A fuse is an electrical device that is designed for the safety and protection of a circuit to prevent damage to appliances. Once it receives a high current, its conductive strip will melt and break the circuit cutting power supply to an appliance.
In simpler, fuses are the protectors, these are the safety devices which are used to protect electrical appliances from damage due to high voltage.
Without a fuse, electrical faults occur in the wiring and it burns the wire and electric appliances and may start a fire. When the fuse goes, a sudden spark occurs which leads to turning your appliance off by disconnecting the power supply which saves any further mishappenings. This is why we need fuses to protect your appliances from harm.
Types of fuses
Generally, there are two types of fuses which include:
Conclusion
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.
Fuses can be classified as “One Time Only Fuse”, “Resettable Fuse”, “Current limiting and non – current limiting fuses” based on the usage for different applications.
In electronics and electrical engineering, a fuse is an electrical safety device that operates to provide overcurrent protection of an electrical circuit. Its essential component is a metal wire or strip that melts when too much current flows through it, thereby stopping or interrupting the current.
The low voltage fuses are divided into five types and those are of the rewireable, cartridge, drop out, striker, and switch fuses.
The primary use of an electric fuse is to protect electrical equipment from excessive current and to prevent short circuits or mismatched loads. Electrical fuses play the role of miniature circuit breakers. Apart from protecting equipment, they are also used as safety measures to prevent any safety hazards to humans.
When you overload the circuit in your house by turning on too many different appliances at once and your power to the appliances you are using shuts off, the electrical device that tripped and caused the power to stop to the overloaded circuit is an example of a fuse.