An apparatus and system for preheating and removing surface oxidation of welding wire using electric arcs one via one or more tungsten electrodes is disclosed. The preheating and cleaning electric arcs may occur between tungsten electrodes, or between one or more tungsten electrodes and welding wire. Electric arc preheating of welding wire allows increased efficiency and deposition rates.

An energy storage module (ESM) is provided for connecting to a welding or cutting machine (WCM). The ESM has a controller for connecting to a communication link (CM) to communicate with the WCM when the ESM is connected to the WCM. The ESM also has a battery pack to store electrical energy and output DC electrical power to be used by the WCM, under control of the controller. Electrical input power provided to the WCM from an electrical grid or a renewable energy source during a welding or cutting operation can be supplemented or replaced by the DC electrical power from the ESM. The ESM further has regulation circuitry to regulate the DC electrical power output from the battery pack. The controller controls the regulation circuitry based on identification data received over the CM from the WCM to regulate the DC electrical power to be electrically compatible with the WCM.

A method includes ramping down a welding current, generated by a power supply, that reaches a welding zone via a welding circuit, storing inductive energy from the welding circuit that is generated as a result of the ramping down to obtain stored energy, and selectively feeding the stored energy to the welding circuit.

The invention relates to an energy supply system for a mobile resistance welding machine for flash-butt welding of track rails, comprising a combustion engine (1) coupled to a generator (2) as well as a charging device (5) for charging an energy store (7), wherein the energy store (7) is a buffer element of an intermediate circuit (13) to which a welding inverter (14) is connected. In this, the energy supply system comprises an island grid to which the generator (2) is connected and which is coupled to the intermediate circuit (13) by a controlled power converter (16).

A method and apparatus for providing welding-type power is disclosed. It includes an input circuit, a dc bus, an output circuit, and a control module. The input circuit receives power and provides an intermediate signal to the bus. The output circuit receives the dc bus and provides an ac welding-type output. The output circuit includes a half-bridge output inverter with at least first and second switches. The output inverter further includes an output control circuit. The output control circuit provides freewheeling paths that includes control switches, the output, antiparallel diodes. The control module has a four quadrant control module that provides control signals to the half bridge output inverter and provides modulating control signals to the first and second output control switches. The modulating signals cause the output control switches to be turned on and off multiple times to control a rate of change of output current.

A power supply system includes multiple power supply devices including a first power supply device and a second power supply device that are connected in common to a load. The first power supply device calculates control information for controlling voltage or current to be output to the load and controls the output to the load based on the calculated control information while transmitting the control information to the second power supply device. The second power supply device receives the control information and controls the output to the load based on the received control information while detecting current to be output from its own device to the load and transmitting current information to the first power supply device. The first power supply device receives the current information transmitted from the second power supply device and calculates control information based on the received current information and the current and voltage detected by its own device.

Apparatus, systems, and/or methods for weld wire preheating are disclosed. Some examples of the present disclosure relate to welding-type systems that use one or more preheaters to heat welding wire prior to an arc and/or deposition on a weldment. The welding wire may have one or more characteristics. A preheating control may determine a governing characteristic of the one or more welding wire characteristics and establish a threshold temperature and/or target temperature based on the governing characteristic. The preheating control may further control the one or more preheaters based on the threshold temperature and/or target temperature, in order to avoid a deformation and/or degradation of the welding wire that would impact column strength, wire feeding, weld process stability, and/or welding consumable longevity.

Methods and apparatus to control engine speed of a power system are disclosed. An example power system includes: an engine; a generator configured to generate electrical power from mechanical power delivered by the engine; a switched-mode power supply configured to convert the electrical power from the generator to output power; and control circuitry configured to: monitor an input current to the switched-mode power supply; and in response to the input current exceeding a threshold current, incrementally increasing a speed of the engine.

A welding system includes an engine configured to drive a generator to produce a first power output. The welding system also includes a battery configured to discharge energy to produce a second power output. In addition, the welding system includes an auxiliary charger coupled to the battery and the generator. The auxiliary charger is configured to maintain a float charge of the battery when the first and second power outputs are reduced from a base load.

Systems and methods for a welding-type power supply to provide both a welding output voltage and a battery charging output voltage. The power supply includes a first contactor associated with a first circuit to provide the welding output voltage, and a second contactor associated with a second circuit to provide the battery charging output voltage. An auxiliary switch is operatively coupled to the second contactor, to prevent the first circuit from closing when the second contactor is closed to prevent transmission of the welding output voltage to the second circuit.