Simulation , Design , Implementation and Control of a Welding Process Using Micro - controller

T.C. Manjunath , S. Janardhanan and N.S. Kubal

Research Scholars, IDP in Systems and Control Engineering, Syscon Lab, 114 B, ACRE Building, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400076, Maharashtra, India. Telephone : +91 22 25780263. Emails : tcmanju@ee.iitb.ac.in ; janas@ee.iitb.ac.in ; nskubal@ee.iitb.ac.in

Abstract
This paper presents the design, fabrication of a microcontroller based resistance welding system which is used for performing a welding process. The paper is divided into 4 sections. First, a brief introduction to the what is welding, methods of welding control such as resistance and spot welding is given. Secondly, the critical factors in the design of a welding process is dealt along with the principle of the welding process. Following this, the introduction to the design of the control scheme employed by us with the basic block diagram of the welding system and the functioning is presented. Thirdly, the design and development of the control software algorithm is dealt with. Finally, the conclusions is drawn along with its working and future improvements. Keywords : Resistance welding, Micro-controller, Firing angle, Constant current control.

during the welding process. The use of a C makes the operation extremely fast, reliable and flexible. In the design, the most important parameter to be monitored and controlled is the primary welding current. For this constant current control method, an adaptive algorithm takes care of the past and present values, to predict the firing angles of thyristors in the next cycle, to ensure the preset value of the current is maintained. Also, various other parameters like the weld count, job count, conduction angle, etc., need to be monitored. This is done by using a micro-controller which will take care of all the processes parameters with minimum of supervision.

2 Resistance Welding
It is a general term used to describe a group of welding processes, which depend on the passage of high electric current for the generation of heat. Resistance welding is defined as any welding processes in which, at some stage, force is applied to surfaces in contact and in which the heat for welding is produced by the passage of an electric current through the electrical resistance at, or adjacent to these surfaces. The amount of heat produced is determined by the relationship between the electrical resistance and the current being passed and the time for which the current is allowed to flow. The heat produced is proportional to the square of the current multiplied by the resistance multiplied by the time duration. The resistance values are commonly very low and the time cycles are usually required to be very short. This results in the need for exceptionally high welding currents upto about 20 KA. Equipments capable of delivering such high currents for closely controlled brief intervals of time is naturally expensive and the resistance welding processes are therefore suitable only for mass production applications where the expense is justified.

1 Introduction
Welding in the simplest terms is the process of fusing or joining two or more metal pieces with the application of heat and pressure. Resistance welding uses the concept of heat generated due to the current flowing through a resistance. The heat energy generated is large enough to weld two work-pieces together. Automated resistance welding machines use micro-controller based control systems to regulate and ensure consistent welds. The design hopes to achieve complete automation of the resistance welding process. This is done by accepting various process inputs from the user and after due process, controlling various parameters like the current, conduction angle, weld count, etc.,. This is achieved by using a micro-controller, which will acquire data from the user and process it to generate suitable control signals as and when required

The main advantages of resistance welding are it is suitable for mass production, accurate control, no need for filler metal, fluxes, ability to join dissimilar metals and negligible metal loss. Some of the types of resistance welding are spot welding, gun welding, shot welding, flash welding and seam welding and projection welding. All of these operations are fundamentally the same but the preparation of metal and the construction of the machines may be different.

they work together. The critical factors involved in welding are the current, voltages, power, resistance and the transformer specifications, transmitting force, current density, throat dimensions and the electrodes. The current is usually measured in KA. A resistance weld cannot be made unless there is a sufficient weld current. If current is the amount of electricity flowing, then voltage is the pressure or force thats causing the flow. Power is voltage measured by current and is in watts or KVA. This means the amount of current flowing times the pressure thats causing it to flow equals the amount of power generated. Resistance is the opposition to flow of current. Since R to I is what generates the heat in the work piece, it is critically important that the area with the greatest resistance be at the interface between t he two parts being joined. The heat is where the resistance is, and the resistance is where the heat will be. The transformer used is of high rating as is should be capable of supplying that much weld current. The amount of force needed to make a good weld varies, depending on t he type of metal being welded and other factors, but a general figure would be about 600 to 800 lbs. Current density describes how much current is being delivered to a specific area. It describes the concentration of the current in a small area of the work piece, viz., namely the area where the weld is. Throat dimensions is an important factor for current determination. Electrodes play a very important role in t he successful operation of a spot welding machine. They must conduct the welding current to the work without overheating. They must at the same time conduct heat away from the surface of the sheet being welded and they must apply pressure to the work without deforming.

