Power supply apparatus for welders and method of manufacturing same

摘要

A power supply apparatus for welders includes an input-side AC-to-DC converter for converting an input commercial AC voltage into a DC voltage, which is, in turn, converted to a high-frequency voltage in an inverter. The high-frequency voltage is transformed to a high-frequency voltage having a desired magnitude in a transformer. The transformed high-frequency voltage is then converted back to a DC voltage in an output-side high-frequency-to-DC converter. The DC voltage is developed between output terminals of the power supply apparatus. A current detector detects the current flowing through the output terminals and develops a detected-current representative signal. A voltage detector detects the voltage between the output terminals and develops a detected-voltage representative signal. A CPU has three control modes and controls, in a first mode, the inverter in such a manner that the current representative signal becomes equal to a reference-current representative signal. In a second mode, the CPU activates and, then, deactivates a high-frequency generator, which provides a high-frequency voltage between the output terminals, and, thereafter, performs the first mode of control. In a third control mode, the CPU controls the inverter in such a manner that the voltage representative signal becomes equal to a reference-voltage representative signal and also controls a wire feeder for feeding a wire to be connected to one of the output terminals.