Performance Improvements in an Arc Welding Power Supply Based on Resonant Inverters Alejandro Navarro-Crespin, Student Member, IEEE, Rosario

Casanueva, Member, IEEE, Francisco J. Azcondo, Senior Member, IEEE

Dept. of Electronics Technology, Systems and Automation Engineering University of Cantabria Santander, Spain anavarro@teisa.unican.es, casanuer@unican.es, azcondof@unican
Abstract -- This paper describes improvements developed in an arc welding power supply based on resonant inverters. A new stand-by operation sequence based on sliding phase is proposed in order to reduce the discharge capacitor size. This stand-by solution also relieves the voltage specification of the resonant inductor. The interleaving operation of paralleled stages and the output connection wires are used to minimize the output capacitor current ripple and so extend the power supplys lifetime. Moreover, synchronous rectification is proposed in order to increase the efficiency and reduce the operation temperature of the output power stage. Finally, sequences are described for establishing and extinguishing arcs. TIG welding is selected for testing operations. Index Terms--Arc welding, resonant power conversion, switched-mode power supplies, synchronous rectification.

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the welding power supply.

I. INTRODUCTION TIG welding uses dc, pulsed dc or ac power supplies. Of these, dc sources provide constant polarity current, resulting in high arc stability. Resonant converters are applied in the control of discharges including lighting, induction heating, arc welding, etc. Using this converter topology, small-size, light-weight and high-efficiency systems can be obtained. With high-frequency technology, it is possible to incorporate all the features of the shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) modes of welding, which makes the equipment multifunctional. The system is a flexible power supply configured in current mode operation, which is able to adapt to other continuous current mode operation. This paper deals with the improvements developed. TIG welding tests have been carried out to obtain the results in this paper. The issues to improve the welding operations proposed in this work are: - Stand-by operation. - Resonant inductance specifications. - Interleaving effects in output capacitor current. - Synchronous rectification. - Establishing and extinguishing arc sequence. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE WELDING POWER SUPPLY The system is a flexible power supply designed as a current source [1], corresponding to the block diagram shown in Fig 1 which consists of the following stages:

Input stage: The objective of the power factor correction (PFC) is to act as an ideal resistor emulator converting the main ac voltage into a dc stabilized voltage. This enables the power distribution system to operate more efficiently, reducing energy consumption and eliminating the reactive energy. Resonant inverter stage: a two-phase resonant inverter is used to transform the dc voltage into a high-frequency ac current (dc/ac). The inverter is designed as a current source. At the unloaded resonant frequency, the resonant circuit has an inductive behavior and the switches are turned-on at zero voltage (ZVS) for all load conditions, which leads to minimum switching losses. The resonant inverter stage is composed of modules which supply up to 25 A. Transformer: This stage increases the current to supply the weld with the specified current level. Rectification stage: it is a high-frequency half-wave rectifier that converts the ac current into a dc current with an overlapped high-frequency ripple. A discharge capacitor is required to establish the arc. Control circuit: performs several functions, such as: - Generation of switching signals. - Setting the pulsating modes. - Setting the operating point at the maximum current or at different reduced current levels under the same stability conditions. - Fixing the stand-by and over voltage at around 40 V. - The digital circuit is designed to control up to twentyfour 25-A modules. At present, operation of 12 modules (300 A) has been tested.

978-1-4244-6395-4/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

III. IMPROVEMENTS 3.1. Stand-by operation Fig. 2 shows the two-phase resonant inverter obtained from the parallel connection of two class D LCsCp resonant inverters [2], [3].

resonant inverter is very low so the output voltage decreases drastically as shown in Fig. 5. In stand-by, due to the resonant circuit operation, the output voltage rises quickly [4] when switching at 125 kHz, until reaching a threshold. This limit, set at 40 V to protect the power supply, is implemented by means of an optocoupler. After this highest threshold has been reached, the resonant stage switches at 250 kHz and so the voltage falls to the lowest threshold (hysteresis inherent for this device) where the resonant stage will switch at 125 kHz again, and so on until the weld operation starts.
Qp dielectric breakdown

LOAD

Voltage gain

Qp Qp short circuit

arc

Fig. 2. Block diagram of the resonant inverter.

In welding operation, the circuit operates as a current source switching at 125 kHz, which is the unloaded resonant frequency. The maximum current is obtained when M1 and M3 switch synchronously and alternately to M2 and M4, as shown in Fig. 3. The output current level can be reduced introducing a phase-shift () between the drive signals of each inverter, as shown in Fig. 4. The output voltage is imposed by the welding process from 6 V to 15 V, in the case of TIG welding, up to 35 V, for SMAW. In stand-by conditions, the circuit has to be protected against over voltage. This voltage charges the output capacitor that provides the electric discharge necessary to establish the arc.

125 kHz

250 kHz

f (kHz)

Fig. 5. Resonant inverter voltage gain vs. frequency.

In Fig. 6(a), the output voltage of the arc welding power supply, vo, is shown in open circuit conditions. A new method is proposed to minimize the output voltage ripple, amplitude and frequency under open circuit conditions. The practical advantage of the method is the significant size reduction of the output capacitor.

vo

Fig. 3. On phase. (a)

20 V/div, 100 ms/div

vo

10 V/div, 100 ms/div

Fig. 4. Sliding phase.

