Historical

Fuses are widely used in electrical circuits for protection. Initially, Edison's 'lead safety wire' in 1881
marked the first fuse. These early fuses aimed to protect expensive lights. As electrical systems grew, it
was discovered that conductor faults were related to inconsistent diameters. Fuses were once casually
handled, often increasing in size if they blew frequently. The introduction of the Cartridge fuse brought
greater precision to fuse protection. Today, fuses remain crucial, especially in medium and high-voltage
distribution systems.

Rewireable type
As the name indicates the fuse can be replaced or ‘rewired’ once it fails. Fusible wire used to be
contained in an asbestos tube to prevent splashing of volatile metal.

Disadvantages
1. Open to abuse due to incorrect rating of replacement elements hence affording incorrect protection.
2. Deterioration of element as it is open to the atmosphere.

Cartridge type
Silver element, specially shaped, enclosed in a barrel of insulating material, filled with quartz. Silver and
quartz combine to give a very good insulator and prevent arc from re-striking.

Sectional view of a typical class – GP type 5 Cartridge fuse – link

Advantages
1. Correct rating and characteristic fuse always fitted to a circuit-not open to abuse as rewireable type.
2. Arc and fault energy contained within insulating tube-prevents damage.
3. Normally sealed therefore not affected by atmosphere hence gives more stable
characteristic-reliable grading.
4. Can operate considerably faster, suitable for higher short-circuit duty:
− Cartridge type can handle 100 000 A
– Semi-open type can handle 4000 A.

Normal currents carried continuously are much closer to fusing current due to special design of element.
These fuses are most widely used in electrical systems and are named as HRC (high rupturing capacity)
fuses, with the name synonymous with their short- circuit current breaking capacity.

Operating characteristics
All fuses, regardless of type, have an inverse characteristic as shown in a graph. This means they can
endure their rated current for a long time, but as the current increases, they blow faster. Fuse capacity is
measured in 'I2t,' where 'I' is current and 't' is time. Prospective current is the RMS current when a fuse
is replaced with a solid link. These curves help choose the right fuse ratings for proper grading.

Inverse characteristic of fuse

British standard 88:1952

This standard lays down definite limits of:
(a) Temperature rise
(b) Fusing factor = minimum fusing current/current rating = 1.4
(c) Breaking capacity.
These are all dependent on one another and by careful balancing of factors a really good fuse can be
produced. For example, a cool working fuse may be obtained at the expense of breaking capacity.
Alternatively, too low a fusing factor may result in too high a temperature, therefore too close protection
and possibilities of blowing are more.
Energy ‘let through’
Fuses operate very quickly and can cut-off fault current long before it reaches its first peak.

If a fuse cuts off in the first quarter cycle, then the power let-through is I2t. By comparison, circuit
breakers can clear faults in any time up to 10 cycles and in this case the power let-through is the
summation of I2 for 10 cycles. The energy released at the fault is therefore colossal compared with that
let through by a fuse. Damage is therefore extensive. In addition, all apparatus carrying this fault current
(transformers, etc.) is subjected to high magnetic forces proportional to the fault current squared (I 2)!

Application of selection of fuses

Fuses blow when currents exceed their withstand time, which limits their use in circuits with high inrush
currents like motors. Using fuses as overload protection might require higher-rated ones to handle these
currents. So, they're mainly used for short-circuit protection in such cases.

The fuses can be used as either for overload and short-circuit protection or for short- circuit protection
as noted below:
• Circuits where the load does not vary much above normal value during switching on and operating
conditions. Resistive circuits like lamps show such characteristics. Hence, it is possible to use fuses as
overload protection in such circuits. They also protect against short circuits.
• Circuits where loads vary considerably compared to the normal rating e.g.
− Direct-on-line motors
–Cranes
− Rollingmills
− Welding set, etc. In these cases, fuses are used to provide short-circuit
protection only as it is not possible to select a size meeting both overload and inrush conditions.

Fuse selection depends on a number of factors:

• Maximum fault kVA of circuit to be protected
• Voltage of circuit.

The above factors help to calculate the prospective current of circuit to be protected. The full
prospective current is usually never reached due to rapid operation of the fuse and hence the following
factors need to be considered.
1. Full load current of circuit: Short-circuit tests show that the cut-off current increases as the rating
increases. Hence if a higher-rated fuse is used it may take longer time to blow under short circuits which
may affect the system depending upon the value and duration. Hence, greater benefit is derived from
use of correct or nearest rating cartridge fuses compared to the circuit rating.
2. Degree of overcurrent protection required: It is necessary to consider slightly higher rating for the
fuses compared to maximum normal current expected in a system. This factor is called the fusing factor
(refer clause 5.5) and can be anywhere between 1.25 and 1.6 times the normal rating.
3. Level of overcurrent required to be carried for a short time without blowing or deteriorating e.g.
motor starting currents. This point is important for motor circuits. Fuses must be able to carry starting
surge without blowing or deteriorating.
4. Whether fuses are required to operate or grade in conjunction with other protective apparatus. This
factor is necessary to ensure that only faulty circuits are isolated during fault conditions without
disturbing the healthy circuits.