Spot Welding

Spot welding is the most common form of resistance welding and is defined as a process in which a weld is produced at a spot in a work piece between the electrodes, the weld being of approximately the same areas as the electrode tips, or as the smaller tip where they differ in size. Force is applied to the spot, usually through the electrodes and continuously throughout the process. The term spot is an obvious one from the shape and appearance of the weld. The process is almost always applied to the lap joints. The basic assembly is shown in the Fig. 1 below.
Welding current Welding Power Supply Pressure Electrode Work-piece Nugget

Figure 1 : Spot welding assembly The joint to be welded is placed between the tow electrodes and the pressure is applied to ensure good contact. The electrodes are made of copper of high conductivity copper or lead and this ensures that a minimum amount of heat is produced where they make contact with the work piece. Heating of the weld area begins where the parts to be joined touch each other and is largely due to the contact resistance. Any heat, which is generated near the electrodes, tends to be conducted away by the mass of the electrodes. The generation of the heat at the central interface continues until a slug of metal is in the molten condition and the current flow is terminated. This molten metal then cools and solidifies whilst still under the forging pressures of the electrodes. Success in spot welding depends on the correct balance between current, time and pressure and that these must suit the characteristics of the materials being welded.

5 Principle of resistance welding

Ohms law states that, Voltage = Current Resistance V=IR (1) Joules law states that, Heat = V * I * time for which the current flows (2) Heat = V I t = I 2 R t. Basically, it states that the heat energy required for welding depends on the square of the welding current flowing between the two electrodes and on the resistance offered to this current between the two electrodes. The resistance taken into account includes the resistance of the welding electrodes and the resistance of the jobs that are being welded together.

4 Critical factors in welding

Understanding the resistance weld process requires an understanding of the main factors involved and how

6 Control variables in the welding process

The welding process variables include the weld current, squeeze time, weld time, hold time, electrode force, design of the electrode and the work piece material and is shown below in the Fig. 2. The weld cycle : A typical resistance weld is broken down into several distinct periods, as shown in the Fig. 2 below.
30

= 30 = 90

= 90

Figure 3 : Firing angle instant

7.2 Integral cycle control

It works on the principle of on / off control. When the controller is in the ON mode, a number of current cycles are sent which are controlled. The number of current cycles passed determines the amount of current that flows through the electrodes. This is the time when the welding takes place. When the controller is OFF, no current passes through the electrodes as shown in Fig. 4.

Slope 1 Squeeze Weld 1 cool 1 weld 2 cool 2

slope 2 weld 3 hold off

Figure 2 : The weld cycle of a welding process The squeeze time is when the weld heads (electrodes) come together and build up to a specified amount of force before the current is fired. The weld time is when the current is actually passing through the work pieces. This is when the metals are being heated enough to melt and fuse together to form what is called a weld nugget. During the hold time, the electrode force is still applied, even after the weld current has ceased. During this period, the weld nugget cools and the metals are forged under the force of the electrodes. The continuing electrode force helps keep the weld intact until it solidifies, cools and the weld nugget reaches its maximum strength. The period of time from the release of the electrodes from the work after cooling to the start of the next weld cycle is known as the off time of the machine.
TON TON

TOFF

Figure 4 : On-Off duty cycle This is of course more to the operation of resistance welding machines than the control of the electric current. Mechanical handling, positioning, and clamping of the work piece and the application of the electrical pressure are usually accomplished by the pneumatic circuits supplied with the compressed air. It is also common for the air pressure to actuate the timer once it is exceeded a value which ensures adequate contact pressure between the electrodes.

8 Designed and implemented control scheme employed

We know that the power delivered to a resistive load is given by the formula P = V I, (3) where V is the voltage applied to the load and I is the current delivered to the load. We know that in a transformer, power in primary = power is secondary, (4) V1 I1 = V2 I2, as V1 is the applied ac voltage and I1 is calculated from the formula, 1 2 2 t dt . T Im sin The power delivered to the load is P = V1 I1 I1 = (5)

7 Methods of welding control

Two methods of welding control has been used : viz., Phase angle control and the integral cycle control on / off control.

