A short peak and a continuous average are different waveform quantities.
Preserve the current history
TWI describes pulsed MIG/MAG with repeated high-current pulses over background current. A peak value alone therefore does not describe the complete current history. Primary reference: TWI technical explanation.
Keep repetition period, pulse duration and background level with the peak. Actual transitions may add other waveform details, so a two-level approximation should be identified before it is used for a numerical comparison.
Calculate an invented average
Take a fictional ideal waveform at 200 A for 2 ms and 50 A for the remaining 8 ms of each 10 ms period. Its arithmetic mean is (200×2 + 50×8)/10 = 80 A.
Treating the peak as a continuous 200 A statement would change the time basis. The corresponding repetition is 100 periods per second. This calculation does not determine thermal transfer, droplet behavior or approved welding settings; it isolates the meaning of a stated average current.
Retain the full comparison
Create a waveform table with level, duration and contribution to the interval average. Check that all segment durations sum to the stated period before comparing the result with another current label.
If the actual proposal reports power or energy, request its voltage/current waveform treatment separately. Mean current alone is not a complete heat-input calculation. The worksheet gives a reviewer a precise missing-data request rather than a reason to install the illustrative pulse values.
Customer Questions
What is the invented arithmetic mean?
Eighty amperes over the defined ten-millisecond interval.
Is the peak continuous in this model?
It occupies two milliseconds of each period.
Does the mean specify transferred heat?
Voltage history and the relevant energy boundary remain necessary.
Primary References
These references support the technical principles discussed in this guide. The worked examples and review questions are educational.
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