FUSES AND C I R C U I T BREAKERS

L I S T O F CONTENTS PAGE

FUSES 33

FUSEHOLDERS 37

FUSE TESTING 38

THERMAL C I R C U I T BREAKERS 39

SELF-APPRAISAL QUESTIONS 43
OBJECTIVES FUSES AND CIRCUIT BRFAKERS
On completion of this lesson the student will
Recall t h e function of fuses and circuit breakers.
Define t h e tern 'Rating4 when applied t o fuses
and circuit breakers .
-
Define t h e terms :

a minimum fusing current

b culrentbreakingqpacity

Recall the advantages and disadvantages of: -

a fast operating airfuses

b slow opemti~lgairfuses
c IIoRaC. fuses

State t h e purpose and principle of t h e indicating

fus eholder,

Describe t h e principle of the

a 'push' type CeBo

b 'push-pull type8 C,B,

Define the term 'trip-free' circuit breaker

State t h e t i m e in which a C.D. will trip when it is

a 50 % overloaded
b 100%overloaded

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING

AIRCRAFT ELECTRICAL PRACTICE CH ;10
L.F. WAIWRIGI3T
ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS FOR
.
AEROS PACE VEEIICLES NOP'I'HRCE' INS'T'I'PUTE*
A,P, 3275 Sect. 3
AIRCWFT ELECTRICAL ENG, H. ZEFFERT CH 15
 FUSES

Fuses and circuit breakers are protective devices designed t o interrupt

a n electric circuit whenever t h e current reaches a l e v e l which could
c a u s e damage to the wiring or components within the circuit. The
fuse is attributed t o Edis on i n 1880 who regarded it a s a 'weak linkB
in a circuit. It is placed i n series with t h e load so that a l l load
current will flow through it. When t h e current flowing through a fuse
exceeds t h e minimurn fusing value, t h e element melts and breaks t h e
circuit,

FUSE TERMINOLOGY

CURRENT RATING This is defined a s the6ximurn current which a

fuse can carry indefinitely without fusing or blowing).

MINIMUM FUSING CURRENT The inimum current a t which a fuse

will operate. In. general, prolonge u s e near the minimum fusing FUSES
current causes 'ageing' and t h e fuse will eventually operate, whereas
occasional modemte overloads may be expected t o have l i t t l e effect.
Ageing may be minimised b y using anti-oxidizing elements such as
silver plated copper o r t i n , and b y designing for low working temper-
atures.

CURRENT - BREAKING CAPACITY This is thecminimum current which

a f u s e ma y be expected t o operate without explosion or shattering)
and is usually specified in conjunction with a maximum circuit voltage.
Some aircraft fuses have breaking capacities up t o 30,000 amps a t
.
voltages substantially higher than the highest system voltages These
are termed H.R.C. fuses

THERMAL CIRCUIT BREAKER

 THE FAST OPERATING AIRFUSE

DISADVANTAGES

Lower ratings have a high failure rate due to the effects

of vibration .

The larger ratings served a s a protection reasonably

well on resistive loads but were inadequate on motorised
circuits, where they were rapidly aged by t h e high start-
ing current. An increase in rating to overcome this
problem rendered them useless a s a protection against
anything l e s s than a 'clamp down8 short circuit, and
they also exceeded the maximum safe rating of the cir-
cuit cable,

The fast operating airfuse consists of a glass cylinder The rupturing capacity is low because of the glass
with two brass end caps connected by a tinned copper envelope,
element, The fuse is normally installed in spring-clip
fuse carriers. The maximum rating of these fuses is
100A, however they are now only normally used in
lower ratings up to 20A. 34
 THE SLOW OPERATING AIRFUSE OR LIMITER
PLUG CEMENTED W PLUG REMOVEDTO MICA

/
,.