7.1 Phase angle control

The principle of phase shifting is used for varying the welding current. This is done where, for instance, slow cooling of the welds is required for the metallurgical reasons. A complete sequence of currents may be automatically controlled to affect the welding and heat treatment of welds. In special alloys, where control of thermal cycles is essential to produce satisfactory welds.

(6)

2 2

3 3

through a port line. The micro-controller synchronizes the firing of the thyristors with the zero crossing in every half cycle. The firing of the thyristors takes place for the number of cycles that the user has the input. During this time, the micro-controller receives feedback about the actual welding current that is being made available through an ADC. Appropriate action is taken to ensure that the actual welding current is very close to the desired welding current. Once a particular job has been welded, the microcontroller has to display the relevant information, which is required by the user. This includes the actual welding current and the number of jobs completed. If during the welding process, errors occurs, provision is made to indicate the occurrence of the error. A 12 V power supply for the phase control IC and DAC, a 15V supply for the DAC and a 5V power supply for the rest of the circuit is designed and incorporated in the overall system design. The design also includes provisions to store an entire schedule for later use. This helps in avoiding mistakes from occurring and eliminates the need to reenter all the datas. The block diagram of the designed controller system has the following major units :
Welding transformer Welding Power 230 V / 50 Hz Thyristors Work piece

Figure 5 : Explanation of the firing angle measurement From this equation, we can see that the current available in the primary depends on the firing angle . As increases from 0 to 180, the current available at the load decreases and hence the power delivered to the load also decreases. Hence, by controlling the firing angle , we can control the current and power required for the welding process. In the designed control scheme employed by us, the constant current control method is used which is explained as follows. Consider a full wave rectified current signal as shown in Fig. 5. Let a complete half cycle correspond to Irms of 50 KA. Now, for a welding current of 20 KA, the firing angle 1 can be calculated from the above equation to be around 125. i.e., for I1 = 20 KA, 1 = 125. But, due to an inherent error present the actual firing angle may b e 127. This causes a difference of 1 KA in the current. This has to be compensated for in the next cycle. Hence, the firing angle is recalculated to compensate for the shift in the desired value as 122.2. If we now even consider the inherent phase angle difference of 2, the new firing angle will therefore become 120.2. Hence, in the next half cycle, the thyristors will be triggered at the new firing angle. The process is repeated so as to keep the current at the desired value for the entire welding cycle process.

Toroidal coil

Pulse Generation & ZC Detector

AC mains 230 V

Pulse amplification

A to D Conversion

Control Power source

Input Output Unit

Display Driver

Microcontroller

Memory

/ 50 Hz Control Power Transformer

Input switches

Display Module

9 Block diagram
The overall working of the designed system which is shown in the block-diagram in Fig. 6 can be explained as follows : The user inputs the welding current, no. of cycles required for squeeze, weld and hold cycles and the job count. The micro-controller reads this data and calculates the approximate firing angle required to obtain the desired welding current. A control voltage corresponding to this firing angle is applied to the TCA785 phase control IC through a DAC. The phase control IC is used to trigger the high power anti-parallel thyristors in the main welding transformer. This IC recognizes the zero crossing of the ac line voltage through a stepped down transformer and this zero crossing is indicated to the micro-controller

Fig. 6 Block diagram of the entire designed resistance welding control system

9.1 Control Power Source

A separate power circuit is also required to provide power to all the circuits of the controller. The power supply requirements of various circuits are +5V, +12V, 12V. The control power source provides these different power supplies from the same circuit thus saving the use of different power supplies.

9.2 Thyristors triggering unit

This unit triggers the thyristors at adjustable firing angles so as to control the amount of current flowing through the primary and hence the secondary of the welding transformer. This unit provides the basic feedback actuation in the controller circuit. The two anti-parallel thyristors are fired at calculated firing

angles thus controlling the current flow of the welding current. It takes in the control voltage and gives output pulses, which controls the conduction angle of the thyristors. The reference is obtained from the zero crossing of the AC mains and the output of this block is given to a pulse amplifier circuit, which gives the firing pulses to the thyristors. So, any discrepancies in the current value can be brought to the required value by the proper processing at the micro-controller unit and the proper firing mechanism.

