Fuse
▪ A fuse is a protective device used for protecting cables and
electrical equipment against overloads and/or short-circuits.
▪ It breaks the circuit by fusing (melting) the fuse element (or
fuse wire) when the current flowing in the circuit exceeds a
certain predetermined value.
▪ The term fuse in general refers to all parts of the device.
Fuse Element (or Fuse Wire)
It is that part of the fuse which melts when the current flowing
in the circuit exceeds a certain predetermined value and thus
breaks the circuit.
Materials commonly used for fuse element (or fuse wires) are
tin, lead, zinc, silver, copper, aluminium, etc.
The materials of low melting point such as tin, lead and zinc are
the most suitable materials for the fuse element.
▪ For currents above 15A, lead-tin alloy is not found suitable as the
diameter of the fuse wire will be large and after fusing, the vaporized
metal released will be excessive.
▪ It has been found practically that silver is quite a suitable and
satisfactory material for fuse elements, because it is not subjected to
oxidation and its oxide is unstable and there is no deterioration of the
material.
▪ The only drawback is that it is a costlier material. Despite being costlier,
the present trend is to use silver as the material for fuses meant for
reliable protection of costly and precious equipment.
Rated Current
The rated current of a fuse is the current it can carry indefinitely
without fusing.
Minimum Fusing Current
It is the minimum current (rms value) at which the fuse clement
will melt.
The minimum fusing current depends upon various factors, such as
the material length, shape and area of cross-section of the fuse
element, size and location of the terminals, the type of enclosure
employed and the number of strands in the stranded fuse wire.
where K is a constant depending upon the material of the fuse
wire, and d is the diameter of the wire.
Rated and approximate fusing current for tinned copper fuse wires
Fusing Factor
It is defined as the ratio of the minimum fusing current to rated
current, i.e.
Prospective Current
The prospective current is the current which would have flown in
the circuit if the fuse had been absent, i.e. it had been replaced by
a link of negligible resistance.
It is measured in terms of the rms value of the a.c.
Cut-off Current
• The current at which the fuse element melts is called the cut-off current and is measured
as an instantaneous value.
• Since the fault current normally having a large first loop generates sufficient heat energy,
the fuse element melts well before the peak of the prospective current is reached.
• On occurrence of a fault, the current starts increasing. It would have reached the peak of
the prospective current (Ip), if no fuse were there to protect.
• But the cut-off action of the fuse does not allow the current to reach Ip. Because of the
sufficient heat energy generated by the fault current, the fuse element is cut-off at ic and
an arc is initiated.
Pre-arcing Time or Melting Time
This is the time taken from the instant of the commencement of
the current which causes cut-off to the instant of cut-off and arc
initiation.
Arcing Time
This is the time taken from the instant of cut-off (arc initiation) to
the instant of arc being extinguished or the current finally
becoming zero
Total Operating Time
It is the sum of the pre-arcing time and the arcing time. the total
operating time, i.e. tpa + ta.
Rupturing Capacity (or Breaking Capacity)
• It is the MVA rating of the fuse corresponding to the largest
prospective current which the fuse is capable of breaking
(rupturing) at the system voltage.
• A fuse is never required to pass an actual current equivalent to
its rupturing or breaking capacity.
• When a particular rupturing capacity is specified, it is expected
that the fuse will successfully operate in a circuit having
prospective current equivalent to its rupturing capacity; but the
fuse melts much earlier due to cut-off action.
• Hence a fuse never allows to pass a current equivalent to its
rupturing capacity
FUSE CHARACTERISTICS
• time-current
characteristic of a fuse,
the current scale being in
multiples of the rated
current (= 1) and the
time scale being
logarithm.
• In practice, this graph is
usually given in terms of
pre-arcing time and
prospective current
TYPES OF FUSES
(i) Rewirable Type
This type of fuse is rewirable, i.e. the blown-out fuse element can be replaced by
a new one. The fuse element can be either open or semi-enclosed. There fore,
this type of fuse is further of two types.
(a) Open type, and
(b) Semi-enclosed type.
(ii) Totally Enclosed or Cartridge Fuse
The fuse clement of this type of fuse is enclosed in a totally enclosed container
and is provided with metal contacts on both sides. This type of fuse is also of two
types.
(a) D-type cartridge fuse, and
(b) Link type cartridge fuse or high rupturing capacity (HRC) cartridge fuse.
Open Fuse
An open fuse element is a thin piece of wire of tin, lead or copper
inserted directly in a circuit. It is the simplest and cheapest form of
protection but due to fire hazard and unreliable operation caused
by oxidation, it is seldom used any longer
Semi-enclosed Rewirable Fuse
This fuse is most commonly used in house wiring and small current
circuits.
The fuse wire is fitted on a porcelain ‘carrier’ which is fitted in the
porcelain base. Whenever the fuse wire blows off due to overload
or short-circuit, the fuse carrier can be pulled out, the new wire can
be placed and service can be restored. The fuse wire may be of
lead, tinned copper or an alloy of tin-lead. The fuse wire should be
replaced by a wire of correct size and to the specification,
otherwise it may prove dangerous with the possibility of the
equipment burning out.
As the fuse is affected by ambient condition, its time-current
characteristic is not uniform and gets deteriorated with time,
resulting in unreliable operation and lack of discrimination.
Therefore, these fuses are mainly used for domestic and lighting
loads.
For all important and costly equipment operating at
comparatively lower voltages (up to 33 kV), cartridge fuses are
used because they provide more reliable protection.
Rewirable fuses suffer from the following disadvantages.
(i) Unreliable operation
The operation of these fuses is unreliable because of the following factors.
