17 January 2020

Advantages and disadvantages of fuse

Fuse is the cheapest protection device in all over the electrical circuit against the short circuit overloading of the circuit. Fuse is used in low and moderate voltage applications where the frequency operations not expected or where the use of a circuit breaker is uneconomical. It is a basic metal wire or thin strip which has the property of a low melting point which is inserted into the electrical circuit as a protective device. The fuse will protect the machine or electrical equipment against excessive currents. Here this post gives information about the advantages and disadvantages of fuse to better understand how to fuse is used in an electrical circuit.

Advantages of Fuse:

  • Fuses are the cheapest form of protection.
  • The fuse element change very easily.
  • The fuse needs zero maintenance.
  • It affords the current limiting effect under short circuit conditions.
  • Its operation is completely automatic and requires less time as compared to circuit breakers and no complexity is envolved
  • Most of the fuses are self-protecting and also they extinguishing the arc.
  • When we use the small size of the fuse element impose a current limiting effect under short circuit conditions.
  • Its inverse time-current characteristics enable its use for overload protection.
  • Fuse has the ability to interrupt enormous short circuits without producing noise, flame or smoke.
  • Easy to removable for replacement without any damage to coming into contact with a live part.
  • The operation time of fuse can be much smaller than the operation of the circuit breaker. It is the primary protection device, against the short circuits.

Disadvantages of fuse:

  • It is not suitable for overload, at that time fuse blow off replacing of fuse takes time. During this period of lost power.
  • The protection of fuse is not reliable.
  • Low breaking capacity.
  • Fuse is slow compared to circuit breakers. It is a slow speed.
  • Considerable time is required in replacing a fuse after the operations, while the circuit breaker can be used multiple times.
  • It can't bear a surge current in the case of motor starting.
  • Fuse has not protected the circuit against under-voltage.
  • The fusing elements of the fuse are exposed to air, hence it is oxidized. Therefore the resistance of the element is increased and produced heat when the current passing through it.
  • There is a possibility of renewal by the fuse wire of the wrong size.
  • The current time characteristics of a fuse cannot always be correlated with that of the protective device.
  • When fuses are connected in series it is difficult to discriminate against the fuse unless the fuse has a significant size difference.
  • Fuse does not respond to the high voltage it only cares about current flowing and is not likely to melt and save the house in case of a direct lightning strike.
  • Accurate calibration of fuse wire is impossible, as longer fuse operates earlier than one of shorter length.
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