Power System Protection

Lecture 3: Fuses
Dr. Wael Taha
 Fuses
- Fuses are protective devices that protect the system against excessive currents.
- Simplest and cheapest form of protection.
- First fuse claimed to be invented by Edison in 1890 (i.e., nearly as early as first power
systems).
- A fuse is a short piece of metal (such as tin or silver), inserted in series in the circuit,
which melts when excessive current flows through it and thus breaks the circuit to
protect other components in that circuit.
- Under normal operating conditions, the fuse element is at a temperature below its melting
point.
- Therefore, the fuse element carries the normal current without overheating. However,
when a short-circuit or overload occurs, the current through the fuse increases which
raises the temperature of the fuse element till it melts (or blows out), disconnecting the
circuit protected by it.
- The fundamental purpose of fuses is to operate on permanent faults and isolate
(sectionalize) the faulted section from the sound portion of the feeder
 Fuses
- Fuses are generally used in large numbers on most utility distribution systems to protect individual
transformers and feeder branches (lateral branches).
- Proper coordination of fuses restricts the outage due to a fault to a small portion of the affected feeder.
 Important Terms
Current rating of fuse element: it is the current the fuse will carry continuously without blowing or
deteriorating.
Fusing current: it is the minimum current at which the fuse will blow in a specified time. This may vary
between 1.25 and 2.5 times the current rating.
The fusing current depends upon the various factors such as: Material of the fuse element and diameter.
Fusing factor: It is the ratio of minimum fusing current to the current rating of the fuse element

The approximate relationship between fusing current and diameter of the wire is
ଷ/ଶ

where is a constant, called the fuse constant. Its value depends upon the metal of which the fuse element is
made
 Important Terms

The breaking capacity or interrupting capacity: is the maximum short circuit current a fuse can safely blow
without a catastrophic failure such as a fire, breakage or explosion.
 Time-Current Characteristics of Fuses
- A fusing characteristic is the relation between fusing current and fusing time of a given fuse
element.
- The time required to blow out the fuse depends upon the magnitude of excessive current. The
greater the current, the smaller is the time taken by the fuse to blow out. In other words, a fuse
has inverse time-current characteristics as shown below.
 Time-Current Characteristics of Fuses
Example of fusing characteristics for fuses with different ratings
 Time-Current Characteristics of Fuses
The time–current characteristics (TCCs) of a fuse are represented by two curves:
Minimum melting curve (pre-arcing): minimum time required for the fusing of the element.
Total clearing curve: maximum total time that the fuse takes to clear the fault.
 Fuse Operation
Total clearing energy ‫ܫ‬ଶ × ‫ݐ‬is also known as let-
through energy

Energy let through basically refers to the energy

let into the circuit till fusing and its value is
proportional to ‫ܫ‬ଶ × ‫ݐ‬ The cut-off
current

Fuses can limit this energy by fusing very

quickly - usually under 1/2 cycle

Circuit breakers can take up to 10 cycles

(10 × 20ms = 200 ms) to open i.e. more
than 20 times more energy is released into
the fault !! (compared to a fuse which
breaks the current flow in less than ½
cycle)
 Fuse Operation
The value of the current at point 3 is also
known as the peak value of the prospective
current.

The prospective current can be defined as

It is the r.m.s. value of the first loop of the
fault current obtained if the fuse is replaced
by an ordinary conductor of negligible
resistance

The instantaneous value of the current at

point 5 is also known as the cut-off current

The melting time is also known as the pre-

arcing period
 Fuses
Advantages of fuses
- It is the cheapest form of protection available.
- It requires no maintenance.
- Its operation is inherently completely automatic unlike a circuit breaker which requires a relay for
automatic action.
- It can break heavy short-circuit currents without noise or smoke.
- The inverse time-current characteristic of a fuse makes it suitable for overcurrent protection.
- The minimum time of operation can be made much shorter than with the circuit breakers.

