region and the other, a longer path,

The Application of Series Capacitors through the cylinder. The relatively

high resistance offered by these two

to Flash Welders paths in parallel therefore results in a

comparatively low kilovolt-ampere de­
mand and high power factor.
When the upset block on the cam
JAMES F. DEFFENBAUGH
ASSOCIATE AIEE meets the movable platen, the edges
of the stock are forced together, the
arc extinguished, and, because of the

T HE APPLICATION of series capaci­

tors to spot, projection, and seam
welders no longer presents any difficult
and because of the absence of arcing, the
wave shape of the current is smooth, as
illustrated in Figure 2.
resulting decreased resistance, the cur­
rent flowing through the weld region in­
creases greatly. The ratio of the resist­
problems, and they have been used suc­ An example of this type of machine is ance to the inductive reactance of the
cessfully with these types of welders for the barrel welder. Figure 3 is a simplified secondary circuit decreases with an ac­
several years. drawing of the essential parts. Note that companying decrease of power factor.
Essentially, enough capacitive react­ as the cam appearing at the extreme right A series of tests were made on a stand­
ance is placed in the primary circuit of revolves, the movable platen, in which is ard 350-kva 440-volt 42-inch barrel
the welder transformer to neutralize the clamped one edge of the sheet forming the welder welding a standard 16-gauge 55-
inductive reactance of the welder. This barrel, moves slowly toward the edge of gallon drum to determine the possibility
theoretically produces unity power fac­ the sheet which is clamped in the station­ of applying series capacitors to reduce the
tor and reduces the kilovolt-ampere de­ ary platen. The edges are brought kilovolt-ampere demand and increase
mand to the level of the kilowatt de­ in contact as the cam begins rotating, the power factor.
mand. Since the voltage across the and, because of the inherent irregularities Oscillograms were taken before any
capacitor units is directly proportional to and minute projections along the edges power factor correction was attempted
the current flowing through them, units of the stock, the contact resistance and it was found that the demand during
must be selected with a voltage rating is high and the current flow is re­ flashing was about 350 kva at 92 per cent
high enough so that this rating is not ex­ stricted to small areas. This produces power factor, and at upset the demand
ceeded unless they are protected by an a flashing action which burns away the increased to 1,200 kva at a power factor
overvoltage device. multiplicity of projections. It is evident of 48 per cent. The relative magnitudes
The flash welder, however, presents an that there are two current paths in par­ are shown graphically in Figure 4.
entirely different problem since the weld­ allel: one short path through the weld Suppose we add enough capacitance to
ing operation is composed of two phases
which differ widely in both power factor
and kilovolt-ampere demand.
The first phase is termed flashing and
occurs when the pieces to be welded are
brought in contact and heated to a plastic
state by the passage of the current as it
flows from one piece to the other. There
is some doubt as to whether this current
flow is caused by metallic or gaseous con­
duction. However, we do know that
there is not good contact between the
two pieces, and we will speak of the condi­
Figure 1 . Oscillo-
tion during current passage as an arc.
gram of current and
The flashing kilovolt-ampere demand is voltage during flash­
less than the final upset phase, the power ing
factor is relatively high, and the wave
shape of the current is rather irregular,
as shown in Figure 1.
When the plastic temperature has been
reached, the upset phase takes place.
Here the pieces are forced together
quickly and are forged, producing the
complete weld. Since the resistance at
the weld region is lower at upset than
when flashing, the kilovolt-ampere de­
mand is greater, the power factor lower,

Paper 46-141, recommended by the AIEE com­

mittee on electric welding for presentation at
the AIEE summer convention, Detroit, Mich.,
June 24-28, 1946. Manuscript submitted April
26, 1946; made available for printing May 14,
1946. Figure 2. Oscillo-
gram of current and
JAMES F. DEFFENBAUGH is with The Federal Ma­
chine and Welder Company, Warren, Ohio. voltage during upset

