Plasma is a highly ionized gas heated to extremely high temperatures. It transfers arc power to the workpiece, melting it and blowing it away, creating the working state of plasma arc cutting.
Compressed air enters the torch and is distributed into two paths by the gas chamber, forming plasma gas and auxiliary gas. The plasma gas arc melts the metal, while the auxiliary gas cools the torch components and blows away the molten metal.
The cutting power supply consists of a main circuit and a control circuit. The main circuit comprises contactors, a high-leakage reactance three-phase power transformer, a three-phase bridge rectifier, a high-frequency arc-ignition coil, and protective components. The high leakage reactance results in a steep power supply characteristic. The control circuit controls the entire cutting process via a push-button switch on the torch:
Pre-gas supply-Main circuit power supply-High-frequency arc ignition-Cutting process-Arch extinguishing-Stop.
The main circuit power supply is controlled by contactors; gas flow is controlled by solenoid valves; the control circuit controls the high-frequency oscillator to ignite the arc and stops the high-frequency operation after the arc is established. In addition, the control circuit also has the following internal locking function: when the thermal switch is activated, operation stops.