Patent ID: 8049139

Claim:
A system for determining characteristics of an electric arc welder or a metal consumable used by the electric arc welder, said system comprising: a circuit to calculate a total energy exerted by an electric arc welder over a period of welding the circuit includes, a current sensor that measures a current delivered by an electric arc welder during each weld time within said period of welding; a voltage sensor that measures a voltage delivered by an electric arc welder during each weld time within said period of welding; a first multiplier that multiplies the current and the voltage to obtain a weld power for each weld time; a second multiplier that multiplies the weld power and the weld time to obtain the total energy exerted over said period of welding; a divider to divide said total energy by a factor in the range of 3.2-4.2 to provide a representation of the weight of actual metal consumable used during said period of welding.