Journal of Power Electronics

The Korean Institute of Power Electronics (전력전자학회)
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Torch motor control algorithm for low spatter CO2 arc welding of ultra-thin steel sheets

  • Kang, Dong-Hun (Department of Electrical Engineering, Myongji University) ;
  • Lee, Woo-Seok (Department of Electrical Engineering, Myongji University) ;
  • Choi, Seung-Won (Department of Electrical Engineering, Myongji University) ;
  • Lee, Jun-Young (Department of Electrical Engineering, Myongji University) ;
  • Lee, Il-Oun (Department of Electrical Engineering, Myongji University) ;
  • Park, Jun-Sung (Hyundai Welding Company)
  • Received : 2020.02.05
  • Accepted : 2020.05.04
  • Published : 2020.07.20
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Abstract

Low spatter CO2 arc welding is often used for ultra-thin steel sheets with a thickness of under 1.0-mm. In this paper, a high speed forward and reverse motion control algorithm for the motor in a welding torch and a dedicated controller for it are presented. The dedicated controller is designed with a motor driver IC (A3930) and a DSP (TMS320F-28069) coded with the proposed motion control algorithm. It is easy to optimize the operating parameters in the proposed algorithm according to various thin steel sheets. Since the torch motor must be able to feed or retract welding wire at a high speed while cooperating with the brushed DC motor in the wire feeder, the performance required in selecting the torch motor is examined and presented in this paper. With the proposed control algorithm, an optimal torch motor and the developed controller, the feeding and retracting motions of the welding wire at high speeds are possible. This results in low heat inputs to the base material and low spatter short-circuiting transfer. To verify the superiority of CO2 arc welding with the proposed torch motor control algorithm and the developed controller, an arc welding robot prototype system was fabricated and 100% purity CO2 gas arc welding with thin steel plates with a thickness of 0.8-mm was performed. This was accomplished with an interlocking a 50 W class brushless DC motor as the torch motor, the developed low spatter motion controller and an arc welding power supply.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (no. 2018R1D1A1B07048209).

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