Calibration and testing facility for resistance welding current monitors

The lack of uniform and traceable measurement of pulsed high currents (1-200 kA) utilized in the resistance welding process has long been a problem in the welding community. A testing facility utilizing equipment and knowledge gained in the Department of Energy programs is being made available to the American welding industry to solve these problems. Problems in making these measurements traceable to national standards and proposed solutions are presented. Test equipment and methods are described that will be used to evaluate current-sensing coils and weld-current monitors. Comparison of positional errors for various current-sensing coils is presented, including a recently developed, machinable Rogowski coil.