Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Christopher Lindridge
Christopher.lindridge@newdur.ac.uk
Contents
Fuses......................................................................................................................................................2
What is a Fuse?..................................................................................................................................3
Construction & Working of a Fuse................................................................................................4
How to Select Proper Rating Size of Fuse?................................................................................5
Characteristics of a Fuse...............................................................................................................6
Fuse Current Carrying Capacity...................................................................................................6
Rated Voltage of Fuse...................................................................................................................6
I2t Value of Fuse.............................................................................................................................7
Response Characteristic of a Fuse..............................................................................................7
The speed at which fuse blows, depend on the amount of current flowing through its wire.
The higher the current flowing through the wire, faster will be the response time.................7
Packaging size................................................................................................................................7
Classification of Fuses...................................................................................................................7
Types of Fuses................................................................................................................................8
DC Fuses.........................................................................................................................................9
AC Fuses.........................................................................................................................................9
Cartridge Fuses...............................................................................................................................9
D – Type Cartridge Fuse..............................................................................................................10
HRC (High Rupturing Capacity) Fuse or Link Type Cartridge Fuse......................................10
High Voltage Fuses......................................................................................................................11
Automotive, Blade Type & Bolted Type Fuses.........................................................................11
SMD Fuses (Surface Mount Fuse), Chip, Radial, and Lead Fuses.......................................12
Rewireable Fuses.........................................................................................................................12
Thermal Fuses..............................................................................................................................13
Resettable Fuses..........................................................................................................................13
Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB).................................................................................................14
What is an MCB?..........................................................................................................................14
How Does a Miniature Circuit Breaker Work?..........................................................................15
Different MCB Types Explained..................................................................................................15
Type B MCBs................................................................................................................................16
Type C MCBs................................................................................................................................16
Type D MCBs................................................................................................................................17
Other MCB Types.........................................................................................................................17
How to Choose the Right MCB....................................................................................................18
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MCB Selection Table......................................................................................................................19
Residual Current Breaker with Overload protection (RCBO)...............................................................23
What are RCBOs?........................................................................................................................23
Residual Current Circuit Breakers..............................................................................................24
What is the Meaning of RCBO?..................................................................................................24
How Does an RCBO Work?........................................................................................................24
RCDs vs RCBOs...........................................................................................................................26
What is an RCD?..........................................................................................................................26
RCBOs vs RCCBs........................................................................................................................27
RCBO vs MCB..............................................................................................................................27
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Fuses
A fuse is a very basic protection device which is destroyed (i.e. its 'blows') and
breaks the circuit should the current exceed the rating of the fuse. Once the fuse has
blown, it needs to be replaced.
In older equipment, the fuse may just be a length of appropriate fuse wire fixed
between two terminals (normally screw terminals). These are becoming rarer as
electrical installations are updated - the presence of such fuses usually indicates that
it is about time that the installation is updated.
Modern fuses are generally incorporated within sealed ceramic cylindrical body (or
cartridge) and the whole cartridge needs to be replaced.
Cartridge fuses are used in older type consumer units, fused sockets, fused plugs
etc
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What is a Fuse?
4
Construction & Working of a Fuse
The working principle of a fuse is based on the “Heating effect of Current” i.e.
Whenever a short circuit, over current or mismatched load connection occurs, then
the thin wire inside the fuse melts because of the heat generated by the heavy
current flowing through it. Therefore, it disconnects the power supply from the
connected system. In normal operation of the circuit, fuse wire is just a very low
resistance component and does not affect the normal operation of the system
connected to the power supply.
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How to Select Proper Rating Size of Fuse?
While selecting the proper fuse and its rated size for electrical appliances is based
on different factors and environments. but the following basic formula shows
that how to choose the right size of fuse?
For example, you have to find a right size of fuse for 10A two pin socket.