The fusible element, is a single strip of tinned

copper drilled and shaped at each end to form lug
GLASS /
/ /r SHOW FUSE LINK
CONSTRUCTlON

/
connections. The centre is waisted to the required
width to fornl the fusing area and is enclosed in a
rectangular ceramic housing, one s i d e of which has
a window to show the state of the fuse,

BURNDY BELLING-LEE BUSSMAN E N D VIEW

Lirniters are capable of handling short circuit currents

of about 5000 amps at 28 volts without structural TYPICAL TIME/CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS OF 35- 5 0 0
AMPERE RANGE OF LlMlTERS
failure of the cem rnic housing. he^ are designed
to isolate any portion of an electrical distribution
system which may be drawing fault current, quickly
enough to prevent voltage collaps e or damage to the
generator system. They do however operate slowly
enough to be useful in circuits carrying occasional
current surges, such as motor starting currents 3
 THE HIGH RUPTURING CAPACITY FUSE

INERT FUSIBLE CERAMIC

G A N U L E S ELEMENT BODY

CERAMIC FUSIBLE INERT

HRC fuses are commonly us ed in aircraft electrical BODY ELEMENT GANULES
systems and range from 1 amp t o 500 a m p ratings.
They compris e ceramic tubular bodies cemented t o
metal end caps which are connected together by a
fusible element, or elements in parallel, embedded
i n quartz dust. The quartz dust quenches t h e arcs
which occur when t h e fuse operates and gives this
device a high breaking capacity (In the order of
30,OOOA).

@ FUSE RETAINING NUT

ItAPORTANT
tXilC WOW CURRENT IS
TRANSMll TEO FROM
FACE TO FACC AND
plC>T THROUGH r E R W
iTUD ITSELF
 TYPICAL FUSEHOLDERS
1NOlCATlNG FUSES
Whereas Air Fuses are bolted in position,
Standard Fuses m a y be changed easily by
hand ...
\
115 V. A.C. 26V. A.C. 26V. D.C.
DOMED FLAT FLAT WHITE
\ AMBER

NON - INDICATING

-BA
Fuse &
Fuse and circuit breakers are grouped a s breaker
ponel
S ys terns wherever possible and coloured SPARE S
strips are located under these groups to FUSE (AND
associate the components with the aircraft PANEL
systems .
BE PAI

The Air Navigation Order lays down that

S parefus es,for all electrical circuits which
can be replaced in flight,must b e carried.
This is 10% of t h e number of each mting
employed or three of each rating employed
whichever is the greater,
SUB- PANEL
D.C. D1ST RI 8UTIO N
SUB- PANEL
 FUSE TEST FACILITIES
PANEL L!GHT(€G.)
Fuse test facilities may be found in
various parts of an aircraft (depending
on rL/C type) e.g. the flight deck
the electrical equipment bay e t c . TEST HOLDER

To test 1 15V fus es , insert into 115V

test position, press to second press-
and centralise-fuse-cap,-
ons should light, The thread barrels in the test- holders
are cleared, to facilititate rapid test.

To test 26 or 28v fuses, insert into

'
Non-indicating fuses may be tested 2 6/28V position, press t o " S econd
in either 2 6/2 8V or 1 15V positions. pressure' - fuse - cap and panel
lights should light with equal brillianc

Non indicating fuses i n 2 6/28V position a.c distribution

will light panel light brightly on second
-
pres S ure; in 1 l5V position panel neon d c. distribution
.
on first pres S ure
su b- panel
 THERMAL CIRCUIT BFLEAKERS

THERMAL circuit breakers are essentially circuit breakers in which the trip
mechanism is actuated by heating a bi-metallic element, either d i r e c t l y
through t h e passage of current through the element or indirectly by radi-
ation from an adjacent heating element which carries the current.

For general safety, the trip free circuit breaker is the only acceptable
standard. It must be impossible for t h e contacts to be held closed under
overload conditions. Earlier, the possibility of holding an important cir-
cuit manually during a f a u l t condition had been envisaged. This was not
an acceptable practice and it is now a requirement of airworthiness autho-
rities that trip free breakers must always be used.

