The Lincoln Electric Co., Cleveland, Ohio, has unveiled its latest multipurpose, engine driven welder/generator, the Commander 500. The welder features Lincoln's newly developed Chopper Technology, which is designed to control the d.c. welding output to create an arc with increased welding performance. In addition, the Commander 500 welder/generator is engineered to deliver exceptional stick, TIG, cored wire, MIG, and arc gouging performance, the company said.
"What our engineers did was basically take a typical chopper circuit and adapt it to specific welding applications," said Eric Snyder, product manager for engine driven welders at Lincoln Electric. "The Chopper Technology works like a simplified inverter, which are starting to become very popular within the welding industry.
"We're taking three-phase power and putting it through our specially designed chopper module. At the heart of this module lies an integrated gate bipolar transistor or IGBT, which takes this three-phase a.c. and rectifies it to d.c."
At this point, Snyder explained, the chopper module operates like a high-speed switch by turning on and off 20,000 times per second. "So it's basically turning your output on and off, let's say between zero and 100 amps. That is so fast, that as far as the welding arc is concerned, it just looks like a solid d.c. line - just a straight line right at the 100 amp level."
"The high-speed switch circuit provides a great deal of flexibility to address all the welding processes. The result is easy starts, smooth arc, good bead appearance and lower splatter levels on the welded piece."
The Commander 500 welder/generator provides 500 amps of welding power at 100 percent duty cycle, and is suited to the construction, maintenance, repair, rental and pipe industries. Besides being a d.c. multi-purpose welding machine, it is also designed to generate 12 kW of a.c. power from the 120 V/240 V full-kVA receptacle or 4.8 kW of a.c. power from two 120 V duplex receptacles.
A single, full-range control dial for stick and CV-wire applications is equipped to control general welding output. The unit features five ranges with full overlap for stick pipe welding and other processes where slope control is required.
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