In the world of electronic components, the fuse is kind of like the guardian angel. Its job is to protect the power system by preventing too much current from flowing through a circuit, which can lead to overload or failure. Anyone who’s ever overloaded their home circuit before with a hairdryer or other powerful electronic device has probably “blown a fuse.” What’s happening in that case is the fuse has interrupted the overload of power current and prevented damage and possible fire, by shutting down the system. The fuse dates back to the mid-1800s when it was first invented. It was later patented, with the help of Thomas Edison, as part of the electronic distribution system.
So how does a Fuse work?
A fuse is mounted between electrical terminals and carries the current of power through a protected circuit. If the current of power is too high, the element in the fuse rises in temperature and either melts or joins with the fuse, opening the circuit. When the metal conductor opens, an electric arc is formed between the un-melted ends of the element. The arc grows until the voltage required to sustain the arc is higher than the available voltage in the circuit. Fuse elements are made of alloys with predictable characteristics like aluminum, copper, silver or zinc.
Fuses come in different voltage ratings such as 120V or 230V. The voltage rating has to be the same or larger than the open circuit voltage to work correctly. The International Electrotechnical Commission creates standards that unify a number of national standards of fuses, which help improve the interchangeability, along with the buying and selling of fuses around the world. In North America, low-voltage fuses to 1kV AC rating are made in accordance Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
Fuse Uses
There are a large array of fuses out there. Thermal fuses are the kind most often found in consumer products like hair dryers, electronic devices and even coffee makers. The thermal fuses are non-resettable devices that cannot be used again once they are “blown”.
Resettable fuses make use of a thermoplastic conductive element that is self-resetting. When the power current is removed, the device will cool and go back to low resistance. These types of resetting fuses are mostly used in computer components so that if a mouse or keyboard shorts, it doesn’t affect the motherboard. Resettable fuses are also often used in the nuclear and aerospace industry.
Buying and Selling Fuses
If you are looking to buy or sell surplus fuses, IC Plus offer the best selection out there. For more than 20 years, IC Plus has been the leading buyer and seller of surplus fuses for all your electronic component needs. IC Plus, not only provides one of the best quality service approaches to obsolete and hard to find fuses, we also provide a wide array of services. And once you find the fuses you are in the market for, IC Plus has the capability, in most cases, to ship your product to you the very next day. So if you’re looking to buy fuses online, you can’t go wrong contacting IC Plus to buy fuses.
With IC Plus, you don’t have to ever worry about buying surplus fuses that don’t work. IC Plus follows strict guidelines and has a rigorous 72 point inspection process that our team goes through with every part that comes through our facility. The best part about buy fuses from IC Plus is that if you aren’t completely happy with your fuses, we offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
On the flip side, if you are an electronic components company with a surplus of fuses, IC Plus can buy your excess inventory through a lot sale or consignment. That means, you free up room in your warehouse and provide surplus fuses and electronic components to us. IC Plus offers you great deals so you can be assured that you will get a return on your investment when you sell your fuses to us.