Patent ID: 6359258
Filing Date: 2002-03-19
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
A method of determining the inductance of the network connecting an electrical power supply to an electric arc welding station including an electrode and a workpiece, said method comprising:(a) shorting the electrode to the workpiece; (b) creating at least one waveform including a first state operating said power supply at constant current of a selected value and a second state operating said power supply at a low value of current or of open circuit voltage whereby said current decays from said selected value along a decay path; (c) obtaining the average current Iavg and average resistance Ravg during said first state; (d) selecting a time portion t of said path; (e) sampling the instantaneous current It for a number of times n during said time portion; (f) obtaining the instantaneous inductance Lt of said network by multiplying the negative of the average resistance Ravg by the time t and dividing the product by the natural log function of It/Iavg.