Systems and methods to provide welding-type arc starting and stabilization with reduced open circuit voltage

1. A welding-type power supply, comprising:

power conversion circuitry configured to convert input power to welding-type power output; and

control circuitry configured to:

while a welding arc is not present, control the power conversion circuitry to output a voltage pulse at a first voltage;

while the welding arc is not present, determine whether the power conversion circuitry outputs an output current during the voltage pulse;

in response to the welding arc not being present and the output current being less than a threshold output current during the voltage pulse, control the power conversion circuitry to turn off the welding-type power output or output a second voltage that is less than the first voltage; and

in response to determining that the power conversion circuitry outputs at least the threshold output current during the voltage pulse, control the power conversion circuitry to begin outputting the welding-type power output.

2. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the power conversion circuitry to repeat the voltage pulse at intervals until at least the threshold output current is detected during the voltage pulse.

3. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the power conversion circuitry to output the welding-type power output in a hot-start phase having a current higher than a setpoint current.

4. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

during output of the welding-type power output by the power conversion circuitry, monitor the output current; and

in response to determining that the output current is less than a threshold current for at least a threshold time duration, control the power conversion circuitry to decrease an output voltage and control the power conversion circuitry to output the voltage pulse at intervals.

5. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a voltage sensor configured to measure an output voltage of the welding-type power output, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

during output of the welding-type power output by the power conversion circuitry, monitor the output voltage; and

in response to determining that the output voltage is at least a threshold voltage for at least a threshold time duration, control the power conversion circuitry to decrease the output voltage and control the power conversion circuitry to output the voltage pulse at intervals.

6. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the voltage pulse is less than 50 microseconds in duration.

7. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 6 , wherein the voltage pulse is less than 20 microseconds in duration.

8. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the second voltage is selected such that an average open circuit voltage is less than 12 volts.

9. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the power conversion circuitry to output the second voltage to reduce an average open circuit voltage while arc welding is not occurring.

10. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the welding-type power output comprises the first voltage.

11. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

during output of the welding-type power output by the power conversion circuitry, monitor the output current of the welding-type power output via a current sensor; and

in response to detecting that the output current is less than a threshold current, output a predetermined sequence of duty cycles to one or more switching elements of the power conversion circuitry to cause the power conversion circuitry to output voltage pulses to increase the output current during the voltage pulses.

12. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , wherein the power conversion circuitry comprises pulse circuitry and welding-type power circuitry, the control circuitry configured to:

control the pulse circuitry to output the voltage pulse at the first voltage and, in response to determining that there is no output current during the voltage pulse, control the power conversion circuitry to output the second voltage; and

control the welding-type power circuitry to output the welding-type power output in response to determining that the pulse circuitry outputs current during the voltage pulse.

13. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a current sensor configured to measure the output current from the power conversion circuitry, the control circuitry configured to determine that there is less than the threshold output current based on a measured output current.

14. The welding-type power supply as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a voltage sensor configured to measure an output voltage from the power conversion circuitry, the control circuitry configured to determine that there is less than the threshold output current based on the measured output voltage.