Lincoln Electric Enhances Welding Equipment and Software with New Technology to Better Measure Heat Input
Lincoln introduces new technology in anticipation of ASME Code changes
Cleveland - The Lincoln Electric Company has equipped its Power Wave® advanced welding power sources with proprietary new technology that more accurately measures the heat input of welds.
Heat input calculations are used extensively in industrial welding, but recent advances in welding technology have created the need to modify the traditional method for measuring heat input. For years, energy measurements have been taken from the average voltage and current of a weld. This worked well for high-energy welding processes, such as spray arc.
The conventional measurements have grown less usable, however, with more advanced welding processes that produce rapidly changing outputs, such as short arc and pulse modes.
To resolve this issue, Lincoln Electric developed True Energy(TM), a new method of measuring instantaneous energy values throughout an entire weld sequence to calculate the total amount of power put into a weld. This value, in conjunction with the length of the weld, more accurately determines the heat input.
More than three years ago, an ASME task group was formed to review issues surrounding welding with complex waveforms from microprocessor-controlled power sources. In anticipation of pending code changes, Lincoln Electric has embedded True Energy technology into each of its Power Wave welding power source models.
The ASME task group has proposed a third method of determining heat input, which requires the accurate measurement of the energy input to the weld. Determining heat input can be accomplished very simply by reading the True Energy value from the power source display and dividing by the length of the weld.
Lincoln Electric's Production Monitoring(TM) 2 software also can display True Energy values and help production teams monitor many other weld data points, such as arc on-time, weld faults and wire usage.
Production Monitoring 2 software allows remote monitoring and review of critical real-time weld data from any number of networked welding stations from anywhere in the world.
As part of Lincoln Electric's commitment to supporting both its power source technology and the welding industry, free software upgrades that include True Energy for many Power Wave power sources are available at www.powerwavesoftware.com.
To request a copy of Lincoln's True Energy literature, call (888) 355-3213 or visit www.lincolnelectric.com to obtain Bulletin NX-1.40.
The Lincoln Electric Company, headquartered in Cleveland, is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, fume extraction equipment and plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. The company holds a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market.
Lincoln Electric c/o Ultimate Lead Systems, Inc.,
P.O. Box 739, Berea, OH 44017.
