Fuse

A fuse is a protection device frequently used in low-voltage networks. When exposed to a sufficiently high current, the fuse melts and an arc forms. As the fuse continues to melt, the arc distance increases until it eventually is extinguished, and no more current flows through the fuse.

pandapower allows users to add fuses to networks and analyze their performance in short-circuit and power flow scenarios. It includes a standard library of fuses with rated currents ranging from 16A to 1000A.

Fuses can be created using the Fuse class:

class pandapower.protection.protection_devices.fuse.Fuse(net, switch_index, fuse_type='none', rated_i_a=0, characteristic_index=None, in_service=True, overwrite=False, curve_select=0, z_ohm=0.0001, name=None, **kwargs)

Fuse used in circuit protection

Parameters:

  • net (ADict) – pandapower net

  • switch_index (int) – index of the switch that the fuse acts upon

  • fuse_type (str, "none") – string of the fuse type to be used. If it is in the standard library, it will automatically generate the characteristic curve. Otherwise, it has no effect. Example: fuse_type = “Siemens NH-1-100”

  • rated_i_a (float, 0) – the rated current of the fuse in amp

  • characteristic_index (int, 0) – index of the corresponding characteristic curve. Automatically generated when characteristic curve is created.

  • in_service (bool, True) – indicates if fuse is currently in service and should be included in protection computations

  • overwrite (bool, False) – indicates if fuse should replace already existing protection device acting upon switch

  • curve_select (int, 0) – specifies which curve should be used as characteristic curve. This only has an effect for fuses that contain two different melting curves (t_min and t_total). For fuses that only have one characteristic curve (t_avg), curve_select has no effect.

  • z_ohm (float, 0.0001) – gives the resistance of the fuse in ohms. This is used in calculations for bus-bus switches

  • name (str, None) – name of the fuse. For example, name = “Line 2 Fuse”

create_characteristic(net, x_values, y_values, interpolator_kind='Pchip', **kwargs)

Create characteristic curve of fuse melting behavior using Piece Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial (PCHIP) from scipy.interpolate

To run protection calculations, use the calculate_protection_times function:

pandapower.protection.run_protection.calculate_protection_times(net, scenario='sc')

Calculate protection times for short-circuit and power-flow scenarios

Parameters:

  • net – pandapower network

  • scenario (string, 'sc') – specify what type of scenario to calculate for: ‘sc’ for short-circuit, ‘pp’ for power flow. Default is ‘sc’

Returns:

pandas dataframe containing results

Kindly follow the Fuse tutorial on Github for more details. https://github.com/e2nIEE/pandapower/blob/develop/tutorials/protection/fuse.ipynb