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Got a solar array to protect? Not just any fuse will do!

FROM: Ferraz Shawmut SAS - 1, rue Jean Novel F-69626 VILLEURBANNE
CONTACT: Hervé Le Penven - Communications Manager
AGENCY: Infocom Industrie - Amel Karim +33 472336598

Demand special-purpose fuses

PV cells and panels are d.c. generators. Whenever an array brings together 4 strings of modules or more, fault current can be high enough to heat and damage the insulation. Since solar arrays are not grounded, each string must be protected by a fuse on each polarity.
HelioFuses from Ferraz Shawmut have been specially designed for solar power. As an acknowledged specialist in d.c. breaking, Ferraz Shawmut has developed fuses that can interrupt current starting at 2 In (with a circuit time constant of 2ms). Ensuring that the fuse will open under this kind of very specific conditions requires testing under real life conditions (especially highly variable irradiance over a complete 24-hour cycle).

The classes of fuses usually used in a.c. applications are not suitable for photovoltaics:
- class gG general purpose use fuses must never be used. Their performances are very poor in d.c. applications, the electrical arc that occurs at the moment of breaking can potentially puncture the end caps, and the prospective fault current contradicts all the requirements of the “g” curve.
- class aR semi-conductor fuses are incapable of interrupting overloads, because they are designed to break high short-circuit currents. This rules them out for photovoltaic applications.

The bottom line is that only fuses designed specifically for solar applications by a specialist meet the requirements of those applications.
Demand Ferraz Shawmut’s HelioProtection program. Ask for HelioFuses.

Ferraz Shawmut is committed to protecting photovoltaic installations

Photovoltaics as power source is very booming. By 2020 installed capacity in solar power is expected to be near 300 GW. Generating electricity from this available energy source is an extremely reliable process – as long as it’s properly protected !

Any installation, whether it’s a stand-alone solar array with a back-up generator set or a grid-connected one, is vulnerable to fault currents or lightning. Today fuses and surge arresters are the most effective ways of protecting the wiring and all the electrical equipment in a PV system. But that protection must be designed, dimensioned, tested and adapted to the specific features of solar applications. At Ferraz Shawmut, the specialist in protection specially designed for power generation and distribution, we are showing our commitment to the development of solar power with a dedicated range of products: junction boxes, fuses and surge arresters. Fuses shield the cables between strings of modules from damage. The faulty circuits are isolated and the system can keep on generating power.

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