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EP-4741091-A1 - WELDING-TYPE POWER SUPPLIES HAVING BOOST CONVERTER BYPASS CIRCUITRY

EP4741091A1EP 4741091 A1EP4741091 A1EP 4741091A1EP-4741091-A1

Abstract

Disclosed example welding-type power supplies include: a boost converter circuit configured to increase a DC supply voltage to supply an intermediate voltage to an intermediate DC bus; a buck converter circuit configured to convert the intermediate voltage to output welding-type power; a boost bypass circuit configured to selectively bypass the boost converter circuit; and control circuitry configured to: control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC bus to the welding-type power; in response to determining that a current of the welding-type power is less than a threshold output current, disable the boost bypass circuit and enable the boost converter circuit; and in response to determining that the current of the welding-type power is at least a target current and/or determining that a voltage of the welding-type power is less than a threshold output voltage, control the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit.

Inventors

  • MANTHE, Alan Adam

Assignees

  • Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251029

Claims (15)

  1. A welding-type power supply, comprising: a boost converter circuit configured to increase a DC supply voltage to supply an intermediate voltage to an intermediate DC voltage bus; a buck converter circuit configured to convert the intermediate voltage supplied by the intermediate DC voltage bus to output welding-type power; a boost bypass circuit configured to selectively bypass the boost converter circuit by coupling the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus; and control circuitry configured to: control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the welding-type power; determine a threshold output current; in response to determining that a current of the welding-type power is less than the threshold output current, disable the boost bypass circuit and control the boost converter circuit to enable the boost converter circuit; and in response to at least one of determining that the current of the welding-type power is at least a target welding-type current or determining that a voltage of the welding-type power is less than a threshold output voltage based on the DC supply voltage, control the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit.
  2. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, wherein the boost bypass circuit comprises a switching device configured to selectively couple the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus.
  3. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the welding-type power based on at least one of a voltage setpoint or a current setpoint; or wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the threshold output current based on a difference between a target current of the welding-type power and a predetermined current offset; or wherein the control circuitry is configured to wait until the intermediate voltage at the intermediate DC voltage bus has decreased below the DC supply voltage before controlling the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit, or wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the threshold output voltage based on a difference between the DC supply voltage and a predetermined voltage offset.
  4. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, wherein the welding-type power supply is configured to receive the DC supply voltage from an energy storage device or wherein the control circuitry is configured to disable the boost converter circuit when the boost bypass circuit is controlled to bypass the boost converter circuit.
  5. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, further comprising a current sensor configured to measure the current of the welding-type power or further comprising a voltage sensor configured to measure the voltage of the welding-type power.
  6. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to compare the current of the welding-type power to the threshold output current using an analog comparator or an analog-to-digital converter circuit.
  7. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to, while the boost converter circuit is enabled, control the boost converter circuit to operate at at least 95% of an energy capacity of the boost converter circuit.
  8. A welding-type power supply, comprising: a boost converter circuit configured to increase a DC supply voltage to supply an intermediate voltage to an intermediate DC voltage bus; a buck converter circuit configured to convert the intermediate voltage supplied by the intermediate DC voltage bus to output welding-type power; a boost bypass circuit configured to selectively bypass the boost converter circuit by coupling the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus; and control circuitry configured to: control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the welding-type power; determine a threshold output voltage based on the DC supply voltage; in response to determining that a voltage of the welding-type power is greater than the threshold output voltage, control the boost bypass circuit to enable the boost converter circuit; and in response to at least one of determining that the current of the welding-type power is more at least a target welding-type current or determining that the voltage of the welding-type power is less than the threshold output voltage, control the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit.
  9. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, wherein the boost bypass circuit comprises a switching device configured to selectively couple the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus.
  10. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the welding-type power based on at least one of a voltage setpoint or a current setpoint; or wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the threshold output voltage based on reducing a different between the DC supply voltage and a predetermined voltage offset, or wherein the control circuitry is configured to wait until the intermediate voltage at the intermediate DC voltage bus has decreased below the DC supply voltage before controlling the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit.