(1000W / 230V) x 1.25 = 5.4A
in the above example, 1kW is the power rating which can be control through the 2-
pin socket and the main supply voltage is single phase 230V AC
Characteristics of a Fuse
Current carrying capacity is the amount of current which a fuse can easily conduct
without interrupting the circuit.
Breaking capacity:
The value of maximum current that can safely be interrupted by the Fuse is called
Breaking Capacity and should be higher than the prospective short circuit current.
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Rated Voltage of Fuse
Expect the current capacity of current, there are the maximum voltage rating a fuse
can handle safely. Each fuse has maximum allowed voltage rating, for example, if a
fuse is designed for 32 volts it cannot be used with 220 volts, different amount of
isolation is required in different fuses working on different voltage levels. Bases of
voltage rating, a fuse can be HV (High Voltage) LV (Low Voltage), and Miniature
Fuses.
I 2 t Value of Fuse
The I2t terms related to fuse normally used in short circuit condition. it is the amount
of energy which carry the fuse element when the electrical fault is cleared by fuse
element.
The speed at which fuse blows, depend on the amount of current flowing through its
wire. The higher the current flowing through the wire, faster will be the response
time.
Response characteristic shows the response time for over current event. Fuses
which respond rapidly to the over current situation is called ultra-fast fuses or Fast
fuses.
Packaging size
7
As we have mentioned above that AC and DC fuses, have a little bit different
packaging type, in the same way different application requires different packages to
be used accurately in the circuit.
Classification of Fuses
Fuses can be classified as “One Time Only Fuse”, “Resettable Fuse”, “Current
limiting and non – current limiting fuses” based on the usage for different
applications.
One time use fuses contain a metallic wire, which burns out, when an over current,
over load or mismatched load connect event occurs, user has to manually replace
these fuses, switch fuses are cheap and widely used in almost all the electronics and
electrical systems.
On the other hand, the Resettable fuse automatically reset after the operation when
fault occurs at the system.
In the Current limiting fuse, they produce high resistance for a very short period while
the non – current limiting fuse produce an arc in case of high current flow to
interrupts and limit the current in related and connected circuit.
Types of Fuses
There are different types of fuses available in the market and they can be
categories on the basis of Different aspects.
Good to know: Fuses are used in AC as well as DC circuits.
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Fuses can be divided into two main categories according to the type of input supply
voltage.
AC fuses
DC fuses
DC Fuses
In a DC system, when the metallic wire Melts because of the heat generated by the
over current, then Arc is produced and it is very difficult to extinct this arc because of
DC constant value. So, in order to minimize the fuse arcing, DC fuse are little bigger
than an AC fuse which increase the distance between the electrodes to reduce the
arc in the Fuse.
AC Fuses
On the other hand, i.e. in the AC system, voltage with 60Hz or 50Hz frequency
changes its amplitude from zero to 60 times every second, so arc can be extinct
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easily as compared to DC. Therefore, AC fuses are little bit small in sizes as
compared to DC fuses.
Fuses can also be categorized based on one time or multiple Operations.
Cartridge Fuses
Cartridge fuses are used to protect electrical appliances such as motors air-
conditions, refrigerator, pumps etc, where high voltage rating and currents required.
They are available up to 600A and 600V AC and widely used in industries,
commercial as well as home distribution panels.
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D-Types fuse contains on adapter ring, base, cap and cartridge. Fuse base is
connected to the fuse cap where cartridge is inside the fuse cap. The circuit is
completed when the tip of the cartridge makes contacts through the fuse link
conductor.
We have already disused in very details about HRC fuse (High Rupturing Capacity)
construction, operation and their applications. It also covers different types of HRC
fuses like DIN type, NH Type, Blade Type, Liquid Type HRC Fuse, Expulsion Type
HV Fuse, advantages & disadvantage etc.
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High Voltage Fuses
High Voltage (HV) fuses are used in power system to protect the power transformer,
distribution transformers and instrument transformer etc where circuit breakers may
not be able to protect the system. High Voltage fuses are rated for more than 1500V
and up to 13kV.