Thermal circuit breakers have now been developed to a degree of reliability

to compete strongly with the fuse as a method of circuit protection. They
are attractive in that they can be quickly and easily reset by the f l ' i g h t
crew, and t h e y are capable of replacing two components i.e. the fuse and the
switch. Circuit breakers a l s o compete with fuses in that development has
resulted in t h e i r size and weight being reduced.
 THE PUSH TYPE CIRCUIT BREAKER
STANDARD RATINGS
The push type circuit breaker is 'trip free4
and has two buttons a 'close' button and a
B tripB button.
Continuous Current (amp.) * required to t d p in:
Rating
(Amperes) 1 minute 30 seconds 15 seconds
6
12
18
24
35

* within ;t 20% and at 20 deg. C ambient.

Circuit Data

1. Maximum voltage;
2 9 volts d.c. actual, 120 volts a . c. phase to neutral.
Maximum voltage-drop a cross terminals at normal -rated
current:
The circuit is made when the 'close4 button
is pushed in. The circuit can b e broken either
by manual operation of the trip button or when
the bi-metal element trips the m e c h a n i s m in
I Rating (amp.) I
I
61 121 l81 2 4 1 3 5 1

a n overload condition. Voltage drop (mV) 215 170 170 140 95

 THE PUSH TYPE CIRCUIT BREAKER

The circuit is made when the The trip-button cover is

clos e button is pushed. fitted to prevent inadvertent
tripping of the C . B.
- -- ----
Fixed Moving-conracc Contact Top-contact
contact link
rrm

/
Hinge pir Operating tontact-arm '~ower-contact \ ~ r i ~
1 cler tink spring arm lever

In a n overload condition the bi -metal

arm will bend and a ciivate the trip
mechanism.
-
The contacts can b e reset after approxi-
mately 20 s e c s but will trip again i f t h e
fault still exists. The C,B, is therefore
.
TRIP-FREE i e, the contacts cannot be
held 'closedmduring a fault condition.
 The PUSH - PULL TYPE CIRCUIT BREAKER
When the button is pushed the W h e n the white collar is in
contacts are held closed by a view it indicates that the
latch and pawl mechanism. C. B. is tripped,

OOWEL

The C.B. can b e tripped by the

bi-metal element in an overload
condition or by pulling the
actuating button,

The figure on the button -p

indicates theCcurrent rating
of the C,B,
FIXED COWTACfS
\
MOVING CONTACTS
MECHANiCAL LATCH

Three phase circuit breakers for aircraft use are available, and are often u s e d on
aircraft with three phase a c power generation. They are similar in design to the
single phase circuit breaker already d e s cribed. The internal arrangement of the
bi-netal elements is such that over-loading in one or more phases results in
the simultaneous tripping of all three phases.
SELF APPRAISAL QUESTIONS
1 When refering to fuses HRC means 6 A trip free circuit breaker can be expected to trip in
' under a minute with a load of at least
a HotRunning Capacity
b High Running Current a .g5 rated value
C/C High Rupture Capacity b 1.5 rated value
-c twice rated value
2 An indicating fuseholder with a white cap is used
in drcuits using

28 volts D.C. 7 When the white collar on the actuating button of the
i/f: 26voltsA.C. push-pull circuit breaker is in view it indicates
that the circuit breaker
c 115 volts A.C.
is tripped
3 An aircraft should carry at least the following b has been reset
number of spare fuses per rating c must not b e res et until the A/C is on the ground

8 During a milli-volt drop test the milli-voltmeter

read 150 mV at 300A Contact resistance is therefore
4 In an overload condition with a limiter in the
circuit the limiter would
. ?
,

a operate
allow the circuit to operate on overload
L/b for a short period before operating
c limit the current to the load
9 The contacts of a 'Trip F,reea circuit breaker
5 The current rating of a fuse indicates the cannot be held closed while a fault exists
a minimum current at which a fuse will operate
4 can be held in against a fault
c cannot be welded in the made condition by '
current which a fuse can carry without a fault.
operating
c current which will cause a fuse to explode