  11. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, wherein the welding-type power supply is configured to receive the DC supply voltage from an energy storage device.
  12. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is configured to disable the boost converter circuit when the boost bypass circuit is controlled to bypass the boost converter circuit.
  13. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, further comprising a current sensor configured to measure the current of the welding-type power or further comprising a voltage sensor configured to measure the voltage of the welding-type power.
  14. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, further comprising a voltage sensor configured to measure the DC supply voltage.
  15. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is configured to compare the voltage of the welding-type power to the threshold output voltage using an analog comparator or an analog-to-digital converter circuit or wherein the control circuitry is configured to, while the boost converter circuit is enabled, control the boost converter circuit to operate at at least 95% of an energy capacity of the boost converter circuit.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63/714,324, filed October 31, 2024, entitled "WELDING-TYPE POWER SUPPLIES HAVING BOOST CONVERTER BYPASS CIRCUITRY," and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63/752,307, filed January 31, 2025, entitled "WELDING-TYPE POWER SUPPLIES HAVING BOOST CONVERTER BYPASS CIRCUITRY." The entireties of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63/714,324 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63/752,307 expressly incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates generally to welding systems and, more particularly, welding-type power supplies having boost converter bypass circuitry. BACKGROUND Equipment powered by batteries or other energy storage devices are typically provided with a set voltage as an input. However, such equipment often requires one or more different voltages to perform as designed. DC-DC converters may be used to convert DC electrical input from the batteries or other energy storage to the desired voltages. SUMMARY Welding-type power supplies having boost converter bypass circuitry are disclosed, substantially as illustrated by and described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example hybrid welding-type system in accordance with aspects of this disclosure.FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example battery-powered welding-type system in accordance with aspects of this disclosure.FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example boost-buck circuit including boost converter bypass circuitry, which may be used to implement the power conversion circuitry of FIGS. 1 and/or 2.FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readable instructions which may be executed by the control circuitry of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 to control the boost-buck circuit and the boost converter bypass circuitry. The figures are not necessarily to scale. Wherever appropriate, similar or identical reference numerals are used to refer to similar or identical components. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Conventional battery-powered welding systems utilize DC-DC converters to develop welding type power from a battery source. However, conventional battery-powered welding systems perform control of the DC-DC converters based on disadvantageous methods. For example, the operation of a boost stage of the DC-DC converter in conventional systems is dependent on the output voltage of the boost stage. Disclosed welding-type power supplies provide improved operation of DC-DC converters, such as boost-buck converters, by determining a difference between a DC supply voltage and the welding-output voltage to determine if there is enough voltage to drive current in the buck converter circuit of the boost-buck converter. In disclosed examples, if it determined that there is insufficient voltage to drive the buck converter based on the DC supply voltage and the welding-type output voltage, the boost converter circuit is enabled. Conversely, the boost converter circuit may be disabled and/or bypassed to improve efficiency when the DC supply voltage and the welding-type output current and/or voltage indicate that the buck converter circuit is capable of supplying the commanded output. According to aspects of this disclosure, example welding-type power supplies include: a boost converter circuit configured to increase a DC supply voltage to supply an intermediate voltage to an intermediate DC voltage bus; a buck converter circuit configured to convert the intermediate voltage supplied by the intermediate DC voltage bus to output welding-type power; a boost bypass circuit configured to selectively bypass the boost converter circuit by coupling the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus; and control circuitry configured to: control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the welding-type power; determine a threshold output current; in response to determining that a current of the welding-type power is less than the threshold output current, disable the boost bypass circuit and control the boost converter circuit to enable the boost converter circuit; and in response to at least one of determining that the current of the welding-type power is at least a target welding-type current or determining that a voltage of the welding-type power is less than a threshold output voltage based on the DC supply voltage, control the boost bypass circuit to bypass the boost converter circuit. In some welding-type power supplies, the boost bypass circuit comprises a switching device configured to selectively couple the DC supply voltage to the intermediate DC voltage bus. In some welding-type power supplies, the control circuitry is configured to control the buck converter circuit to convert power from the intermediate DC voltage bus to the