Automatic notification for consumable package replacement

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining that a consumable welding package has been, or may have been, replenished in a high production welding environment and that a tracked weight value of the consumable welding package should be reset. An operator of a welding system can be notified that a consumable welding package may have been replenished and, therefore, that the weight value of the consumable welding package may need to be reset in the welding system. Alternatively, the weight value of the consumable welding package in the welding system may be automatically reset when the welding system has determined that the consumable welding package has been replenished.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, said method comprising:
 sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package in a welding system;   determining if said at least one characteristic is a weak indicator or a strong indicator that the consumable welding package has been replenished;   automatically prompting an operator of the welding system to manually reset a weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a weak indicator; and   automatically resetting the weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a strong indicator.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said prompting includes at least one of displaying a message to an operator of the welding system on a display of the welding system, activating an alarm of the welding system, and sending a message to a computer device of the operator of the welding system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising manually resetting the weight of the consumable welding package by entering a weight value of a consumable welding package into the welding system via a user interface of the welding system. 
     
     
         5 . A method, said method comprising:
 sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package in a welding system;   determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package may have been replenished; and   automatically prompting an operator of the welding system to manually reset a weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system in response to said determining.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said prompting includes at least one of displaying a message to an operator of the welding system on a display of the welding system, activating an alarm of the welding system, and sending a message to a computer device of the operator of the welding system. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising manually resetting the weight of the consumable welding package by entering a weight value of a consumable welding package into the welding system via a user interface of the welding system. 
     
     
         9 . A method, said method comprising:
 sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package in a welding system;   determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package has been replenished; and   automatically resetting the weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system in response to said determining.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         11 . A welding system, said welding system comprising:
 means for sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package of the welding system;   means for determining if said at least one characteristic is a weak indicator or a strong indicator that the consumable welding package has been replenished;   means for automatically prompting an operator of the welding system to manually reset a weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a weak indicator; and   means for automatically resetting the weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a strong indicator.   
     
     
         12 . The welding system of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         13 . The welding system of  claim 11 , further comprising means for manually resetting the weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system. 
     
     
         14 . A welding system, said welding system comprising:
 means for sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package of the welding system;   means for determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package may have been replenished; and   means for automatically prompting an operator of the welding system to manually reset a weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system in response to determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package may have been replenished.   
     
     
         15 . The welding system of  claim 14 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         16 . The welding system of  claim 14 , further comprising means for manually resetting the weight value of the consumable welding package. 
     
     
         17 . A welding system, said welding system comprising:
 means for sensing at least one characteristic associated with replenishing a consumable welding package in a welding system;   means for determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package has been replenished; and   means for automatically resetting a weight value of a consumable welding package within the welding system in response to determining that said at least one characteristic indicates that said consumable welding package has been replenished.   
     
     
         18 . The welding system of  claim 17 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes at least one of a cold-inching signal indicating that the system is in a cold-inching mode, a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals. 
     
     
         19 . A welding system, said welding system comprising:
 a consumable welding package including a consumable welding wire;   a welding tool;   a welding power source configured to provide electrical power to the welding tool; and   a wire feeder configured to feed the consumable welding wire from the consumable welding package to the welding tool, and further configured to provide wire feeding information, associated with feeding the consumable welding wire, to the welding power source,   wherein the welding power source is further configured to:
 determine at least one characteristic associated with replenishing the consumable welding package, 
 determine if the at least one characteristic is a weak indicator or a strong indicator that the consumable welding package has been replenished, 
 automatically prompt an operator of the welding system to manually reset a weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a weak indicator, and 
 automatically reset the weight value of the consumable welding package within the welding system when the at least one characteristic is determined to be a strong indicator. 
   
     
     
         20 . The welding system of  claim 19 , wherein the welding power source is configured to determine at least one characteristic associated with replenishing the consumable welding package in response to at least a portion of the wire feeding information. 
     
     
         21 . The welding system of  claim 19 , wherein said wire feeding information includes at least one of wire feed speed, a time duration of wire feeding, and a cold-inching signal indicating that the wire feeder is in a cold-inching mode. 
     
     
         22 . The welding system of  claim 19 , wherein said at least one characteristic includes a length value of consumable welding wire fed during a cold-inching mode, a trigger signal indicating that a trigger of a welding tool is activated over a non-welding period, a length value of consumable welding wire fed over the non-welding period, a sequence of cold-inching signals, a sequence of trigger signals, and a sequence of cold-inching signals interspersed with trigger signals.