686 TRANSACTIONS Deffenbaugh—Flash Welders ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING


UPPER CLAMP
ARMS-ACTUATED
°NEUMATICALLY
INSULATION PREVENTS
FLASH OR DIRT REACH­
ING TRANSFORMER
»ATH OF A-C WELDING
CURRENT
Figure 3. Essential parts of a drum welder
the primary circuit of the welder to ob­
tain approximately unity power factor
during the flashing period. Proceeding
exactly as is done in applying series
capacitors to any other type of welder,
it is found that 29 230-volt capacitors are
required. Figure 5 gives vectorially the
voltages existing in the circuit at this
time.
During the upset stage of the weld, the
current increases, thereby producing a
proportional increase in the primary cur­
rent which now flows through the capaci­
tor bank. This results in a voltage drop
across the capacitors which is approxi­
mately 150 per cent greater than the
maximum permissible voltage of the
units. Of course, units with a greatly
increased voltage rating could have been
chosen initially, but the number required
would have been approximately four
times that actually selected, so that this
is clearly not an economical solution.
The demand also has increased to a value
approximately 25 per cent greater than
it was before the capacitors were applied.
The upset portion of Figure 5 gives these
values.
Let us now increase the capacitance to
that required to correct the upset portion
of the weld to unity power factor. We
rind that it is necessary to use 36 575-
volt units. However, the resulting series
circuit at upset impresses a voltage of
about 2V2 times the normal supply
voltage across the welder transformer, as
OCTOBER 1946, VOLUME 65
6/«/-3
4 0 PER CENT OF THE CURRENT
TRAVELS THIS CLOSED PATH 1600
100
PF
KVA
1200 80
60 §
ALIGNMENT MAINTAINED BY WATER g 800 PF
À
COOLED DIES WITH ELKONITE
INSERTS
400 U KVA %
20 CL
FLASHING UPSET
Figure 4. Initial uncorrected values of
kilovolt-ampere demands and power factors
Εο-Ιβ7 VOLTS
I' EL
721 AMPERES
FLASHING
shown in Figure 6. There are two
methods that can be used to maintain the
secondary voltage appearing across the
platens at the value it was before the
capacitors were applied. One method is
to increase the welder transformer ratio,
E c -β78 VOLTS
and the other is to use a step-down trans­
former in the supply circuit. In this
instance let us choose the first method
and increase the transformer ratio. 1-3380 AMPERES
As shown in the flashing section of
Figure 6, we immediately meet com­
plications during the flashing period
UPSET.
since the characteristics of the circuit
now are such that the voltage impressed Figure 5. Vector diagrams of currents and
on the welder transformer primary is voltages existing when the flashing period is
reduced to 60 per cent of that required corrected to unity power factor
for proper flashing. This would result
in an imperfect weld.
We now are able to conclude that, when
there is an appreciable difference between Ei* 472 VOLTS
the flashing and upset demands, we will
have one of two undesirable conditions l' -178 AMPERES
present if we apply series capacitors to
FLASHING
flash welders, according to conventional
theory :
1. Correction of the flashing demand will
result in excessive condenser voltage during
upset.
2. Correction of the upset demand will
result in a welder transformer voltage lower .Ew-920
Ec -790 VOLTS
than that required for proper flashing.
Since, in general, it is not economical
to use high voltage capacitor units, we
I · I3I0AMPERES
will provide a means of increasing the
UPSET
voltage across the welder transformer
during the flashing period and use a Figure 6. Vector diagrams of currents and
value of capacitance which will give voltages existing when the upset period is
unity power factor during upset, since corrected to unity power factor
Deffenbaugh—Flash Welders TRANSACTIONS 687
 Figure 8. Oscillo?
SOURCE
(EL) gram of contactor
switching interval
AUTOTRANSFORMER

LIMIT
SWITCHES

CAMS ^ CONTROL
CAPACITORS-
*TpEc

The first step is the calculation of the isting during flashing. The power fac­
inductive reactance of the welder during tor is slightly lagging because of the fact
D
WELDER TRANSFORMER
upset. This calculation is the value, in
ohms, of the capacitive reactance that
that the inductive reactance during
flashing is greater than during upset.
must be supplied by means of the capaci­ We are not certain as to the exact reason
Figure 7. Schematic diagram of circuit used
in test
tor units in order to obtain approxi­ for this change in reactance, but it may
mately unity power factor at upset. The be caused by the harmonics present dur­
circuit voltage conditions are as shown ing flashing.
by the vector diagram in solid lines in Figures 10 and 11 illustrate oscillo-
the power factor at flashing is rather high
Figure 9. It is evident that the voltage grams of the current and voltage as
without correction.
to be supplied by the autotransformer measured at the supply side of the auto­
In order to accomplish this condition,
is the welder voltage E ^ multiplied by transformer after the capacitors had been
the circuit shown in Figure 7 was made.
the power factor during upset, plus the applied. Note that the power factor
A cam has been placed on the shaft which
tube contactor drop of approximately 15 during upset is not quite unity and that
rotates the platen-moving cam, a limit
volts. the power factor during flashing is less
switch which is actuated by this cam
The next step is the determination of than at upset.
has been added, a second tube contactor
the circuit constants during flashing. Figure 12 shows graphically a com­
has been placed in parallel with the origi­
The net reactance is the difference of the parison between the kilovolt-ampere
nal contactor, and an autotransformer
capacitive and inductive reactances. demand and power factors before and
has been connected in the supply line.
This value then is combined vectorially after applying correction in the actual
The series capacitors are placed in the
with the flashing resistance to find the test, the dashed lines giving the corrected
circuit between the contactors and the
resulting impedance. The voltage at the values.
welder transformer primary winding.
autotransformer then must be equal to It is evident from an examination of
The sequence of operation of the cir­
this impedance multiplied by the primary Figure 12 that while the low kilovolt-
cuit is as follows.
flashing current. This current is ap­ ampere demand and high power factor
When the limit switch is closed, con­
proximately equal to that occurring of the flashing phase has not been al­
tactor B is closed and contactor A is
during the uncorrected flashing condi­ tered appreciably, the upset kva demand
left open. The tap on the autotrans­
tion. See Appendix II for exact calcula­ has been reduced to approximately one-
former to which contactor B is connected
tion. third of its uncorrected value, and the
is selected so that approximately normal
The vector diagram composed of power factor has been increased from 48
supply voltage is impressed on the welder
broken lines illustrates the voltages ex­ to 95 per cent.
transformer. This energizes the circuit
correctly for the flashing operation. The
added cam is adjusted so that contactor A
is closed and contactor B is opened about
one cycle before the platen-moving cam
starts the upset movement. This ad­
justment was necessary as there was an
interval of one cycle during the switching
of contactors in which there was no cur­
rent flow. However, it is possible to
eliminate this period by the use of proper 4 4 0 VOLTS
controls. Figure 8 shows this interval.
Contactor A is connected to a lower volt­
age tap on the autotransformer and re­
sults in normal supply voltage being im­
pressed on the welder transformer during Figure 9. Vector
upset. diagram of currents
and voltages existing
In order to simplify the calculations, during flashing and
the assumption is made that the source is upset after capaci­
of infinite capacity. This assumption tors have been ap­
changes the values slightly from those plied ' in final ar­ Γ- 797 AMPERES I - 2 7 2 5 AMPERES
actually existing during the tests. -E A -211 VOLTS
rangement

