1. Welding Processes Power Supply

Commercial welders are aware that the selection of a welding process to be used depends on and is determined by the characteristics of the joint, as well as the materials used including the design of the joint, the materials’ shape and thickness. The good commercial welder also knows that he has to consider the production requirements as well, including the rate and the quality.

After the welding process has been determined by the arc welder, that the proper power supply and welding equipment are chosen. In other words, it is the welding process that is the primary factor in the selection of the power supply that is to be used. In this article and in the ones that follow will be presented a guide concerning the power supplies for the welding processes that have been especially used in the past ten years.

The welding processes have once been considered as special, yet today they could be found in all spheres of metal fabrication. All fabricating shops are now using welding processes due to their qualitative and economic advantages.

Multiprocess welders know that the control and power requirements for these processes are much more sophisticated than the ones applied in the stick electrode welding and in the conventional shielded metal arc welding. Since not every stick welder is an electrical specialist, one might find it difficult to select the proper power supply. The aim of this article and the ones that follow under the same theme, is to examine the power requirements that should be followed in the production welding process.

In general, multiprocess welders recognize two main types of power supply. These include the constant current and the constant voltage. With the constant current power supply the voltage drops as the welding current increases. With the constant voltage power supply, the current may go from zero to a very high short circuit current.