Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Sta. Cruz Main Campus
Province of Laguna

College of Engineering
1st Semester A.Y. 2018-2019

GROUP 3

Types of Fuse and Miniature Circuit

Breakers, fuses and Fuse Operation.

Submitted by:

Botin, Mark Joseph R.

Dela Cruz, Marius John D.

Lapitan, Ronald Jay A.

Pelagio, Mark Joseph

Alvarez, Kenneth Earl

San Jose, Mark Kevin P.

BSEE-5B

Submitted to:

Engr. Carlo P. Aranillo

Instructor

Date

December 05, 2018

Types of Fuses

The fuse is the current interrupting devices which break or open the circuit by fusing the
element and thus remove the faulty device from the main supply circuit. The fuses are
mainly classified into two types, depends on the input supply voltages they are the AC
fuses and the DC fuses. The different types of the fuses are shown in the image below.

DC Fuse
The DC fuse opens or breaks the circuit when the excessive current flow through it. The
only difficulty with the DC fuse is that the arc produced by the direct current is very difficult
to extinct because there are no zero current flows in the circuit. For reducing the DC fuse
arcing the electrodes are placed more distance apart due to which the size of the fuse
increases as compared to AC fuse.

AC Fuses
The AC fuses are categorised into two types they are the low voltage fuses and the high
voltage fuses. The frequency of the AC fuses changes it amplitude from 0º to 60º in very
one second. Thus, the arc extinction in the AC circuit can be done easily as compared to
the DC circuit.

The low voltage fuses can be further divided into four classes shown below in the image
Semi-enclosed or rewirable type and totally enclosed, or cartridge type switches are
themost commonly used switches.
Rewirable Fuses
This type of circuit is mostly used in the small current circuit or for domestic wiring. The fuse
case and the fuse carrier are the two main parts of the rewirable fuse. The base of the fuse
is made up of porcelain, and it holds the wires which may be made up of lead, tinned
copper, aluminium or alloy of tin-lead. The fuse carrier can be easily inserted or taken out in
the base without opening the main switch.

Totally Enclosed or Cartridge Type Fuses

The fuse element is totally enclosed in an enclosed container, and it has metal contacts on
both sides. These fuses are further classified as D-type cartridge fuses and the Link type
cartridge fuses.
D-Type Cartridge Fuses

The main parts of the D-type fuse are the base, adapter ring, cartridge and a fuse cap. The
cartridge is kept in the fuse cap, and the fuse cap is fixed to the fuse base. The cartridge tip
touches the conductor when it is completely screwed to the base and thus completes the
circuit through the fuse links.

Link Type Cartridge or High Rupturing Capacity

In such type of fuses, the fuse element carries the fault current for a long duration. If the
fault is not clear, then the fuse element will melt and open the circuit. The major advantage
of HRC fuse is that it clears the low as well as a high fault current.

HRC fuse has the high-speed operation and also does not require maintenance. But the
fuse element of the HRC fuses needs to be replaced after each operation, and it also
produced the heat during the faults which will affect the operations of the nearby switches.

The enclosure of the HRC fuse is filled with powdered pure quartz, which acts as an arc
extinction medium. The silver and copper wire is used for making the fuse wire. The fuse
wire has two or more sections which are joint by using tin-joint. The tin-joint reduces the
temperature under overloaded condition.

For increasing the breaking capacity of the fuses two or more silver wire is joined in parallel
with each other. These wires are adjusted in such a way so that only one wire will melt at a
time. The HRC fuse is of two types

In knife blade type switches the fuse wire is replaced with a live circuit with the help of fuse
puller.The bolted type HRC fuses have two conducting plates which are bolted to the fuse
base. This fuse requires the additional circuit for taking out the switch without getting a
shock.
 Knife Blade Type&Bolted Type

Dropout Fuse
The melting of fuse causes the fuse element to drop out under gravity about its lower
support. Such type of fuse is used for the protection of outdoor transformers.
Striker Fuse
It is a mechanical device having enough force and displacement which can be used for
closing tripping/indicator circuits.

Switch Fuse
Such type of switches is used for low and medium voltages circuit. The rating of the fuse
unit is in the range of 30, 60, 100, 200, 400, 600, and 800 amperes. The fuse unit is
available as 3-pole and 4-pole unit. The making capacity of such type of fuses is up to 46
kA. They can safely break depending upon rating currents of the order of 3 times the load
current.

