Hazardous area barrier network fuse enhances safety of equipment

Littelfuse has a new 40mA PICO® 242 Series Hazardous Area Barrier Network Fuse, which supports designing barrier circuits for intrinsic safety products to stop fires and explosions in dangerous atmospheres. The fuse stops electronic equipment used in hazardous locations from overheating or producing sparks that may ignite a fire or explosion by reducing the risk of overcurrent/short-circuit events. The fuse satisfies the conditions of intrinsic safety standards (IEC/EN/UL 60079-11) for hazardous location and explosive atmosphere applications, so products created with it will follow relevant European Directives and other global requirements. With a 40mA current rating, the series is claimed to be the lowest nominal current rated barrier fuse on the market in such a small package size, which promotes compact intrinsic safety product design without compromising protection performance. “The PICO 242 Series’ 40mA nominal current rating offers a significant advantage over earlier 50mA barrier fuses. Designers of intrinsically safe products use the fuse current rating to set the power threshold to which all other components must adhere,” said Christopher Coolman, global product manager, Electronics Business Unit at Littelfuse. “It provides a 20% reduction in the power requirements of downstream components such as Zener diodes, which enables more compact design and could result in cost savings of these components.”