The components of the designed micro-controller based welding controller consists of the 89C52 micro-controller, the input-output ports like the 8255s, analog signal interface, the DAC0808 and the ADC 0809. The micro-controller selected for this welding application is the Atmel AT89C52, which is a lowpower, high-performance CMOS 8-bit micro-computer with 8K bytes of flash programmable and erasable read only memory. The MCU interacts with all the units of the controller using an Harris 8255A PPI, which provides a 8-bit bi-directional i-o ports, which are used to communicate with devices such as DACs and ADCs.

9.3 Micro-Controller Unit [MCU] and its functions

The MCU is the most critical part of the system. The entire process of welding has to be monitored and collected by the controller. The micro-controller interfaces with several other circuits to effectively control and vary the numerous parameters that are vital to the successful functioning of the system. All the incoming data, which mainly consists of analog signals, is digitized and then processed by the microcontroller. The micro-controller also controls the display panel, which is an interface between the operator and the machine. The MCU controls the various parts of the system. Some of them are : The thyristors triggering circuit, which controls the firing of the contactors detects the source voltage and its phase The display panel that indicates the present state of operation and the other information. It also accepts parameters from the user, which are read and processed by the micro-controller.

Input-Output ports : The MCU interacts with all the units of the controller. This demands a significant amount of input / output ports from the micro-controller. Since the number of available i/o ports on the micro-controller is limited, it is required to interface an external i/o peripheral device to expand the i/o capability of the MCU. This is achieved by interfacing the 8255 Programmable Peripheral Interface PPI to t he micro-controller.
The 8255 provides three 8-bit bi-directional ports, which are used to communicate with the devices such as the DAC and the ADC, as well as the external switches of the user interface. The 8255 is interfaced in the memory mapped fashion for easy access of other peripherals. The peripherals is selected using the address lines provided in the 8255.

Another vital function of the micro-controller is to monitor the primary and the secondary currents. Since the primary and the secondary currents a re in the order of several KA, ct coils or the toroidal coils a re used to step d own the current to a measurable level. The output of these coils is usually an industry standard of 1A or 5A. This is passed through signal conditioning and current to voltage converter circuits that provide a signal that can be digitized. For digitizing the signals, a ADC is employed. It converts the signal to digital inputs that the microcontroller can process. These digital inputs are then compared and processed, taking into account the parameters entered by the operator and an appropriate action is taken. For ex., if the constant current mode is selected, and the measured current is slightly above the set value, then the firing angle of the thyristors of the contactors is adjusted so that the average current over the entire cycle is equal to the set value. This approximation is done at every half cycle interval thus, making the controlling mechanism very accurate.

Analog signal interface : As mentioned previously, the C controls the SCR triggering unit as well as monitors the welding current. Such signals are analog in nature that the C is required to handle. Since the C cannot directly manipulate analog signals, digitization of these signals is necessary. This is achieved by using D/A and A/D converters.

DAC : The C controls the thyristors triggering unit

by generating a control voltage that controls the firing angle of the thyristors. Depending on the value of the welding current entered by the user, the C generates digital data corresponding to the required value of the control voltage and feeds it to the DAC. The DAC performs the conversion and provides the analog voltage to the triggering unit. The DAC IC that is selected for this application is the DAC0808.

ADC : The C monitors the welding current by measuring a DC analog voltage that is downscaled to be made compatible with the inputs of the C unit. This analog signal needs to be converted into a digital value to be manipulated by the C. An A/D

converter is employed for this purpose. The ADC IC that is selected for this application is the ADC0809.

Error Indication : If during the welding process an error occurs, then the error code is displayed so that the user can take corrective action.
The communication of various parameters of the welding process and display of the status to t he user is achieved by employing Common Anode 7-segment LEDs. There are 12 such 7-segment LEDs. Driving the LED modules individually is not advisable due to the complications involved in designing the hardware. Hence, they are multiplexed. This also reduces the current requirements and thus the power consumption. Of the 12 LEDs, 8 are driven by a single 8-Digit Display Driver ICM7218C. The remaining 4 are used for job count display and hence driven by a 4-digit display driver / programmable counter ICM7217. Both the ICs internally multiplex and generate corresponding digit drive signals. This ICM7218 is a LED driver which is used to interface with the C.