The element of High Voltage fuse generally made of copper, silver or tin. The fuse
link chamber may be filled with boric acid in case of expulsion type HV (High
Voltage) Fuses
These type of fuses (also known as spade or plug-in fuses) comes in plastic body
and two metal caps to fit in the socket. Mostly, they used in automobiles for wiring
and short circuit protection. Expect this, Fuse Limiters, Glass Tube (also known
as Bosch Fuse) are widely used in automotive industries. The rating of automobile
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fuses is low as 12V to 42V.
In bolted types of fuses, the base of the fuse contacted directly to the base of the
fuse same like HRC Fuses, to read more about Blade Type and Bolted types of
fuses related to HRC fuses, check the post. Types of HRC Fuses.
SMD Fuses (Surface Mount Fuse), Chip, Radial, and Lead Fuses
SMD Fuses (Surface Mont Device and the name derived from SMT = Surface Mount
Technology) are chip types of fuses (also known as electronic fuse) are used in DC
power applications like Hard Drive, DVD players, Camera, cell phones etc where
space playing an important role because SMD fuses are very tinny in size and hard
to replace as well.
Below are some additional types of SMD Fuses and Leaded fuses.
Rewireable Fuses
The most famous kit-kat fuse (also known as rewireable fuse) mostly used in
industries and home electrical wiring for small current applications in Low Voltage
(LV) systems.
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Rewireable fuse contains on 2 basic parts. The inner fuse element as fuse carrier
made of tinned copper, Aluminium, Lead etc and the base made of porcelain having
the IN and OUT terminals which is used to be in series with the circuit to protect.
The main advantage of rewireable fuse is that It can be rewire easily in case if it
blown due to short circuit or over current which melts the fuse elements. Simple, put
another wire of fuse element with the same rating as before.
Thermal Fuses
As mentioned above, thermal fuse is a onetime used only fuse. They are
temperature sensitive fuse and the fuse element is made of temperature sensitive
alloy. They are known as Thermal Cut-outs (TCO) or Thermal Links.
In a thermal fuse, the fuse element holds a mechanical spring contact which is
normally closed. When high currents due to over current and short circuit flow
through the elements of the fuse, the fuse elements melt down which lead to release
the spring mechanism and prevent the arc and fire and protect the connected circuit.
Resettable Fuses
Resettable fuse is a device, which can be used as multiple times without replacing it.
They open the circuit, when an over current event occurs and after some specific
time they connect the circuit again. Polymeric positive temperature coefficient device
(PPTC, commonly known as a resettable fuse, poly-switch or poly-fuse) is a passive
electronic component used to protect against short current faults in electronic
circuits.
Application of resettable fuses is overcome where manually replacing of fuses is
difficult or almost impossible, e.g. fuse in the nuclear system or in aerospace system.
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An MCB is a modern alternative to fuses used in Consumer Units (Fuse Boxes).
They are just like switches which switch off when an overload is detected in the
circuit. The advantage of MCBs over fuses is that if they trip, they can be reset - they
also offer a more precise tripping value.
What is an MCB?
Let’s start with the basics – just what is a miniature circuit breaker? An MCB is an
automatically operated electrical switch. Miniature circuit breakers are intended to
prevent damage to an electrical circuit as a result of excess current. They are
designed to trip during an overload or short circuit to protect against electrical faults
and equipment failure.
Excess current causes the bimetallic strip within the MCB to heat, bend, and trip.
This releases a switch which moves the electrical contact points apart to confine the
arc (electrical discharge). The arc is divided and cooled by an insulated metal strip
called the arc chute. The contacts close again once the fault has been fixed and the
MCBs are reset.
If the discharge is especially high, the MCB will trip (activate) very quickly – within
one-tenth of a second. When the overcurrent is closer to the safety limits, the
component will be slower to respond.