High Voltage HRC Fuses

The main problem of the high voltage fuses is that of the corona. Therefore the high voltage
fuses have the special design. They are mainly classified into three types.
Cartridge Type HV HRC Fuse
The fuse element of the HRC fuse is wound in the shape of the helix which avoids
the corona effect at the higher voltages. It has two fused elements placed parallel with each
other, one of low resistance and the other is of high resistance. The low resistance wire
carries the normal current which is blown out and reducing the short circuit current during
the fault condition.

Liquid Type HV HRC Fuse

Such type of fuses is filled with carbon tetrachloride and sealed at both the ends of the
caps. When the fault occurs then the current, exceed beyond the permissible limit, and the
fuse element is blown out. The liquid of the fuse acts as an arc extinguishing medium for
the HRC fuses.They may be employed for the transformer protection and the backup
protection to the circuit breaker.
Expulsion Type HV Fuse
Expulsion type fuses are widely used for the protection of feeders and transformer because
of their low cost. It is developed for 11kV, and their rupturing capacity is up to 250 MVA.
Such type of fuses comprises a hollow open-ended tube made of synthetic resin-bonded
paper.

The fuse elements are placed in the tubes, and the ends of the tubes are connected to
suitable fittings at each end. The arc producing is blown off in the inner coating of the tube,
and the gases thus formed extinguish the arc.

MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker)

What is MCB?
An MCB or miniature circuit breaker is an electromagnetic device that embodies
complete enclosure in a molded insulating material. The main function of an MCB is to
switch the circuit, i.e., to open the circuit (which has been connected to it) automatically
when the current passing through it (MCB) exceeds the value for which it is set. It can be
manually switched ON and OFF as similar to normal switch if necessary.
MCBs are of time delay tripping devices, to which the magnitude of overcurrent controls the
operating time. This means, these get operated whenever overload exist long enough to
create a danger to the circuit being protected. Therefore, MCBs doesn’t respond to
transient loads such as switches surges and motor starting currents. Generally, these are
designed to operate at less than 2.5 milliseconds during short circuit faults and 2 seconds
to 2 minutes in case of overloads (depending on the level of current).
A typical external appearance of an MCB is shown in figure. MCBs are manufactured in
different pole versions such as single, double, triple and four pole structures with different
fault current levels. Mostly, MCBs are linked to give two and three-pole versions such that a
fault in one line will break the complete circuit and hence complete circuit isolation are
provided. This feature will be helpful in case of single phasing in three phase motor
protection.
These are rated at 220V for DC supply and 240/415 for AC supply (single and three-phase)
with different short circuit current capacity. Typically, single phase devices have load
current range of up to 100 A. Some MCBs have facility to adjust its tripping current capacity
while some devices are fixed for some load current and short circuit rating.
MCBs are used to perform many functions such as local control switches, isolating switches
against faults and overload protection devices for installations or specific equipments or
appliances.
Construction of MCB
An MCB embodies complete enclosure in a moulded insulating material. This provides
mechanically strong and insulated housing. The switching system consists of a fixed and a
moving contact to which incoming and outgoing wires are connected. The metal or current
carrying parts are made up of electrolytic copper or silver alloy depending on the rating of
the circuit breaker.

As the contacts are separated in the event of an overload or short circuit situation, an
electric arc is formed. All modern MCBs are designed to handle arc interruption process
where arc energy extraction and its cooling are provided by metallic arc splitter plates.
These plates are held in a proper position by an insulating material. Also, arc runner is
provided to force the arc that is produced between the main contacts.
The operating mechanism consists of both magnetic tripping and thermal tripping
arrangements.
The magnetic tripping arrangement essentially consists of a composite magnetic system
that has a spring loaded dashpot with a magnetic slug in a silicon fluid, and a normal
magnetic trip. A current carrying coil in the trip arrangement moves the slug against spring
towards fixed pole piece. So the magnetic pull is developed on the trip liver when there is a
sufficient magnetic field produced by the coil. In case of short circuits or heavy overloads,
strong magnetic field produced by the coils (Solenoid) is sufficient to attract the armature of
trip liver irrespective of the position of slug in the dashpot.

