Simplified Thermal Model of Semiconductor Fuse for DC Distribution System

For last 50 years the semiconductor fuse has been developed and applied to power electronics system to protect the diode and thyristors. The semiconductor fuses are used in DC distribution systems instead of high speed solid state DC circuit breakers, which are too expensive to apply widely. In this study, simple thermal model of the fuse is presented to describe the melting and cooling effect of the fuse and a method is proposed to derive the parameter from the Time-Current-Curve (TCC) without further detailed data from manufacturer. The effectiveness of the model and circuit have been verified by computer simulation and experimental results.