Several different MCB types are available – types A, B, C, D, K, and Z. However, the
three key versions are type B, type C, and type D. Each is designed to be responsive
to the likely strength of electrical surges in different settings. These variations are
typically known as their ‘trip curve’ but can also be known as their tripping
characteristics or overcurrent characteristics.
Type B MCBs
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Type B circuit breakers are designed to trip if the current flowing through hits
between three and five times the recommended maximum or ‘rated load’.
This is the most sensitive type of MCB, designed for domestic applications, and low
voltage commercial settings where any current surges are likely to be small.
Type C MCBs
Type C circuit breakers are used for more powerful electrical devices where any
surges are likely to be higher – typically commercial and industrial environments.
They are designed to trip at currents between five and ten times their rated load.
Good examples include smaller electric motors and fluorescent lighting.
Type D MCBs
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D-type MCBs are the least sensitive type, only activating when current surges to
between ten and twenty times the recommended maximum.
D-rated MCBs are built for heavy-duty commercial and industrial devices where very
strong current surges occasionally occur. Examples include welding equipment, X-
ray machines, large motors, and uninterruptible power supply units.
Brand &
Image Main Benefits Typical Applications
Product Type
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ABB MCBs Complete range of Residential, commercial and
MCBs to cover most industrial applications
applications
High-performance
ranges
Rigorously tested
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Siemens High-performance Wide range of
MCBs range applications
Innovative mounting
options
Modern alternatives (better) to Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers and fuses in the
Consumer Unit. RCDs are tripped if they detect a small current imbalance between
the Live and Neutral wires above the trip value - this is typically 30mA.
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As a plug-in unit which can convert any socket into to a protected circuit - this gives
good flexibility as, for example, a lawn mower or a hedge trimmer can be plugged in
at different times. However, as the individual appliance could still be plugged into an
unprotected socket, you need to remember to fit the
As a plug for wiring on to the lead of an individual appliance, this does make it less
flexible than the plug-in unit above but it does ensure that the piece of equipment is
always protected. One very usefully use to fit it to the end of an extension cable, then
whatever you plug into the extension lead is protected.
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Residual Current Breaker with Overload protection (RCBO)
A RCBOs combines the functions of an MCB and an RCD in one unit. They are used
to protect a particular circuit, instead of having a single RCD for the whole building.
Generally, these are used more often in commercial building than domestic ones.
The residual current device (RCD) or residual current circuit breaker (RCCB)
enables the rapid disconnection of electricity, thereby avoiding prolonged and
potentially serious shocks. An RCD device complete with overcurrent protection is
called an RCBO, or residual current circuit breaker with overcurrent protection.
The primary functions of RCBOs are to ensure protection against earth fault
currents, overload, and short circuit currents. It is recommended that an RCBO be
attached to each separate circuit, meaning that a fault in one circuit will not affect the
functioning of the others. Such devices allow for disconnection of the circuit for the
protection of people and equipment in the event that the current becomes
unbalanced. They can be operated exclusively of other overcurrent protective
devices within the rated short-circuit capacity.
Design and testing requirements for RCBOs are outlined in the set of standards:
IEC/EN 61009: Residual current circuit-breakers with integral overload protection for
household and similar uses (RCBO).
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Residual Current Circuit Breakers
As previously mentioned, the residual current circuit breaker is designed for rapid
disconnection of the electricity supply, thereby avoiding any serious and sustained
electric shocks. However, there will still be a risk of injury should the person fall over
after the initial shock or touch both conductors simultaneously.
The breakers enable the rapid and automatic disconnection of a circuit upon
detection of an unbalanced electric current between the circuit supply and return
conductors. There will be a shock hazard whenever there is a difference between the
currents within the conductors indicating a leakage current.
The RCBO meaning is residual current circuit breaker with overcurrent protection.
These devices are designed to ensure the safe operation of electrical circuits,
triggering disconnection whenever an imbalance is detected. They are primarily used
for the purpose of combined protection against overloading and short-circuiting
against earth leakage currents.