Depending on the configuration used, discrimination must be achieved between:

• Fuses and fuses
• Fuses and relays, etc.

There is no general rule laid down for the application of fuses and each problem must be
considered on its own merits.

General ‘rules of thumb’

Short-circuit protection
Transformers, fluorescent lighting circuits
Transient switching surges – take next highest rating above full-load current.
Capacitor circuits
Select fuse rating of 25% or greater than the full-load rating of the circuit to allow for the extra heating
by capacitance effect.

Motor circuits
Starting current surge normally lasts for 20 s. Squirrel cage induction motors:
• Direct-on-line takes about 7 times full-load current
• 75% tap auto-transformer takes about 4 times full-load current
• 60% tap auto-transformer takes about 2.5 times full-load current
• Star/delta starting takes about 2.5 times full-load current.

Overload protection
Recommend 2:1 ratio to give satisfactory discrimination.

Special types
5.9.1 Striker pin
This type is most commonly used on medium- and low-voltage circuits. When the fuse blows, a striker
pin protrudes out of one end of the cartridge. This is used to hit a tripping mechanism on a three-phase
switch-fuse unit, so tripping all three phases. This prevents single phasing on three-phase motors.
Note: On switch-fuse LV distribution gear, it is a good policy to have an isolator on the incoming side of
the fuse to facilitate changing.

5.9.2 Drop-out type

Used mainly on rural distribution systems. Drops out when fuse blows, isolating the circuit and giving line
patrolman easy indication of fault location.

General
The fuse acts as both fault detector and interrupter. It is satisfactory and adequate for both of these
functions in many applications. Its main virtue is speed.
However, as a protective device it does have a number of limitations, the more important of which are as
follows:
• It can only detect faults that are associated with excess current.
• Its operating characteristic (i.e. current/time relationship) cannot be adjusted or set. • It requires
replacement after each operation.
• It can be used only at low and medium voltages.
Because of these limitations, fuses are normally used only on relatively unimportant, small power, low-
and/or medium-voltage circuits.

5.10.1 Series overcurrent AC trip coils

These are based on the principle of working of fuses where the coils are connected to carry the normal
current and operated as noted below:
• A coil (instead of a fuse) is connected into the primary circuit and magnetism is used to lift a plunger to
trip a circuit breaker.
• Refinement on this arrangement is the dashpot, which gives a time/current characteristic like a fuse.

Characteristic of transformer HV/LV

• Amps-turns are a measurement of magnetism; therefore for the same flux (i.e. lines of magnetism
necessary to lift the tripping plunger) say 50 Amp- turns, a 50 A coil would have 1 turn, whereas a 10 A
coil would have 5 turns.
Series current AC trip coil characteristic
Limitation of this type of arrangement is:
Thermal rating
This coil must carry the full fault current and if this is high then the heating effect (I 2 ) may be so great as
to burn out the insulation. The design must therefore be very conservative.
Magnetic stresses
High fault currents induce tremendous magnetic forces inside the trip coil tending to force the windings
apart. Here again the design must display a large margin of support and clamping to contain such
stresses.

5.11 IS-limiter
A very ‘special’ type of fuse is the IS-limiter, originally developed by the company ABB. The device
consists of two main current conducting parts, namely the main conductor and the fuse.

Construction of IS-limiter

The device functions as an ‘intelligent fuse’. The functional

parts are the following:
1. Current transformer (detects the short-circuit current)
2. Measuring and tripping device (measures the current and provides the
triggering energy)
3. Pulse transformer (converts the tripping pulse to busbar potential)
4. Insert holder with insert (conducts the operating current and limits the short-
circuit current).
Functional diagram of IS-limiter

The IS-limiter is intended to interrupt very high short-circuit currents very quickly, in order to protect the
system against these high currents. Currents of values up to 210 kA (11 kV) can be interrupted in 1 ms.
This means that the fault current is interrupted very early in the first cycle.
When a fault current is detected, the main conductor is opened very swiftly. The current then flows
through the fuse, which interrupts the fault current. The overvoltage occurring due to the interruption of
current is relatively low due to the fact that the magnitude of current on the instant of interruption is still
relatively low. The main conductor and parallel fuse have to be replaced after each operation.

Fault current cycle

The IS-limiter is only intended to interrupt high fault currents, leaving the lower fault currents to be
interrupted by the circuit breakers in the system. This is achieved by the measuring device detecting the
instantaneous current level and the rate of current rise. The rate of current rise (di/dt), is high with high
fault currents, and lower with lower fault currents as illustrated in Figure 5.9. The IS-limiter only trips
when both set response values are reached.

Rate of current rise

A practical use of the IS-limiter is illustrated in Figure 5.10, where the combined fault current supplied by
two transformers in parallel would be too high for the switchgear panel to withstand.
 Practical use of Is limiter

Here I2 is interrupted first thereby decreasing the fault current to the value of I1, and I1 is interrupted
subsequently. The net resultant fault current follows the path of I1 once the limiter functions thereby
limiting the overall fault current.