Working & Operation of MCB

Under normal working conditions, MCB operates as a switch (manual one) to make the
circuit ON or OFF. Under overload or short circuit condition, it automatically operates or
trips so that current interruption takes place in the load circuit. The visual indication of this
trip can be observed by automatic movement of the operating knob to OFF position. This
automatic operation MCB can be obtained in two ways as we have seen in MCB
construction; those are magnetic tripping and thermal tripping.
Under overload condition, the current through the bimetal causes to raise the temperature
of it. The heat generated within the bimetal itself enough to cause deflection due to thermal
expansion of metals. This deflection further releases the trip latch and hence contacts get
separated. In some MCBs, magnetic field generated by the coil causes develop pull on
bimetal such that it deflection activates the tripping mechanism
 Types of Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB’s)

MCBs are classified into three major types according to their instantaneous tripping
currents. They are
1. Type B MCB
2. Type C MCB
3. Type D MCB

Type B MCB
This type of MCB will trip instantly at a rate of three to five times its rated current. These are
normally used for resistive or small inductive loads where switching surges are very small.
Therefore, these are suitable for residential or light commercial installations.

Type C MCB
This type of MCB will trip instantly at a rate of five to ten times its rated current. These are
normally used for high inductive loads where switching surges are high such as small
motors and florescent lighting. In such cases, type C MCBs are preferred to handle higher
value of short circuit currents. Therefore, these are suitable for highly inductive commercial
and industrial installations.
Type D MCB
This type of MCB will trip instantly at a rate of ten to twenty five times its rated current.
These are normally used for very high inductive loads where high inrush current are very
frequent. These are suitable for specific industrial and commercial applications. The
common examples of such applications include x-ray machines, UPS systems, industrial
welding equipment, large winding motors, etc.

The above three types of MCBs provide protection within one tenth of a sec. The
minimum and maximum trip currents of these MCBs are given in a tablular form below,
where Ir is the rated current of the MCB. MCBs can also be classified based on number
of poles such as single pole, double pole, triple pole and four pole MCBs.
How to Select Proper MCB for different loads?
Choosing a particular MCB for a specific application is a careful task to ensure reliable
protection against overloads and short circuits. If it is not selected according to the circuit
requirements, there will be chances to lead frequent unwanted trippings. before we going in
details, We must know difference between MCB & MCCB, How to Read MCB
Nameplate and difference between ELCB, RCB and RCD Circuit Breakers
If it is undersized (MCB rating less than the nominal load current), MCB causes frequent
tripping and causes to interrupt the current to the load it is being connected, because the
MCB nominal current less than nominal current value of the load. Similarly, if it is oversized
(MCB rating more than the nominal load current), the load to it is connected will not be
protected efficiently. In such case, the MCB will not trip even though load is drawing
overcurrents.

The following are the three factors to be considered for selecting an MCB for specific
application.

1. Nominal rating of the circuit breaker

This is the rated ampere current rating of MCB. This value must be lower than the current
carrying capacity of wiring system and higher than or equal to the maximum full load current
in the wiring system. Generally, this rating should be such that it can handle 125 percent of
continuous load plus rating of noncontinuous load. Typically this can be expressed as
Maximum full load current in the system ≤ Current rating of MCB ≤ Cable rating

2. KA rating or breaking capacity

This rating refers to the capability of MCB that can trip or interrupt the circuit under short
circuit conditions. It is expressed in Kilo Amps (KA). This rating must not be less than the
prospective short-circuit current. The prospective short-circuit current the maximum current
that exist in the circuit during short-circuit conditions. In residential installations 6KA MCB is
 sufficient while 10 KA or above rating MCB is needed for commercial and light industrial
applications.

3. Type of MCB
The type of MCB needed for a specific application decided by operating characteristics
such that various current ratings are required to operate the loads instantaneously. We
have already mentioned various types of MCBs for different applications above.
Application and Used of MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker)
As the main functions and applications has been already described in the above
statements, the very basic uses of MCB is that it is used to protect a circuit (wiring,
connected load and equipmentsetc) in case of:

 Short Circuit
 Over Current
 Over Load

ADVANTAGES OF FUSE OVER MCB

• It is the cheapest form of protection available.
• It needs no maintenance.
• It interrupts enormous short circuit currents without noise,flame, gas or smoke.
• The minimum time of operation can be made much smaller than that with the circuit
breakers.
• The smaller size of fuse element imposes a current limiting effect under short circuit.
• Its inverse time-current characteristics enables its use for overload protection.

DISADVANTAGES OF FUSE OVER MCB

• Considerable time is lost in rewiring or replacing a fuse after operation.
• The current-time characteristics of a fuse cannot always be correlated with that of
the protected device.
• On heavy short circuit, discrimination between fuses in series cannot be obtained
unless there is considerable differences in the relative sizes of the fuses concerned.