BY JALPA MAHADEV S.

AVINASH SNEHA MITTRA

Fuse was invented by the scientist Thomas Edison in the year 1890.

A Fuse is a type of sacrificial overcurrent protection device.

It is basically a small piece of metal connected between the two terminals mounted on the insulated base.

It is always connected in series with the circuit or appliance to be protected.

The fusing element carries the normal working current safely but melts due to excessive current under abnormal conditions like overload and short circuit.

FUSE ELEMENT: The part of the fuse which melts when excessive current flows through it is called fuse element of fuse wire.

CURRENT RATING OF FUSE: It is the maximum current which

fusing element can normally carry without any undue overheating or melting. It depends on
1. 2. 3.

Temperature rise of fuse contact of fuse holder. Fusing element material Deterioration of fuse due to oxidation.

FUSING CURRENT: The minimum value of current at which the fuse element melts to interrupt the circuit current is called fusing current.

The fusing current depends on the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Fuse element material Diameter of the material Location of the terminals The state of the surface i.e. the standard fuse will carry less current Size of the terminal used The surroundings in which the fuse is to be used. current. FUSING FACTOR: The ratio of the minimum fusing current and the current rating of the fuse is called the fusing factor. PROSPECTIVE CURRENT: The r.m.s value of the first loop of the fault current calculated if fuse is assumed to be replaced by a

7. Shorter the fuse i.e. lesser is the fuse length, greater is the

link of negligible resistance is called the prospective current.

CUT OFF CHARACTERISTICS

CUT OFF CURRENT: The current value at which the fuse melts, before fault current achieves its peak value is called cut off current. It depends on 1. Current rating of fuse 2. Value of prospective current 3. Asymmetry of the fault current waveform PRE-ARCING TIME: The time between the commencement of the fault current and the instant when the fuse melts and the arc

starts is called pre-arcing time.

ARCING TIME: The time between the end of the pre-arcing time and the instant when the arc gets completely extinguished is called the arcing time. TOTAL OPERATING TIME: The sum of the pre-arcing time and the arcing time is called the total operating time of the fuse.

VOLTAGE RATING OF FUSE: The rated voltage of the fuse must be equal or greater then 1. Voltage of a single phase circuit 2. Line voltage in case of a three phase circuit

3. Voltage between two outer wires in three wire d.c.circuits

FUSE ELEMENT MATERIAL: The desirable characteristics of any fuse element are 1. Low melting point 2. High conductivity 3. Free from deterioration due to oxidation 4. Low cost

No metal can possess all these characteristics.

The present trend is to use silver though it is very costly because of the following reasons:

1. it has low coefficient of expansion 2. Conductivity is very high 3. The conductivity does not deteriorate with oxidation 4. Because of its low specific heat ,it can be raised from normal

operating temperature to vapourization much quicker than

other elements. 5. Its resistance increases abruptly as melting temperature is achieved.

TIME CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FUSE: The fuse has inverse time- current characteristics. When magnitude of fault current is higher, smaller is the time taken by the fuse to melt.

When the fuse achieves the steady state condition then we can write Heat generated=Heat lost due to conduction, convection and radiation.(1) Now, Heat generated=IR watts..(2) I= current through fuse element = fusing current R=resistance of fuse element Assuming circular shape of fuse element, l R= ----- d -4 .(3)

Now, for a fuse wire of diameter d ,the heat lost can be

obtained as, Heat lost= effective surface x constant =dl x constant.(4) Substituting equations (2),(3),(4) in (1) we get, l I x .... = dl x constant d -4 therefore, I l = dl x constant ... 4

Now,

I= K d
constant K=.. = another constant

Therefore,

I= K d (5)

This equation (5) is called fuse law and K is called fuse

constant. The value of fuse constant depends on the fuse element

material.

The various types of fuses are

1.

HRC fuse : It is a high rupturing capacity fuse, also called breaking capacity. The arc is extinguished with the help of a quartz sand powder.

2.

Switch fuse : This fuse is a combination of a switch and a fuse. The combined unit is called switch fuse.

3.

Striker fuse : Its a combination of

a fuse and a

mechanical device. The striker gets released under pressure which gives the tripping indication.
4.

