WELDING SYSTEM COMPRISING AN INDUCTION HEATING SYSTEM, INDUCTION HEATING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF HEATING A WELDING OR CUTTING WORK PIECE

摘要

An auxiliary welding heating system (34) includes an induction heating coil (36) disposed adjacent to a welding torch or plasma cutter (16). The auxiliary welding heating system (34) further includes an induction power supply (38) configured to generate an alternating current and a step -down transformer (42) coupled to the induction power supply (38). The induction heating coil (36) is coupled to the step -down transformer (42) and is configured to receive the alternating current and induce eddy currents in a welding work piece (32) to heat the welding work piece (32) before an advancing welding arc or plasma cut to a homologous temperature of at least approximately 0.5, the homologous temperature being the ratio of the actual temperature of the material to the melting temperature of the material, both expresses in absolute temperature terms.