9.4 User interface

This consists of the front panel, which can be broadly classified into two sections.

9.4.1 User Inputs

This section consists parameters like of all the user-entered

Current : This is welding current required in the secondary of the welding transformer for the actual welding process. It can range from 5 to 50 KA. Cycles : This is the number of complete weld cycles required for each of the welding processes like squeeze time, weld time, cool time and the hold time. They can be set anywhere between 0 to 99 cycles. Job counts : This is the total number of jobs that have to be welded. Schedule Number : If a set of welding parameters have already been saved in the memory of the C and those are the parameters required for welding, then provision is there for the user to reload those parameters required for welding, then provision is there for the user to reload those parameters and then continue welding. Start : On pressing this key, the C will accept all the inputs that have been entered by the user. Weld : Until this key is pressed, the welding will not start. This is like a safety switch, which prevents accidental welding and possible injuries to the operator. Reset : During the welding process, if any trouble occurs then by pressing this key the entire weld operation can be stopped immediately. Also, if an error occurs, this key has to be pressed before the entire welding process can be restarted.

9.5 Circuit Diagrams and Explanations

The thyristors triggering circuit using the TCA 785 Phase Control IC TCA 785 is a phase control IC manufactured by SEIMENS. It is used to control the firing angle of the high power thyristors and triacs. The trigger pulses can be shifted within a phase angle between 0 and 180. The firing pulses obtained have to be amplified before they can be used to trigger the high power thyristors. In the present work, the TCA785 as a phase control IC to trigger anti-parallel thyristors combination, once in each half cycle.

Micro-controller design
It is designed using the following IC chips, viz., AT89C52 the C, 28C64 High speed CMOS EEPROM, 8255 PPI, 74LS373 3 state octal D Type transparent latches, 74LS138 Decoder / multiplexer. The micro-controller AT89C52 resides at the heart of the system. It is interfaced with external memory 28C64 and 8255.

9.4.2 Status Display

This section is used to indicate all the parameters, which have been monitored and / or measured during the welding process like

8255 PPI DAC0808 Interface

It is designed using the following IC chips, viz., 8255, DAC0808, 741 opamp. The C is responsible for generating the control voltage, which is given to the thyristors firing circuit. It does so through a DAC, DAC0808. This IC DAC0808 is interfaced to the C through one of the ports of the 8255 PPI. Since DAC gives a current as output, the current must be converted into voltage. This is required since the thyristors triggering circuit requires a voltage. For converting the output current to voltage, a resistor network is used. The output voltage needs make it compatible to t he triggering circuit which amplifier of gain 3.3 is to amplified so as to requirement of the SCR is 9V. For this, an incorporated. Between the

Current : This indicates the actual current that was used for welding. It is the average value of current over all the welding period cycles. Job count : This indicates the number of jobs performed. This display is incremented and displayed after every job is completed and not only at the end of the entire welding process. Cycle indicator : This indicates the current weld sequence cycle (squeeze, weld, cool, hold)

DAC0808 and the amplifier, a buffer stage is included to provide isolation and to prevent loading of the DAC circuit. This buffer stage is a voltage follower implemented using the OPAMP 741. The output of the amplifier stage is given to the thyristors triggering circuit as the control voltage to the phase control IC TCA785. The amplifier is designed as V0 =

connectors. The other end of the switches are connected to the ground. Whenever the user presses a switch, a logic low is detected at the port pin and an appropriate action is taken by the software, depending on the switch pressed.

Power supply circuit

The PS circuit is designed using the following items : Transformer of 230 V primary & 15-0-15 V secondary, diode-bridge network (IN4007), filter caps, voltage regulator ICs (7802, 7812, 7912). The circuit provides all the other circuits with the power supply they require. The different voltages provided by the circuit are +12 V, + 5V, 12 V and the reference ground.

1 + Rf Vi ; Gain = 1 + Rf = 3.3, where Rf Ri Ri

= 33 K and Ri = 10 K.