Open fuse: It consists of a plain fuse wire and the fuse operates without any provision for extinguishing the arc.

5. Liquid fuse: When fuse operates, there exists an arc. The fuse in which the arc is extinguished using a liquid medium is called liquid fuse. 6. Drop- out fuse: The fuse carrier drops out once the fuse operates. 7. Cartridge fuse: The fuse element is placed in a totally enclosed carrier with two metal contacts provided on

the two sides of a carrier.

8. Rewirable fuse: The fuse element is placed in a semiclosed carrier. It can be pulled out and the fuse

element can be replaced, after the fuse operation.

The advantages of using fuse as a protective device are,

1. 2. 3. 4.

It is simplest and cheapest form of protecting device. It requires no maintenance. The operation of fuse is automatic. The minimum operating time can be made much

smaller than that of circuit breaker.

5.

Inverse time-current characteristics enables it to use for overload protection.

6.

Heavy currents can be interrupted without noise,

smoke, gas and flame.

The various disadvantages of a fuse are:

1.

The fuse is required to be replaced or rewired after its operation. The replacement or rewiring of fuse takes a lot of time. Discrimination between fuses in series cannot be obtained unless there is much difference in relative sizes of the fuses. It is not possible to provide secondary protection to fuses.

2.

3.

4.

The following factors are considered while selecting a fuse: 1. Nature of load a) Steady load b) Fluctuating load i. Transformer and fluorescent lighting ii. Switching capacitor circuits iii. Motor loads 2. Nature of protection required a) Overload or short circuit protection to be provided. b) Operating time of fuse whether fast operation necessary c) The peak value of current and desired cut-off value. 3. Fault current 4. Grading or discrimination

It is a high rupturing capacity cartridge type of fuse. It is one of the simplest form of fuse which is used for distribution purposes. The low and uncertain breaking capacity of

semiclosed fuses is overcome in HRC Fuses.

The body of this fuse is of heat resisting ceramic with metal end caps and is of cylindrical shape. Between end caps, the fixed elements are mounted, which are welded to the end caps. The fuse element is generally silver, attached between the fixed elements. The body space surrounding the fuse is completely filled with quartz sand, plaster of paris or marble dust. The filling powder material is selected such that its chemical reaction with silver vapour forms very high resistance substance.

It helps in arc quenching and acts as cooling medium. The filling powder can absorb the heat at very high rate.

CONSTRUCTION OF HRC FUSE

The various steps in the operation of the HRC Fuse are

1. 2.

Occurrence of fault or short circuit

Increase in current through fuse element to high

value Melting of silver element

3. 4. 5.

Vapourization of the silver element

Fusion of the silver vapour and formation of high resistance substance

6.

Extinction of arc

The electrical phenomena associated with the operation of the HRC Fuse are 1. Formation of high resistance substance due to chemical reaction of silver vapour with filling powder 2. As current is cut off, the high resistance gets converted to an insulator like glass beads 3. Creation of transient voltage at the instant of breaking fault current The physical phenomena include the rise in temperature and generation of high internal pressure on the

interruption of fault current.

The various characteristics of HRC Fuse are

1.

Cut off characteristics Time current characteristics It characteristics

2.

3.

The various advantages of a HRC Fuse are

It can clear high values of short circuit current. The operation is very fast. The performance is very much consistent. The cost is less as compared to other protecting device of same breaking capacity. No maintainance is required. The operation is reliable.

The disadvantages of a HRC Fuse are

It must be replaced after each operation. The replacement of fuse takes time. Subjected to high temperature rises and hence heat

produced can affect the adjacent contacts.

The level of overcurrent protection required. The normal current of the circuit. The voltage appearing across the fuse after its

operation which should not be greater than its rating.

The rupturing capacity must not be less than the

current to be interrupted.

The main applications of HRC Fuse are

To protect the low voltage distribution system against the overload and short circuit conditions.

For the back up protection to circuit breakers.

Protection of meshed feeders with the steady load.

1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_(electrical) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_advantage_of_ an_HRC_high_rupturing_capacity_fuse

2.

3.

Switchgear and protection-by Sunil S Rao, Khanna Publishers

4.

Power System and Switchgear-by Badri Ram, Tata

McGraw Hill Publisher