Disadvantages of fuses
- Considerable time is lost in rewiring or replacing a fuse after operation.
- Discrimination between fuses in series is difficult compared to that of circuit breakers.
 LV Fuses
The fuses can be classified into LV and HV fuses
There are two basic types of LV fuses used in power systems.
1- Semi-enclosed or Rewirable Type
- Rewireable fuse (also known as kit-kat type) is used where low values of fault current are to be interrupted
- The fuse carrier is taken out and the blown out fuse element is replaced by the new one.
- The fuse element is exposed to atmosphere, hence it is affected by ambient temperature.
 LV Fuses
Advantages of Rewirable Type fuses
- The detachable fuse carrier permits the replacement of
fuse element without any danger of coming in contact
with live parts.
- The cost of replacement is negligible.

Disadvantages of Rewirable Type fuses

- Low-breaking capacity (cannot be used in circuits of high
fault levels)
- Absence of accurate characteristics and calibration since
it is affected by ambient temperature and fusing current
very much depends upon the length of the fuse element.
- It is subjected to deterioration due to oxidization because
the wire is exposed to air.
- Risk of external flame or fire.
 LV Fuses
2- Totally enclosed or link type Cartridge or High Rupturing Capacity (HRC)
- The fuse wire is enclosed in a totally enclosed container and is provided with metal contacts on both sides.
- The primary limitation of low and uncertain breaking capacity of semi-enclosed rewireable fuses is overcome
in H.R.C. cartridge fuse.
- The space within the body surrounding the fuse element is completely packed with a filling powder. The
filling material may be chalk, quartz or marble dust and acts as an arc quenching and cooling medium.
 LV Fuses
Advantages of H.R.C. fuses
- They are capable of clearing high as well as low fault currents.
- They do not deteriorate with age.
- They provide reliable discrimination.
- They are cheaper than other circuit interrupting devices of equal breaking capacity.

Disadvantages of H.R.C. fuses

- They have to be replaced after each
operation.
 HV Fuses
Some of the high voltage fuses are :
Cartridge type
• This is similar in general construction to the low voltage cartridge type except that special
design features are incorporated.
• Some designs employ fuse elements wound in the form of a helix so as to avoid corona
effects at higher voltages.
• On some designs, there are two fuse elements in parallel; one of low resistance and the
other of high resistance. Under normal load conditions, the low resistance element carries
the normal current. When a fault occurs, the low-resistance element is blown out and the
high resistance element reduces the short-circuit current and finally breaks the circuit.

Liquid type
• These fuses have the widest range of application to h.v. systems.
• It consists of a glass tube filled with carbon tetrachloride solution (see the adjacent figure)
• The fuse wire is sealed at one end of the tube and the other end of the wire is held by a
strong phosphor bronze spiral spring fixed at the other end of the glass tube.
• When the current exceeds the prescribed limit, the fuse wire is blown out. As the fuse
melts, the spring retracts part of it through a baffle (or liquid director) and draws it well
into the liquid to effectively extinguishes the arc.
 Special Fuse Types
Striker pin fuses
• A device which incorporates a fuse and a mechanical
device.
• When fuse blows a pin ejects out of the cartridge
end and strikes a tripping mechanism - tripping all
three phases.
• Ensures single phasing does not occur on motor
circuits
• Used on LV and MV circuits

Drop out fuses

Used on rural O/H lines (LV & MV applications up to 66kV)
Drops out when blown allowing easy identification of blown circuit from
ground level
 Application for Fuses
Fuse selection for overcurrent protection of a a
motor
Inrush current = 500 A.
Inrush current period = 10 sec.
Motor full-load current = 83 A

The appropriate fuse is 125 A fuse not 100 A fuse

Fuse-fuse Co-ordination

Criteria for fuse–fuse coordination : t1< 0.75×t2

 Difference Between a Fuse and Circuit Breaker
NO. Aspect Fuse Circuit Breaker

It performs interruption function only.

It performs both detection and
1 Function The detection of fault is made by relays
interruption functions.
and instrument transformers.
Requires elaborate equipment (i.e., relays
2 Operation Inherently completely automatic.
and CTs) for automatic action.

3 Breaking Capacity Relatively small Very Large

4 Operating time Very small (less than ½ cycle) Comparatively large (0·1 to 0·2 sec.)

Requires replacement after every

5 Replacement No replacement after operation.
operation.

6 Cost Relatively low High

Cannot distinguish between Is more reliable when dealing with

7 Fault nature
temporary and permanent faults temporary faults
Any questions?