What is a Fuse?

A fuse is an electric / electronic or mechanical device, which is used to protect circuits from over
current, overload and make sure the protection of the circuit. Electric fuse was invented by Thomas
Alva Edison in 1890. There are many types of fuses, but function of all these fuses is same. In this
article, we will discuss the different types of fuses, its construction, working & operation and their
application in various electronics and electrical system.

IEC & IEEE/ANSI Symbols of Fuse

Construction & Working of a Fuse

A general Fuse consists of a low resistance metallic wire enclosed in a non combustible material. It is
used to connect and install in series with a circuit and device which needs to be protected from short
circuit and over current, other wise, electrical appliance may be damaged in case of absence of the
fuse and circuit breaker as they are unable to handle the excessive current according to their rating
limits

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.
Working of a Fuse

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?

Fuse Rating = ( Power / Voltage ) x 1.25

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 (120V AC in US).

But you should go for the max i.e. 6A fuse rating instead of 5.4A for safe and reliable operation of
the circuit.

Characteristics of a Fuse

Different types of fuses can be categories on the following characteristics.

Voltage Rating of Fuse

Breaking Capacity of a Fuse

I2t Value of Fuse

Response Characteristic

Rated voltage of Fuse

Packaging Size

below is the brief explanation of the above categories.

Fuse Current Carrying Capacity

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.

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.

 I2t 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.

Response Characteristic of a Fuse

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. They are used in Many
semiconductor devices because semiconductor devices damaged by over current very rapidly.

There is another fuse which Is called slow burn fuse, switch fuses do not respond rapidly to the over
current event, but blow after several seconds of over current occurrence. Such fuses found their
application in motor control electronics systems because motor takes a lot more current at starting
than running.

Packaging size

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.

other factors and parameters are marking, temperature derating, voltage drop and speed etc.

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 appluacations.

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 Resetable 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.
Fig.- Different Types of Fuses

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.

Click image to enlarge

Fuses can be divided into two main categories according to the type of input supply voltage.

AC fuses

DC fuses

There is a little difference between AC and DC fuses used in the AC and DC Systems which has
been discussed below.

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 it amplitude
from zero to 60 times every second, so arc can be extinct 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.

There are two types of Cartridge fuses. 1. General purpose fuse with no time delay and 2. Heavy-
duty cartridge fuses with time delay. Both are available in 250V AC to 600V AC and its rating can
be found on the end cap or knife blade.

Cartridge Fuses are enclosed in a base and can be divided in further in Link type cartridge fuses and 
D Type Cartridge Fuses.

D – Type Cartridge Fuse

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
make contacts through the fuse link conductor.

HRC (High Rupturing Capacity) Fuse or Link Type Cartridge Fuse

We have already disused in very details about HRC fuse (High Rupturing Capacity) construction,
operation and their applications. It also cover different types of HRC fuses like DIN type, NH Type,
Blade Type, Liquid Type HRC Fuse, Expulsion Type HV Fuse, advantages & disadvantage etc.

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 filled with boric acid in case of expulsion type HV (High Voltage) Fuses

Automotive, Blade Type & Bolted Type 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 fuses are 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.
Blade Type Fuses: Used in Automobiles

Related Post: Cables Feeder Protection – Faults Types, Causes & Differential Protection

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.

Slow – Blow Chip Fuses

Fast Acting Chip Fuses

Very Fast Acting Chip Fuses

Pulse Tolerant Chip Fuses

High Current Rated Chip Fuses

Telecom Fuses

Through-hole styles fuses

Radial Fuse

Lead Fuse

Axial Fuse
 

SMD Fuse and Axial fuse

Rewirable Fuses

The most famous kit-kat fuse (also know as rewireable fuse) mostly used in industries and home
electrical wiring for small current applications in Low Voltage (LV) systems.

Rewireable fuse contains on 2 basic parts. The inner fuse element as fuse carrier made of tinned
copper, Aluminum, 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 elements with
the same rating as before.

Thermal Fuses

As mentioned above, thermal fuse is a one time used only fuse. They are temperature sensitive fuse
and the fuse element is made of temperature sensitive alloy. They known as Thermal Cutouts (TCO)
or Thermal Links.

In a thermal fuse, the fuse element hold 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 melts 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.

Fig.Resettable Fuses

Uses and Applications of Fuses

Different types of Electrical and Electronic Fuses can be used in all types of electrical and electronic
systems and applications including:

Motors & Transformers

Home distribution boards

General electrical appliances and devices

Laptops

Cell phones

Game systems
Printers

Digital cameras

DVD players

Portable Electronics

LCD monitors

Scanners

Battery packs

Hard disk drives

Power convertors