8255 PPI ADC0809 Interface

It is designed using the following IC chips, viz., 8255, ADC0809 and the multiplexer. The multiplexer is responsible for maintaining the current for the welding process constant. To achieve this, some sort of feedback mechanism must be incorporated. The actual value of the welding current is measured externally and a 0 to 5 V analog input is made available to the C unit. An ADC is therefore, interfaced to the C unit through one of the ports of the 8255 PPI.

10 Software
The hardware performs the various tasks for controlling the process as explained in the previous sections. However, for the successful working of the controller and to ensure satisfactory welds, a robust software core is essential. The software drives the C, which in turn controls the peripheral circuits. The software is coded in MCS-51 family assembly language and is stored in the in-built 8K Flash EEPROM of the C AT89C52. The code is written in 8051 assembly language. The software that drives the welding process control system is based on the following designed and implemented algorithm. 1. 2. 3. Start Inhibit thyristors triggering circuit and reset the control voltage.. Accept the inputs from the user (welding current, no. of cycles for squeeze, weld, cool, job count, etc.,. From the value of the current, find the firing angle from a look-up table. From the value for the firing angle, find the corresponding value of the control voltage. For that firing angle, find the corresponding count for the reference counter. Wait for a zero cross of the welding power source. For the squeeze time, let the required no. of cycles pass without enabling the triggering circuit. Set the required control voltage. When the next zero cross occurs, enable the thyristors triggering circuit. Also start the reference counter. Detect the triggering. When triggering is detected, stop the reference counter. Inhibit the triggering circuit. Check for the counts. If count is more / less than the expected count and out of allowable error margin, then firing has occurred late / early. Calculate the exact angle of the firing that has occurred.

Microcontroller ICM7218C interface

It is designed using the following IC chips, viz., AT89C52, ICM7218C 8 digit LED multiplexed display driver, 74LS373 a octal latch. The various parameters of the welding process as well as the status of the operation need to be displayed to the user. For this purpose, common anode 7-segment LEDs are employed. The LEDs are multiplexed and driven by and 8 of them are driven by the common anode 8-digit display driver IC 7218C.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Microcontroller ICM7217 Interface

It is designed using the following IC chips, viz., AT89C52, ICM7217 the 4 digit LED display driver, programmable up / down counter. One of the parameters that the display panel shows is the job count. This is a counter that is incremented after every successful weld operation. For displaying the present job count, 4 seven segment LEDs are used. These are driven by the ICM 7217.

7 Segment LED display circuit

12 seven segment LEDs are used to display various parameters to the user. The LEDs employed are of common anode type. Here, the digit drive is connected to the supply and the segment that is to be activated is connected to the ground. Of the 12 LEDs, 8 are driven by ICM7218C and the remaining are driven by ICM7217.

9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14.

Input switches
The user enters the welding parameters through the input switches which are of normally open type push button switches. These NO switches are directly connected to the port B of the 8255 PPI through

15.

16. Calculate the new firing angle and the corresponding control voltage. 17. Also, find the corresponding count for the new firing angle. 18. Increment the half-cycle count. 19. If no. of weld cycles is not over, then go to step 9. 20. For hold / cool time, let the required no. of cycles pass without enabling the triggering circuit. 21. Since all the 3 stages are complete, increment the job count. 22. If terminal job count has not reached, then go to step 4. 23. Stop. The micro-controller unit consists of several components. A failure in any one would result in a failure of the system. Also, before testing the controller, it is necessary for us to ensure that all the ICs are functioning normally and all the connections are proper. For this purpose, a diagnostic routine was written that would test all the IC chips. A diagnostic routine written to test all the ICs is as shown below. .ORG 000h START : MOV SP, #20H LCALL init_8255 _begin : LCALL mem_test LCALL disp_7218_test LCALL dac_test LJMP _begin ; INITIALIZE 8255 init_8255 : MOV DPTR, #2003H MOV A, #8BH MOVX @DPTR, A RET ; INIT_8255 ENDS ; MEMORY TEST mem_test : MOV DPTR, #000h MOV R0, #0FFH _up1 : MOV A,R0 MOVX @DPTR, A INC DPTR DEC R0 DJNZ R0,_UP1 _up2 : MOVX @DPTR, A INC DPTR INC R0

