ARC WELDING POWER SOURCES CLASSIFICATION:OUTPUT CHARACTERSTICS

The output characteristic of welding power source is a funct ional relationship between output voltage and load current values.

                         V = f (I)

Some  output characteristics of welding power sources are shown in Fig.

As different requirements are to be met for different welding processes,power sources with different output characteristics as depicted above are available. One of the classification of output characteristics is whether it is drooping or flat. Generally drooping output characteristic power sources are employed for SMAW, TIG and plasma welding and flat output characteristic power sources are employed for GMAW and SAW. Sometimes for high current SAW process drooping output characteristic power sources are also employed.