Can Littelfuse Circuit Protection Products Protect Against Overvoltage and Overcurrent?

Power Circuit Protection
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Question: Can Littelfuse circuit protection products protect the subsequent working circuit from malfunctioning due to overvoltage and overcurrent?

Answer: “Overcurrent (fuses) come into play when there is a fault in our circuit. The fuse cuts off the power supply to prevent more serious accidents. Overvoltage protection is to safeguard against damage to our products caused by lightning strikes or surges.”

Causes of Overcurrent and the Function of Fuses

  • Overcurrent means that the current in the circuit exceeds the range permitted for normal operation. Circuit malfunctions are common causes of overcurrent. In such situations, the fuse, as a protective element, will function.

  • Fuses are protective device made of a low melting point alloy. When the current exceeds its rated value, the alloy inside the fuse will melt due to overheating. Once it melts, the circuit is broken, thus preventing excessive current from flowing continuously in the circuit. Without a fuse to cut off power to the circuit, excessive current may damage other components in the circuit, such as burning out electronic components and potentially causing a fire, leading to more severe consequences.

Sources of Overvoltage and the Significance of Protection

  • Overvoltage refers to the condition where the voltage in the circuit exceeds the normal operating voltage. Lightning strikes are a common source of overvoltage. When lightning hits a power transmission line or nearby objects, it generates an instantaneous high voltage on the power grid. Surges are also a factor contributing to overvoltage. They can be caused by voltage fluctuations due to the start-up and shutdown of large equipment in the power grid, such as motors. If these overvoltage situations are not properly protected, the high voltage will act directly on products (such as electrical appliances), potentially damaging the internal electronic components. An overly high voltage can break through the insulation layer of the components, resulting in component damage. Therefore, measures need to be taken to protect products from overvoltage damage caused by lightning strikes and surges.

More Littelfuse circuit protection products

Littelfuse Circuit Protection products provide stable and reliable signal transmission guarantee for all kinds of precision electronic devices by virtue of their precise adjustment relationship with capacitance, dynamic resistance, etc. in terms of high-frequency characteristics, and their performance is excellent in the industry.

More Q&A on Littelfuse Circuit Protection Products Technology:

I. Questions Related to Component Characteristics

  1. What are the classifications of gas discharge tubes?

  2. Littelfuse new MOV+Sidactor thyristor vehicle charging solution technological innovations

  3. In Littelfuse circuit protection products, what kind of current is I in I²t?

  4. What are the differences between discharge tubes and metal oxide varistors?

II. Questions Related to Selection

  1. How to select metal oxide varistors for overvoltage protection?

  2. Do Littelfuse overcurrent protection fuses/circuit breakers have self-resetting function?

  3. The difference in the selection of overvoltage / overcurrent between AC and DC input terminals?

  4. When to Use PTC Resettable Fuses and Metal Fuses?

  5. What parameters differ between surface mount and through hole fuse selections?

  6. Under what general circumstances can AC components be directly used in DC circuits?

  7. Can the method of paralleling small-capacity fuses be used to achieve the purpose of fast fusing?

III. Questions Related to Applications

  1. What design requirements for overcurrent and overvoltage protection?

  2. In which fields are gas discharge tubes mainly applied? Do they have directionality?

  3. Are overcurrent and overvoltage protection for AC/DC power inputs used in charging piles?

  4. Can Littelfuse Circuit Protection Products Protect Against Overvoltage and Overcurrent?

  5. How to understand the fuse explosion-proof test?

  6. How to specifically know the time of time-delay fusing fuses?