KLIXON® thermal circuit breakers are compact, lightweight, protective devices designed to repeatedly interrupt short circuits or extended overloads in applications which require precise, dependable operation plus high resistance to shock and vibration. To avoid nuisance tripping caused by harmless transient or momentary overloads, these circuit breakers feature an inherent thermal time-lag characteristic. This enables equipment to operate at maximum limits with complete safety.

The heart of the thermal circuit breaker is the KLIXON® metal disc. At a predetermined overload, the heat caused by current passing through the disc causes the disc to reverse its curvature, or snap. This snapping action separates the electrical contacts and opens the circuit.

Trip curves provide the approximate time vs current characteristics based on the ambient “room” temperature of 77°F (25°C). Should your application require performance characteristics beyond the ambient “room” temperature of 77°F (25°C), derating curves provide additional data for ambient temperatures significantly higher or lower than standard room temperature.

KLIXON® thermal circuit breakers are available in automatic reset and manual reset. Some manual reset devices offer a switchable feature whereby the contacts can be manually opened to de-energize the circuit. For the automatic reset device, the circuit stays open until the disc cools and returns to its original curvature, completing the circuit. For the trip-free manual reset device, the contacts will remain open until the device’s pushbutton is depressed to reset the device and complete the circuit.

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