The other type of electrical fault is the overcurrent, which may take the form of an
overload or short circuit. In the first instance, the circuit will be overloaded with too
many electrical devices, resulting in the transfer of power exceeding the cable
capacity. Short-circuiting may also happen as a result of insufficient circuit resistance
and high-level multiplication of the amperage. This is associated with a greater level
of risk than overloading.
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Have a look at the RCBO varieties available from different brands in this table:
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RCDs vs RCBOs
RCDs are designed for protection from electrocution or electrical fires. They do this
by automatically cutting off the supply of electricity whenever an electric current
leakage is sensed. The RCDs allow for continuous monitoring of the current level
passing through a wire in one single direction, and again in the reverse direction.
The circuit will be automatically broken in the event that there is a difference of
300mA or less in some instances. This provides the assurance of protection against
electrical shocks.
You should be aware that RCDs will not react to overloads or short circuits. They will
have a standard rating that may be anywhere from 32A to 64A. However, this rating
corresponds with the internal contact and switching mechanism. The device will not
trip out when the standard rating is exceeded. You will also see an indication of the
imbalance that will need to occur for the device to trip.
All RCDs come complete with a test button, allowing for the simulation of an event
involving disparity in the electricity supply. If the device doesn’t trip during such a
simulation, then it will have to be replaced.
There are some key differences between RCDs and RCBOs. The RCBOs are
integrated with an electronic switch and designed for the transfer and breakage of
currents under normal service conditions for the opening of contacts when the
residual current is of a certain level under defined conditions. These devices are also
designed for protection against overloading and short-circuiting.
The RCBO will break the circuit if the current demand exceeds a particular level. An
overload may be sensed in the event of a short circuit, or excessive demand due to
the connection of multiple devices. This will automatically cause the circuit to break.
There would be a considerable risk of the wires melting and catching fire if the circuit
wasn’t broken. The RCBO thereby provides protection for people, equipment, and
property.
What is an RCD?
As previously mentioned, RCD stands for residual current device. The functionality of
such a device may be considered in relation to a basic electrical circuit. Electricity
flowing through the live cable will be transferred to the powered device. The flow will
then continue through the neutral cable for completion of the circuit. If some of the
electricity was diverted through the earth cable, then the user would experience an
electric shock.
The RCD effectively monitors the flow of electricity through the live and neutral wires,
ensuring that the levels are the same. If this isn’t the case, then the electricity supply
will be cut, so avoiding the shock. This device offers higher levels of personal
protection than either the ordinary fuse or circuit breaker.
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o Fixed RCDs – these are fitted within the consumer unit (fusebox) and offer
protection for individual and circuit groups
o Socket-outlet RCDs – these special socket outlets have an integrated RCD,
which replaces the standard socket outlet. They provide exclusive protection
for the user of the equipment
o Portable RCDs – these RCDs can be fitted to any standard socket-outlet. An
appliance can then be attached to the RCD. They are ideally suited to fixtures
where there is no fixed or socket-outlet RCD available. These RCDs also
provide exclusive protection for the equipment user
RCBOs vs RCCBs
The RCCB has very similar functionality to the RCBO. However, it doesn’t provide
integral overcurrent protection and so doesn’t safeguard against overloading or
short-circuiting. Rather, the RCCB provides exclusive earth leakage protection and
requires the fitting of an external CB for the assurance of overload and short circuit
protection.
RCBO vs MCB
The MCB, or miniature circuit breaker, is an electrical switch integrated for the
automatic protection of the electrical circuit from damage as a result of the
overcurrent. It automatically stops the flow of electricity through the circuit upon
detection of a fault. These circuit breakers can be switched on or off for circuit
isolation and they are relatively safe to use with the conductor contained within
plastic casing. The main difference between an RSBO and MSB is that the MSB
doesn’t provide protection against earth leakage.
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