This section provides an overview for current-limiting fuses as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 8 current-limiting fuse manufacturers and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked current-limiting fuse companies as of November, 2024: 1.S&C Electric Company, 2.Rockwell Automation, 3.VITZRO EM Co.
Table of Contents
A current-limiting fuse is a type of safety device for electrical equipment.
When an accident occurs, such as a short circuit in an electrical circuit, an abnormally high current flows through the circuit, generating heat and possibly causing a fire. One method of avoiding this danger is to include a current-limiting fuse in the circuit.
When an abnormal current flows, the fuse element in the current-limiting fuse, a fusible metal element, heats up and melts, causing the circuit to open, thereby suppressing the abnormal current. The fused element is irreversible. Once a current-limiting fuse has served as a safety device, it must be replaced with a new fuse.
Since current-limiting fuses are safety devices against abnormal currents, they are used in a variety of applications, including home appliances, switchboards, and automobiles.
Especially in the automotive field, current-limiting fuses are in high demand as a safety device due to the increasing use of electronic components, such as engine control by microcomputers.
On the other hand, although current-limiting fuses have the advantage of being inexpensive to install, once the element blows, the user must replace it with a new fuse. For this reason, switch-type breakers are more common than current-limiting fuses. Especially as a safety device for interrupting abnormal currents in switchboards that need to be restored immediately after an overcurrent interruption.
Current-limiting fuses operate on the simple principle that when the current exceeds the rated value, the fuse's element heats up, melts, and interrupts the circuit.
Since the thermal resistance of the element is higher at the center than at the ends, heat is conducted from the center to the ends. Under normal conditions, heat in the element escapes to both ends. However, if a current exceeding the rated current flows through the element, heat conduction cannot keep up, and the center of the element exceeds its melting temperature, causing it to shut down.
Current-limiting fuses not only interrupt the circuit when an abnormal current flows but must also pass the current during normal operation. Therefore, when selecting current-limiting fuses, consideration must be given to ensure that the steady-state current during normal operation is lower than the rated current.
In practice, the steady-state current must be less than the rated current plus a temperature derating that takes into account the steady-state derating specified by safety standards and the resistance temperature coefficient of the metal element.
In addition, it is important to select current-limiting fuses by measuring the pulse current and inrush current values of the equipment to be fused, and to test the actual equipment after selection to ensure that current fuses will not interrupt current values that are higher than the operating current of the electrical circuit but not abnormal, such as startup current and ON/OFF current. After selection, it is important to test the fuse on the actual equipment.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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S & C Electric Co. is a manufacturer of switching, protection, and control solutions, founded in 1911, with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company designs and manufactures switching and protection products for electric power transmission and distribution. These include automatic switch operating boxes for power lines, as well as indoor and outdoor circuit interruption switches, custom switchgear, and more. These products are designed to help deliver electric power efficiently.
Siemens USA was established in Washington D.C. in 1988, and is the American branch of Siemens AG, the German manufacturer, supplier, and distributor of automation, electrification, and digitalization products established in 1847. The company’s extensive product portfolio includes smart infrastructure products, power generation and transmission products such as gas turbines and transformers, and medical imaging as well as laboratory diagnostics products such as CT scanners and MRI machines. It also offers mobility products and automation management software. The company operates throughout North and South America, and is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, and OHSAS 18001 standards.
SOC fuse technology is a manufacturer company which has its headquarters in Japan which develops, manufactures and sell fuses for circuit protection of electronic equipment and electronics since 1958. The company has three subsidiaries in North America, Asia and Europe to carter their customers needs. SOC is being guided by its founding spirit of valuing its customers, shareholders and employees. The company is currently collaborating with automobile companies to develop fuses to protect the coming generation. The company is looking forward to come up with fuses with good capabilities.
Vitzro EM Co is based in Seoul, South Korea, and is a manufacturer of electric power systems and equipment that was established in 1989 as a subsidiary of the Vitzro Group. The company offers vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) that utilize vacuum pressure to interrupt electric currents, and gas-insulated switchgears (GIS) that utilize pressurized gas to interrupt or insulate electric currents. It also offers power transformers for transmission, generation, or distribution applications. The company chiefly serves client operators of industrial plants, electric utilities, and renewable energy arrays.
Matsuo Electric Co.,Ltd., founded in 1949 in Japan, is a specialty component manufacturer of tantalum capacitors, film capacitors, and circuit protection components. The company's microelectronics products include small size, long life, chip tantalum capacitors, leaded tantalum capacitors, fuses, and PET and PPS-type film capacitors used by original equipment manufacturers in a wide variety of industries, including the automotive, electronics, space, and healthcare markets for fire alarms, personal computers, power tools, hearing aids, automotive navigation, and many more devices. Matsuo Electric Co.,Ltd.'s products are RoHS compliant.
KOA Corporation, established in 1940 in Minowa-machi, Japan, is a manufacturer of electronic components. The company provides an extensive product range including resistors, current sense shunt resistors, fuses, thermal sensors, and inductors. These quality components find applications in industries such as automotive, ecology, energy conservation, telecommunications, power supply units, and home appliances. Operating under the guiding principles of circulation, finite resources, harmony, and enrichment, it continues to provide sustainable electronic solutions to cater to the ever-changing demands of global industries.
Mitsubishi Electric was established in Japan in 1921 and headquartered in Tokyo. The company’s Semiconductors & Devices division is a manufacturer of products serving several industries ranging from home appliances and automotive to renewable energy and optical fiber communication. The company’s products are divided into 4 product segments: power devices, high-frequency devices, optical devices, and infrared sensors. Power devices encompass motion controls, most home appliances, and SiC applications. High-frequency devices include satellite communications systems, radios, and base transceiver stations. Optical devices include projector light sources and optical fiber communication. Infrared sensing systems include MeIDIR thermal sensors.
Rockwell Automation, Inc. was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Milwakee, WI. Rockwell Automation provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions around the world. Rockwell Automation operates through their intelligent devices, software & control, and lifecycle services segments with both hardware and software products and services. The Intelligent Devices segment offers drives, motion, safety, sensing, industrial components, and configured-to-order products. The Software & Control segment provides control and visualization software and hardware, information software, and network and security infrastructure solutions. The Lifecycle Services segment provides consulting, professional services and solutions, and connected and maintenance services through independent distributors.
Ranking as of November 2024
Derivation MethodRank | Company | Click Share |
---|---|---|
1 | S&C Electric Company |
34.5%
|
2 | Rockwell Automation |
17.2%
|
3 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation |
13.8%
|
4 | VITZRO EM Co |
10.3%
|
5 | Matsuo Electric Co.,Ltd. |
10.3%
|
6 | SOC |
6.9%
|
7 | KOA Corporation |
3.4%
|
8 | Siemens USA |
3.4%
|
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the current-limiting fuse page as of November 2024. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
Company with a History
*Including some distributors, etc.
*Including some distributors, etc.
Country | Number of Companies | Share (%) |
---|---|---|
Japan | 4 | 57.1% |
United States of America | 2 | 28.6% |
Republic of Korea | 1 | 14.3% |