688 TRANSACTIONS Deffenbaugh—Flash Welders ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Figure 1 0 . Oscillogram of current and voltage during flashing after Figure 1 1 . Oscillogram of current and voltage during upset after
addition of capacitors addition of capacitors

Appendix I. Notation Flashing conditions:

EL2X10-3
Z' = 1600
EL = supply line voltage kva 100
P. F
£ A =autotransformer output voltage 440 2 X10~ 3
Π
Ec = capacitor voltage 350 II KVA
1200 II 80
/ = output current of autotransformer = 0.554 ohm II
θ= angular difference between current and X'L=Z'X sin 23 degrees
voltage in high tension winding of 2 60 g
= 0.554X0.39
welder transformer * 800
= 0.218 ohm
The foregoing refer to upset values. XL(net)=X'L-Xc 40
With prime notation they refer to flash­ = 0.218-0.141
ing values. 400 μ KVA
= 0.077 ohm 20C
θχ = phase difference between current and Π
# ' = Z ' X c o s 2 3 degrees II
voltage in supply line during flashing = 0.554X0.92 II
after capacitors had been applied _LL
= 0.51 ohm FLASHING UPSET
Thus t h e power factor with capacitors is
Figure 1 2 . Kilo volt-ampere demands and
Appendix II. Calculations 1
^L(net) power factors measured in test after addition
cos tan of capacitors
R'
Upset period: _*L(net)
t a n 0v
2 R'
Z = -£ L xio- 3 4402xicr3- = 0.161 ohm 0.077
1,200 Table I. Circuit Constants Before Correction
kva
0.51
= 0.151 Circuit Constant Value
= 0.161X0.875 θχ= 8.6 degrees
= 0.141 ohm c o s ^ = 0.988 ^ 350
ΤΪ e j. ΛΛΟ 0 Power factor 92 p e r c e n t
Therefore Xc = XL = 0.141 ohm and power Power factor = 98.8 per cent Q 23 degrees
factor becomes theoretically unity.
E, __E'wX cos 23 degrees ^ ^ '
A
EA=ELX cos 61 degrees cos 8.6 degrees Kva 1,200
/ilAvnoo Power factor 48 per cent
= 440X0.48 ^44UAU.^ Q 61 d e g r e e s
= 211 volts 0,988 Supply voltage 440
Ec = EWX sin 61 degrees = 409 volts ~~
= 440X0.875 E'c = E'wX sin 23 d e g r e e s - E ' A X sin 8.6
= 385 volts de rees
8 N kva (corrected)
Corrected kva = uncorrected k v a X cos 61 = (440-0.39) - (409 · 0.1495) / (corrected) =
degrees = 171-61.2 326
= 109.8 volts = XIO-3
= 1,200X0.48 409
= 575 kva Kilovolt-amperes (corrected) = 797 amperes
kva (corrected) kva X cos 23 degrees
/(corrected) = - The actual values of t h e autotransformer
EAX10~ cos 8.6 degrees
output voltages necessarily will have to be
575 350X0.92 approximately 15 volts greater than t h e
2IIXIO-3 0.988 values as calculated t o compensate for the
= 2,725 amperes = 326 kva voltage drop in t h e ignitron contactors.

OCTOBER 1946, VOLUME 65 Deffenbaugh—Flash Welders TRANSACTIONS 689