To prevent electrical fires and too much current to overload in a circuit, electronic components like circuit breakers and fuses have been used for a long time now. Short circuits and ground faults can damage your electronic appliances so they also help in the prevention of that. Now the question arises, if both of them perform the same functions, which one should you choose?
In the beginning only fuses were used for these purposes, but then circuit breakers were introduced with many advantages in comparison to fuses. However due to the lower cost of fuses people have been using them a lot but circuit breakers evolved over time. If we compare both of them we will see how that circuit breakers can help manufacturers and management team to achieve reliability, safety, and lower costs. We will discuss some factors why circuit breakers are the better choice.
Reduced Costs
As we already mentioned cost of a single fuse is less than circuit breakers but if we consider the overall installation costs the sum is different. First off, three fuses are required for a three phase circuit. Secondly unlike circuit breakers, fuses do not have built in switches, so addition of a switch is required. Fuses require larger enclosure and if one of the three fuses open all of them must be replaced. Due to these reasons you need to keep expensive stock of fuses on hand.
Improving Functionality
In contrast to wires, circuit breakers can be upgraded with extra capacities, for example, ground fault. They additionally consider framework coordination between breakers. The freshest, most developed circuit breakers offer a huge expansiveness of abilities in a minimal size with adaptable plans that empower field-updating. Additional items can incorporate controller and status sign, alert and helper contacts, force and energy estimations, and organization interchanges.
Steady Performance
Circuit breakers can be tested during manufacturing process and can also be tested during their operating life to make sure that performance is maintained. In contrast, there is no such method to test electronic components like fuses so you will never the exact current value that causes them to open after getting old and degrades performance.
Improved Safety
Fuses are considered to be dangerous for the technical personnel as the conductors are more exposed they increase the risk to the workers. Whereas, in circuit breakers the connections are hidden behind the device and work can be done more safely and remotely.
This makes circuits safer especially for unskilled workers as compared to fuses. In industrial environments, many fires have been started due the replacement of fuses when the wrong rating or models used. Circuit breakers avoid these risks as they usually have longer life spans and do not require to be replaced that often. Replacing fuses can take a lot of time as compared to circuit breakers that take less time and saves production costs.
Conclusion Circuit breakers are a better choice because they are more reliable, safe, less costly, less time consuming to replace, have steady performance and improved functionality as compared to fuses. Electronic component market in the UK is huge so when buying electronic components in UK like fuses and circuit breakers you must consider all these factors to make th