Universal Ultrasonic Generator for Welding

The paper presents design and parameters of a multifunction ultrasonic generator manufactured by Tele and Radio Research Institute. Efficient usage of ultrasonic welding and cutting technology depends on the ability to precisely control process parameters and tune those parameters to suit particular needs. Ultrasonic generator is responsible for such control and tuning. Presented design incorporates powerful 32 bit Cortex M4 microcontroller with floating point unit which allows using modern signal processing methods to calculate parameters of ultrasonic stack in real time. Calculated parameters, especially impedance of the stack are used to estimate load level and identify phases of the welding process such as melting of the welded material. Precise control of the output signal is possible due to innovative design of the direct digital signal synthesis unit implemented in programmable logic device (CPLD). Resonant inverter topology of the generator front end ensures high electrical efficiency of the device. Designed generator is equipped with various communication interfaces such as USB host and slave, Ethernet, Bluetooth, CAN and RS485. Multiple digital inputs and outputs together with load cell interface, 4-20 mA receiver and 0-10 V analog input enable the generator to monitor and control entire ultrasonic welding system without the need of a PLC unit.