Abstract
M.Ing. (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
The product of switching frequency and output power of solid state converters has
increased dramatically during the past few years. This progress can mainly be attributed
to the recent developments in power electronic switching devices. These developments
are mainly responsible for a reduction in the physical size of the converter, especially that
of the reactive components, and an increase in the dynamic response of the converter.
The aim of this work is to use these characteristics of the power electronics converter in
the development of an aluminum welding machine. This welding machine is developed
for excisting welding processes namely: shield metal arc welding (STICK), and tungsten
inert gas welding (TIG). More than one converter is necessary in order to shape the
required output current and output voltage of the machine.
Several different converters which can be used for the applications are compared. Each
application has different conditions under which the converter must be able to work. The
most convenient converter for each application is then fully described.