For turning the power supply off, the switching frequency is fixed at 250 kHz, at this frequency the voltage gain of the

(b) Fig. 6. Output voltage in stand-by operation: a) open circuit in current system and b) soft start.

An improved operation mode is achieved when a sliding phase is introduced (soft-start), decreasing the output current level as well as the resonant inverter voltage gain. Fig. 6(b) shows the output voltage, vo, in this operation mode. As observed, the output ripple and amplitude are reduced and the frequency is increased which allows the size to be reduced and extends the life of the output capacitor.
(a) (b)

3.2. Resonant inductance specifications The resonant inverter stage is composed of modules which supply up to 25 A. Every module has been designed to work at 1 kW as maximum power. In nominal behavior, the drop voltage in the resonant inductor is about 1 kV but in stand-by operation, this voltage increases up to 1.3 kV as shown in Fig. 7(a). For this reason, the specification in resonant inductance should be higher, increasing its size and weight. By means of the sliding phase described in Section 3.1, lower energy circulates in the resonant tank reducing the maximum resonant inductor voltage (around 800 V), as shown in the lower trace of Fig. 7(b), which means that the voltage specification does not exceed the voltage required for the nominal operation.

Fig. 8. Output current: a) on-phase and b) interleaving operation.

vL

Further reduction of the capacitor current ripple is achieved by the interleaving operation of paralleled stages [5], [6]. In this mode, the MOSFETs drive signals of one stage are delayed 90 degrees with respect to the others. The theoretical output current waveforms of on-phase and interleaved operation are depicted in Fig. 8. Instantaneous output voltage differences between two paralleled stages, which occur in the interleaving operation, drop across the connection wires. The wire impedance prevents cross-current conduction between paralleled stages. The benefit of the interleaving operation is shown in Fig. 9, in which the output capacitor ripple in the case of on-phase and interleaving operation are compared. Fig. 9 also includes the waveforms of one rectifier diode voltage of two paralleled stages. In Fig. 9(b) a 90-degree phase difference between the diode voltages can be observed.

500 V/div, 10 s/div

(a)
1 kV/div, 20 s/div

(a)

vL

(b) Fig. 7. Resonant inductor voltage in stand-by operation: a) open circuit without sliding phase and b) open circuit with sliding phase.

3.3. Interleaving effects in output capacitor current The transformer supplies a high-frequency current. After rectification, the ac component is removed by the inductance of the wires that connect the converter output to the torch.

(b) Fig. 9. Ac current in capacitor (Ch1), output current (Ch2), VD1,1 (Ch3), VD2,1 (Ch4): a) on-phase and b) interleaving operation. Ch1: 25 A/div; Ch2: 20 A/div; Ch3, Ch4: 20 V/div; time scale: 4 s/div.

Fig. 10 shows the effect of the wire impedance and the interleaving operation in the output capacitor current. Fig. 10(a) shows the capacitor current and the output current with the capacitor in position Pos 1 (see Fig. 11). Fig. 10(b) shows the same waveforms with the capacitor in position Pos 2 (see Fig. 11). Fig. 10(c) shows the same waveforms with the capacitor in position Pos 2 (see Fig. 11) and interleaving operation.

2 Pdiode = V f I o,dc + rd I o,rms

(1) (2)

PMOSFET = Rds ( on ) I o2,rms

Synchronous rectification (SR) is used in applications in which low voltage, high current and fast dynamic response are required. Improved performance and thermal behavior and reduced size are achieved by using this technique. Depending on how the MOSFETs drive signals are generated, two types of SR are distinguished: 1) self driven and 2) external driven: 1) Self driven: The main advantage is its simplicity because no further signals are required [8]-[10]. This type of SR is used in topologies where fast switching transition leads to short deadtime, reducing the power losses that the current circulating across the MOSFETs body diodes would produce otherwise. As a limitation, the correct MOSFET excitation depends on the drain to source voltage; to establish a dead time between two synchronous rectifiers, a low voltage does not turn the switches on. If the resulting dead time is long, it may lead to high switching losses. 2) External driven: In this type of rectification the MOSFETs drive signals are generated by an external control circuit [11], [12]. The main advantages are: Since the MOSFETs drive signals depend of the control circuit, the dead time can be managed efficiently, decreasing power losses on the parasitic diode. The gate to source voltage is independent of the drain to source voltage. On the other hand, the drawbacks are: There is no automatic synchronism between power and control stages, so the external circuit is responsible for driving the devices. The drive signal may require galvanic isolation. In this case a pulse transformer or opto-coupler with the appropriate bandwidth should be selected. External power supplies are required. For this application, the external driven mode, by means of an IC driver, is selected [13], [14]. As mentioned in [13], the rectifier currents in the two secondary legs are sensed using the power MOSFET Rds(on) as a shunt resistance. The MOSFET drive signals are generated by comparing the sensed voltage to three thresholds. The core of this device is the two high-speed comparators which differentially sense the drain-to-source voltage of the switch, in order to determine the polarity and level of the switch currents. Then, a dedicated internal logic manages the MOSFET switching in close proximity to the zero current transition, assuring accurate performance without needing a PLL or an external timing source. Additionally, an internal

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 10. Ac current in capacitor (Ch1) and output current (Ch2): a) capacitor in Pos 1, b) capacitor in Pos 2 and c) capacitor un Pos 2 and interleaving operation. Ch1: 25 A/div; Ch2: 20 A/div; time scale: 4 s/div.

