A WELDING-TYPE POWER SOURCE USING A REFINED CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE

• US 20090101637A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Inventors: Geissler, Steven J., Madsen, Michael D., Batzler, Todd G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,789,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/660
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/1062 with computing means

Abstract

A system and method for operating an welding-based power source includes an welding-type power source includes a power conditioner configured to receive power from a power source and condition the power to have characteristics within a predefined set of thresholds and an inverter configured to receive the conditioned power from the power conditioner and convert the conditioned power to AC power. The welding-type power source also includes a rectifier configured to convert the AC power to DC welding-type power to drive a welding-type process and a processor segregated into at least two functional modules. The processor may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based processor. A first functional module is configured to control the power conditioner to condition the power to have characteristics within the predefined set of thresholds and a second functional module is configured to control the inverter to convert the conditioned power to AC power.

Claims

1. An welding-type power source comprising:

a power conditioner configured to receive power from a power source and condition the power to have characteristics within a predefined set of thresholds;

an inverter configured to receive the conditioned power from the power conditioner and convert the conditioned power to AC power;

a rectifier configured to convert the AC power to DC welding-type power to drive a welding-type process; and

a processor segregated into at least two functional modules;

wherein a first functional module is configured to control the power conditioner to condition the power to have characteristics within the predefined set of thresholds and a second functional module is configured to control the inverter to convert the conditioned power to AC power.

2. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein second functional module is configured to control switching signals communicated to the inverter to convert the conditioned power to AC power.

3. The welding-type power source of claim 1 further comprising a common clock providing a clock signal to the first functional module and the second functional module.

4. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein the first functional module and the second functional module operate independently in parallel.

5. The welding-type power source of claim 1 further comprising a cross-communications path between the first functional module and the second functional module.

6. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein the first functional module and the second functional module have differing word length definitions.

7. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein the processor is a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

8. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein the processor further includes a third functional module configured to control the welding-type process.

9. The welding-type power source of claim 1 further comprising another inverter configured to convert the DC welding-type power to AC welding-type power and wherein the processor includes a third functional module configured to control the another inverter.

10. The welding-type power source of claim 1 wherein the welding-type process includes at least one of a welding process, a plasma-cutting process, and an induction-heating process.

11. An welding-type power source comprising:

a power conditioner configured to condition an AC power;

a first rectifier configured to convert the AC power to DC power;

an inverter having a plurality of switches configured to receive the DC power from the rectifier and convert the DC power to AC power;

a second rectifier configured to convert the AC power to a DC welding-type power; and

an FPGA-based processor having a first functional module configured to control operation of the power conditioner and a second functional module configured to control operation of the inverter.

12. The welding-type power source of claim 11 wherein the first functional module and the second functional module are decoupled and operate independently

13. The welding-type power source of claim 11 wherein second functional module is configured to control switching of the plurality of switches to convert the DC power to AC power.

14. The welding-type power source of claim 11 further comprising a cross-communications path between the first functional module and the second functional module.

15. The welding-type power source of claim 11 further comprising a cross-communications path between the first functional module and the second functional module.

16. The welding-type power source of claim 11 wherein the first functional module and the second functional module have differing word length definitions.

17. A welding-type device comprising:

a power input configured to receive AC power;

a first rectifier configured to convert the AC power to DC power;

an inverter configured to receive the DC power from the rectifier and convert the DC power to AC power;

a second rectifier configured to receive the AC power from the inverter and convert the AC power to a welding-type power; and

an FPGA-based processor having first and second decoupled functional modules having different word lengths and wherein the first decoupled functional module is configured to control operation of the inverter.

18. The welding-type device of claim 17 further comprising at least one of a power conditioner and another inverter and wherein the second functional module is configured to control one of the power conditioner and the another inverter.

19. The welding-type device of claim 17 wherein the first functional module and the second functional module operate independently in parallel.

20. The welding-type device of claim 17 wherein the FPGA-based processor is free of soft cores.