Patent ID: 7388171

Claim:
A power supply apparatus for use with a welding machine, comprising: a power supply input terminal to which a commercial AC power supply is coupled, and a main power switch coupled to said power supply input terminal, a desired one of welding conditions including welding modes and various parameters being set in said power supply apparatus, said power supply apparatus providing a welding output in accordance with the welding condition set therein; a control panel unit for use in setting said desired one of said welding conditions in said power supply apparatus; and memory means for storing, when said main power switch is turned off, the welding condition set in said power supply apparatus when said main power switch is turned off, wherein the welding condition stored in said memory means is set in said power supply apparatus when said main power supply switch is next turned on; wherein, when the peak current for a desired welding mode is set in said power supply apparatus, a base current, an initial current, a crater current, and an after-flow time period, for said set peak current, are automatically set, and a hot-start current, a pulse width, a pre-flow time period, an up-ramping time period, and a down-ramping time period are set to respective predetermined fixed values.