CJNE R0, #0FFH,_up2 RET ; MEMORY TEST OVER ; 7218 TEST disp_7218_test : MOV DPTR, #400H MOV R0,#09H MOV R1,#07H MOV A,#80H _digag : LCALL delay1 MOVX @DPTR, A INC A DJNZ R0,_dig_AG ANL A,#0F0H SWAP A INC A SWAP A DJNZ R1,_dig_ag RET ; 7218 TEST OVER ; 7217 TEST disp_7217_test : CLR P3.1 LCALL delay1 MOV R0, #0FFH _incag : SETB P3.0 LCALL delay1 CLR P3.0 LCALL delay1 DJNZ R0,_inc_ag RET ; 7217 TEST OVER ; DAC TEST dac_test : MOV DPTR,#2000H MOV R0,#0FFFH _up6 : MOVA, #0FFFH _up5 : MOVX @DPTR,A LCALL delay2 DJNZ A,_up5 DJNZ R0,_up6 RET ; DAC-TEST ENDS ; DELAY ROUTINE BIG DELAY delay1: PUSH 00H PUSH 01H MOV R0,#0FH _u2 : MOV R1,#0FFFH

_u1: DEC R1 DJNZ R1,_U1 DEC R0 DJNZ R0,_U2 POP 00H POP 01H RET ; DELAY1 ENDS ; ANOTHER DELAY ROUTIEN SMALL DELAY delay2 : PUSH O1H MOV R1, #0FFH _u3 : DEC R1 DJNZ R1,_u3 POP 01H RET ; DELAY2 ENDS .END

12 Conclusions
Automated resistance welding control system is designed and implemented for a welding process in the industry. The design is an improvement over the commercially available resistance welding controllers because of the following reasons. Commercially available controller have analog inputs and outputs, whereas our design incorporates digital inputs and outputs. The controller is fully automatic and compact and easily upgradeable. Due to the presence of digital inputs and outputs, human error can be drastically cut down making the process more accurate. Due to presence of non-volatile RAM, presetting of the schedules and storage of various process parameters will b e possible, which is not available in most of the controllers. Also, it will be possible to detect and correct a wide range of errors than that are possible in commercially available controllers.

11 Future developments
In the further stages, as an improvement to our present circuit, the number of preset schedules can be increased according to the requirement. In the circuit implemented by us, we have considered the squeeze, hold, weld and cool time cycles. For a more precise operation, we may need a series of small weld / cool cycles which can be further incorporated in the circuit so that the weld and cool cycles are interspersed by each other. (i.e., we can have the following sequence W1 C1 W2 C2 W3). In addition to that we can also have an upslope and a downslope for the welding cycles such that in W1, the welding current is increased to its maximum value, in W2 the value of the welding current is at its required value and in W3 it reduces. This type of an arrangement is essential for the various metal jobs as a sudden high welding current through the jobs may damage the work-pieces. Further, on a more expansive error detection and correction scheme can be interfaced. Here, we can dedicate one entire micro-controller port to the errors. We can give them as interrupts to the microcontroller. We can have various errors like the overshoot of the current, thyristors short circuit, invalid schedule number, thermostat burn out, coil breakage, no power supply, etc.,. Our circuit can be further improved by an implementation of the pneumatic control for the external pressure to be applied to the work piece during the process. An additional amount of pressure is required during the hold cycle. A solenoid valve can control this, which can also be interfaced to the micro-controller.

References
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[7] Ayala Kenneth J., 8051 Microcontroller : Architecture, Programming and Applications, Penram Publishing, 1994. [8] Gaonkar, G., Microprocessor Architecture, Programming and Applications with the 8085, 3ed, Penram Publishing. [9] http://www.nationalsemiconductor.com [10] C. Ageorges and L. Ye, Resistance welding of thermosetting composite / thermoplastic composite joints, Composites Part A : Applied Science and Manufacturing, Volume 32, Issue 11, November 2001, Pages 1603-1612. [11] Meng Hou, Mingbo Yang, Andrew Beehag, YiuWing Mai and Lin Ye, Resistance welding of carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite using alternative heating element, Composite Structures, Volume 47, Issues 1-4, December 1999, Pages 667672.