Fig. 11. HF rectification.

3.4. Synchronous rectification Traditionally, the rectifier devices are diodes, but due to the evolution of the MOSFETs [7], in some applications it is possible to use them to reduce conduction losses:

blanking logic is used to prevent spurious gate transitions and to guarantee operation in fixed and variable frequency operation modes. By implementing this rectification technique (see Fig. 12), the dissipated power is reduced and consequently the rectifier device temperature, leading to better performance. Thus, the size of the heatsink can also be reduced and the total size will be less for this stage and so to the overall system. The prototype built for this application is composed of twelve 25 A modules, making up a total system that can supply up to 300 A.

95 mm

Fig. 13. Rectification stage using diodes.

67 mm

Fig. 12. Synchronous rectification based on IC driver.

Different tests have been performed to compare the efficiency using diodes vs. power MOSFETs as a SR. The power Schottky diodes are IXYS Semiconductor DSS 2X101-015A (VRRM = 150 V, IFAV = 2x100 A, VF = 0.77 V) and the power MOSFETs are IRLS4030 (VDSS = 100 V, ID = 190 A, RDS(on)max. = 3.9 m). These tests are carried out using a 2 resistor. The results are shown in Table I. The input power is measured at the input of the inverter stage and the output voltage is measured at the load calculating the output power.
TABLE I COMPARISON: DIODES VS. MOSFETS

Fig. 14. Rectification stage using external driven MOSFETs.

Pin,ms(W) Diodes MOSFETs 930 952

Vout,rms(V) 39.8 40.6

Pout,rms(W) 792.02 824.18

(%) 85.16 86.57

As shown in Table I, the results obtained using power MOSFETs are better than using diodes. Using synchronous rectification, the power loss has been improved 1.41 W in each rectifier stage. Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 show photographs of different layouts of the output stage without heatsinks and the size reduction of the rectification stage can be observed.

3.5. Establishing and extinguishing arc sequence Different analyses of arc discharge have been carried out over time [15], [16] to determine criteria for arc ignition. Three methods can be used to start the arc: 1. contact [17], [18], 2. applying a high-voltage pulse or 3. high-voltage high-frequency ac pulses (HV-HF) [19], [20]. Method 1 is selected since no extra circuitry is required and it is compatible with the proposed rectifier stages (either Schottky diodes or synchronous rectification). Furthermore, a modification of this technique is presented to establish the welding arc minimizing damage to the metal parts and reducing electromagnetic interferences (EMI) produced in electronic devices located near the circuit compared to the HV-HF method. When the arc starts or ends, two types of damage can be produced: a) electrode and workpiece deterioration and possible contamination can occur due to the welding sparks, and b) a crater can be formed which will be the origin of cracks in the welded part. To minimize or even eliminate these negative effects, the

proposed system can establish the arc welding touching the electrodes together at a low current level and then increasing up to the required current by means of the sliding phase, as explained in Section 3.1 (Fig. 4), in a period denominated upslope. Due to the use of a control circuit based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, the period of the up-slope can be easily changed according to the operation needs. Similarly a down-slope period is defined to extinguish the arc. A sliding phase is performed in order to slowly reduce the output current level. Fig. 15 shows photographs of two weld beads with different extinguishing arc sequences. The tests have been carried out on 3 mm thick AISI 316 steel plates, for a current setup of the power supply of 100 A. In Fig. 15(a), the arc is abruptly finished and in Fig. 15(b) the output current was reduced with a down-slope of ~14 A/s. Differences are found in the resulting crater size.

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[5]

[6]

[7]

Crater =6 mm

Crater =2.5 mm
[8] [9]

(a)

(b)

[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Fig. 15. Extinguishing arc: (a) abrupt and (b) by means of a down-slope.

IV. CONCLUSIONS In this paper, improvements for an arc-welding power supply based on resonant inverters have been developed. The output voltage ripple, amplitude and frequency under open circuit conditions have been reduced by means of a sliding phase, which increases the life time of the output capacitor. In the same way, the resonant inductance voltage in stand-by operation has been reduced in order to reduce its size and weight. The effects of the ac output current have been shown and have been improved by means of interleaving the current ripple of different stages. The diodes of the rectifier stage have been replaced by power MOSFETs in order to increase performance and reduce temperature in these rectifier devices and to achieve a smaller layout of this stage. Finally, an improved method for starting and extinguishing the arc has been developed to reduce damage in the welded parts. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work is sponsored by the Spanish Government in the framework of the project CICYT TEC2008-01753 entitled: Digital power processing for the control of gaseous discharges.