What does it take to learn how to design this type of devices ?

[BGAmodzX]

Hello everybody.

I will give you a little glance of my current profile.

I have two diplomas in manufacturing process techniques even though in shoes it can be applied to many forms of products.
Another diploma in automated systems maintenance.

My current occupation is a welding machine maintenance agent working solo.

Now i want to try my luck into manufacturing a welding inverter be it IGBT based or MOSFET based or any other semiconductor technology.

But i need some material as well as the stuff i need to study or test in my work bench.

I know this may be off topic but i must say that after finishing my two diplomas i got sick and had a mental illness for a couple of years which required treatment of course.

But now i am ready to get back on track despite my hesitation.

Here is some pics :

 

[alec_t]

Even low-powered inverters can be tricky to construct successfully. I suggest you start with something less ambitious, and less potentilly dangerous, than a welding one. You could Google 'inverter schematic' for some circuits and study those, and there are numerous inverter-related threads on this and other forums which indicate the problems that constructors have had to overcome.

 

[shortbus=]

I would add not to use a cheap one as a model to emulate. There are different price ranges of inverter welders, and the low priced ones do one or more of two things. Either they have a very low welding time, usually 10 minutes out of 60 minutes. Or they don't have a long lifetime.

There are many things over the years I skimped on, welding machines isn't one of them. Although not familiar with the brand you show, it seems to have been made in China, kind of a crap shoot with the different ones made there, some very bad some very good. Price will usually give a good idea though.

 

[BGAmodzX]

The chinese models seem easy to emulate.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The chinese models seem easy to emulate.

Then why are you asking? - and how do you expect to compete on price?.

 

[BGAmodzX]

Then why are you asking? - and how do you expect to compete on price?.

I am asking because i cant emulate them just like that , and i am not thinking about the price right now , i am rather searching for core materiel about these welders like schematics , Arc technology lab testing and other related stuff i can practice experiments with.

 

[dr pepper]

Read up on switch mode power supplies, it'll take you a while, as they are as already implied fairly complex.

 

[BGAmodzX]

Read up on switch mode power supplies, it'll take you a while, as they are as already implied fairly complex.

Can you suggest a good book ?

 

[dr pepper]

Nor particularly for Smps's I cannot.
I have a couple, but they got very maths very quick.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I would imagine your biggest issue is going to be designing the custom transformers, and having them made?.

 

[dr pepper]

My imported '200a' weld set has 3 transformers, Etd44 I think, the kind of thing you used to see in philips colour telly's.
Etd 59's might be better, maybe N97 ferrite, see of you can get the datasheet.

 

[kubeek]

I am currently working on making my own TIG welder. I have finally most of the components assembled to the pcb, so if all goes well I should be doing some tests by the end of the year.

The biggest issues for the design I think is the transformer (I am using 3x E82 cores stacked) and the design of the pcb to have good isolation distances and low inductance in the supply lines.

 

[BGAmodzX]

I am currently working on making my own TIG welder. I have finally most of the components assembled to the pcb, so if all goes well I should be doing some tests by the end of the year.

The biggest issues for the design I think is the transformer (I am using 3x E82 cores stacked) and the design of the pcb to have good isolation distances and low inductance in the supply lines.

Good luck .
Can you share some content that helped you reach this so far ??

I want to use standard EE cores used in chinese models to make Arc welding first .

 

[BGAmodzX]

I would imagine your biggest issue is going to be designing the custom transformers, and having them made?.

I thing am better off basing my design on these generic transformers largely used in MOSFET designs.

 

[kubeek]

I can try to get something together tomorrow. How are you going to base a design on a transformer that you know nothing about? The website printed on it doesn´t work, and knowing the turns ratio if that is what those numbers are is just not enough. You can measure some of the relevant parameters like inductance, resistance, stray inductance, but the rest like saturation and core and copper loss is going to be hard and you will end up doing trial and error based hacking instead of designing.

 

[shortbus=]

How are you going to base a design on a transformer that you know nothing about?

Maybe he's going to use the gary350 approach?

 

[BGAmodzX]

Okay i will tell you about my progress as time goes. And well try to solve the issues.

 

[kubeek]

Here are some resources that can be used for the design. **broken link removed**

 

[BGAmodzX]

Here are some resources that can be used for the design. **broken link removed**

looks like some good reads even tough a little long.

I will definitly read .