(a) Since the fuse wire is exposed to the atmosphere, it gets oxidised and
deteriorated, resulting in a reduction of the wire section with the passage of
time. This increases the resistance, causing operation or the fuse at lower
currents
(b) Local heating caused by loose connection, etc.
(ii) Lack of discrimination
Proper discrimination cannot be ensured due to unreliable operation.
(iii) Small time lag
Because of the small time lag, these fuses can blow with large transient currents
encountered during the starting of motors and switching-on operation of
transformers, capacitors and fluorescent lamps, etc. unless fuses of sufficiently
high rating are used.
(iv) Risk of external flame and fire
D-type Cartridge Fuse
The cartridge is pushed into the fuse
cap. The fuse-link is clamped into
the fuse base by the fuse carrier.
The fuse cap is screwed on the fuse
base.
After complete screwing, the
cartridge tip touches the conductor
and circuit between two terminals is
completed through the fuse link
High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) Cartridge Fuse
The HRC fuses cope with increasing rupturing capacity on the
distribution system and overcome the serious disadvantages suffered
by the semi-enclosed rewirable fuses.
In an HRC fuse, the fuse element surrounded by an inert arc
quenching medium is completely enclosed in an outer body of
ceramic material having good mechanical strength. The unit in which
the fuse element is enclosed is called ‘fuse link’. The fuse link is
replaced when it blows off.
The fuse element is fitted inside the ceramic body and the space
within the body surrounding the clement is completely filled with
pure powdered quartz.
The cylindrical body made of ceramic material is closed by metal end-caps
which carry the copper terminal tags. The brass end-caps and the copper
terminal-tags are electro-tinned.
The fuse element made of pure silver is surrounded by silica as the arc
quenching medium. In order to increase the breaking capacity of the fuse, two
or more widely separated fuse elements are used in parallel. The breaking
capacity is increased due to a greater surface area of the fuse element in
contact with the silica filler.
An indicating device consisting of a fine resistance wire connected in parallel
with the fuse elements and led through a small quantity of mild explosive held
in a pocket in the side of the fuse and covered by a label is also provided.
It indicates whether the fuse has blown out or not. When the fuse operates on
occurrence of a fault, the fine wire is automatically fused resulting in the
combustion of the explosive material. The combustion of the explosive
material chars the label, and thus indicates that the fuse has blown out.
Advantages of HRC Fuses
The HRC cartridge fuses possess the following advantages.
(i) Capability of clearing high values of fault currents
(ii) Fast operation
(iii) Non-deterioration for long periods
(iv) No maintenance needed
(v) Reliable discrimination
(vi) Consistent in performance
(vii) Cheaper than other circuit interrupting devices
(viii) Current limitation by cut-off action
(ix) Inverse time-current characteristic
Disadvantages of HRC fuses
The following are the main disadvantages of these fuses.
(i) It requires replacement after each operation.
(ii) Inter-locking is not possible.
(iii) It produces overheating of the adjacent contacts.
APPLICATIONS OF HRC FUSES
The applications of HRC fuses arc enormous but some very important
applications are as follows.
(i) Protection of low voltage distribution systems against overloads
and short circuits
(ii) Protection of cables
(iii) Protection of busbars
(iv) Protection of motors
(v) Protection of semiconductor devices
(vi) Back up protection to circuit breakers
SELECTION OF FUSES
The following points should be taken into account while selecting a
fuse.
(i) It should be able to withstand momentary over-current due to
starting a motor and transient current surges due to switching on
transformers, capacitors and fluorescent lighting, etc.
(ii) Its operation must be ensured when sustained overload or short-
circuit occurs.
(iii) It should provide proper discrimination with the other protective
devices.
(iv) Its selection should depend upon the load circuit. For the purpose
of protection, electric circuits are broadly classified as steady load
circuits and fluctuating load circuits.
Fuses for Motors
The fuses for protection of motors are selected keeping in view the
starting current, its duration and frequency. When the starting-
current of the motor is known, it is assumed that the starting-current
surge will persist for about 20 seconds and a suitable cartridge fuse
which will withstand the starting current for this time is selected.
When the starting current is not known, it is assumed to be about
five times the full-load current.
Fuses for Capacitors
Protection of capacitors is a particularly difficult task due to the
presence of transient current surges during switching operations.
Therefore, cartridge fuse links having rated current about 50%
greater than the rated currents of the capacitors are selected.
Fuses for Transformers and Fluorescent Lighting
The selected fuse should be capable of withstanding the
transient current surges during switching on.
Generally fuses having rated current about 25 to 50% greater
than the normal full load current of the apparatus are selected.
Discrimination between Two Fuses
The power to the radial line is being fed at the left end. The fuse F1
which is nearer the feeder is called the major fuse, and the fuse F2
which is far from the feeder is called the minor fuse. If a fault occurs
at the far end of the feeder, i.e. at point F, the fault current will flow
through both the fuses F1 and F2. If the fuses used do not have
discriminative character, there is a likelihood that the major fuse F1 is
blown out and thus supply to the whole line will be interrupted,
although there is no fault between F1 and F2. Therefore, when a fault
occurs beyond F2, only F2 should operate and Fl should remain
unaffected. This is called proper discrimination. For proper
discrimination in this case, the pre-arcing time of the major fuse F1
must be greater than the total operating time of the minor fuse F2.
Discrimination between Fuses and Overcurrent Protective Devices
In motor circuits, fuses provide short-circuit protection and the
overcurrent relay provides overcurrent (overload) protection. The
characteristics of the fuses and over-current relay are coordinated in
such a way that the overcurrent relay operates for currents within
the breaking capacity of the circuit breaker (or the contactor), and
the fuses operate for faults of larger current.