Littelfuse, Inc. has released their first encapsulated surface mount fuse designed for intrinsic safety protection of equipment. It is intended for use near hazardous locations and explosive atmospheres. It is certified to the UL 913 Standard. During overcurrent and short circuit fault conditions, the 1 millimeter-thick encapsulation around the body of the PICO® 304 Series surface mount fuse minimizes the head produced and contains any sparks or arcs inside the fuse assembly. This prevents them from being exposed to potentially explosive gases or dust in the environment. The encapsulation eliminates the need to pot or coat printed circuit boards or assemblies. This saves production time and money to reduce end-product costs.
The PICO 304 Series. (Source: Littelfuse)The PICO 304 Series is rated for 277-volt AC/DC with 1,500-amp breaking capacity, making it suitable for barrier circuits and other circuits, separating intrinsically safe circuits from non-intrinsically safe circuits. It is available with current ratings from 50 milliamps to 750 milliamps. According to Littelfuse, the series is ideal for limiting fault power available in a circuit. This helps to reduce required power ratings and size of downstream components, wiring and circuit board traces.
The typical applications for the PICO 304 Series include: measuring or processing electronic and electrical equipment, motor controllers, communication handsets/two-way radios and associated battery chargers, process control and automation equipment, sensors, lighting, and flow/gas meters in the oil, gas, mining, chemical pharmaceutical, food and beverage and other process industries.
The PICO 304 Series Fuse is available in surface mount packages in 24 millimeter tape and reel format in quantities of 100 or 800 pieces. For more information on the PICO 304 Series Fuse visit the site here.
