Controls & Transformers
Questions and Answers
A ground reactor is a safety device. It and direct grounding are the two methods of grounding a resistance welding machine. A ground reactor is used to detect over voltage in the secondary circuits of the resistance welding systems especially when direct grounding of the secondary circuits are not practical. A typical application would be a portable weld gun installation. Other applications could include robots, series welding or push-pull welding circuits in multispot welders.
GROUND REACTOR
The ground reactor is designed to react to any voltage in the secondary above a predetermined set safe voltage. If an unsafe voltage is detected the ground reactor becomes saturated and immediately provides the secondary a direct path to ground. The secondary current dumps to ground and trips the breaker or fuse at the buss. This ground reactor saturation is demonstrated by the graph below:
GROUND REACTOR % OF THRESHOLD VOLTAGE
The ground reactor can also be an aid when the standard ground wire is overheating and double grounding is not the cause. It could be that circulating ground currents are present. The ground reactors can detect and react to their presence and help eliminate the potential random poor welds these circulating currents can cause.
Contact your local distributor or machine builder for the proper method to ground new resistance welding equipment.
References: RWMA Resistance Welding Manual- 4th Edition
RWMA Bulletin 16
Roman Manufacturing Inc.
Transformers are very robust pieces of machinery if sized and maintained properly. If not and the transformer fails for some reason, the primary voltage could be transmitted into the secondary coil. This is a serious SAFETY situation and a problem for the machine components. Some secondary components in the machine may not be able to handle the higher voltages. People should be safe since they should not be in contact with the weld parts during welding. Hand held guns would be an exception and could be a safety problem.
To alleviate the transformer short and safety problem all machines are designed to have a direct connection to ground. The transformer secondary/machine is normally grounded. In the case of the handheld gun a ground reactor might be a good option to insure safety.
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GROUND REACTOR
The main goal of safety is to detect the sudden high voltage and cause a high current to flow to ground and trip the safety devices (fuse or breaker) which will shut the equipment down.
This Personal safety is provided by having a direct ground on the secondary or a ground reactor or other device as described by ANSI/AWS Z 49.1 Section 12.4.6
Other articles that relate to this subject in this blog are:
WHY DID THE RESISTANCE WELDING TRANSFORMERS SHORT OUT BETWEEN THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COILS?
IN WIRE MESH WELDING WHAT INSULATION OR GROUNDING STEPS MIGHT BE TAKEN TO INSURE SAFETY?
References:RWMA – RWMA Resistance Welding Manual 4th Edition
American Welding Society – ANSI/AWS Z 49.1 Sec 12.4.6
Roman Mfg.
Constant current is a very useful feature of today’s controls. If this feature is present and you ask for 10,000 amps. The control will deliver that amperage each weld. The control adjusts its conduction and voltage to deliver the current specified. This is considered Conduction Monitoring and may be called C-Factor.
Conduction Monitoring or C-Factor monitor the AC sine wave. Once the proper settings are arrived at and set up in the control an alarm can be set to alert for any deviation. If the control was set at 50% with a plus or minus 10% tolerance, an alarm would be triggered for any variance greater than 10%. The alert does not indicate the cause for the variance. Just that it has happened. Ther cause is usually related to some change in secondary resistance. The normal causes are cables, shunts, misplaced welds, loose connections or shunting currents. There are many other possibilities not listed.
The important question is: What is the weld quality? \Secondly, is there a substandard cable, shunt, connection, water cooling or other conductor??? The electrode overheating is not usually the cause for the alarm. Often current steppers are used to increase the current to match the current increase to the electrode face area increase/wear.
Conduction Monitors can only say something has caused a need for a change in power. The cause must be determined by investigation.
Monitoring the weld nugget quality being produced is always the most important control.
Reference: RWMA - Resistance Welding Manual 4th Edition
A reader after reading the article:
What is the switching device in an inverter?
Asked how many times does the IGBT switch per second? The mid frequency direct current controls that dominate the resistance welding market operate at 1000Hz.
The IGBT’s are very fast and efficiently switch at a rate of 1000 times per second. There is an upslope as the current rises from zero to the desired level. On efficient systems this can be as fast as 3 milliseconds. This can be seen in the following diagram. There is a similar downslope.
Conversion In Control and Transformer of Mid Frequency Inverter
This diagram is more fully explained in the article:
The MFDC wave form diagram is not clear
Reference RWMA – Resistance Welding Manual 4th Edition
Installation of equipment is a very important subject. Transformers are a key component of a resistance welder and must be installed and tested properly.
American Welding Society offers a standard on installation:
“AWS J1.2 Guide to Installation and Maintenance of Resistance Welding Machines”
This blog is not able to discuss individual machine installation and set-up. Consult your equipment supplier or local distributors for assistance.
Reference: American Welding Society
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