Patent ID: 9662735
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: B23K

Claim:
1. A welding wire feeder comprising: a welding wire feed drive configured to drive welding wire towards a welding application; wire feed control circuitry coupled to the welding wire feed drive and configured to control the drive of welding wire towards the welding application; a power relay configured to receive input power and to close to convey the input power to an operational component of the welding wire feeder, wherein the operational component comprises the welding wire feed drive, the wire feed control circuitry, or any combination thereof; bypass circuitry coupled in parallel to the power relay and configured to carry the input power during opening and closing of the power relay, wherein the bypass circuitry comprises a drive circuit and at least one solid state switch responsive to drive signals from the drive circuit; and control circuitry coupled to the power relay and to the bypass circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to apply a first signal to the power relay to close a first current carrying path of the input power to the operational component through the power relay, and the control circuitry is configured to apply a second signal to the bypass circuitry to close a second current carrying path of the input power to the operational component through the bypass circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to apply the second signal to the bypass circuitry to close the second current carrying path at a first time and to apply the first signal to the power relay to close the first current carrying path at a second time, after the first time.