Case Study: Mersen achieves control of Joule heating to extend performance and device life with COMSOL Multiphysics

Control of Joule Heating Extends Performance and Device Life

Mersen, a global specialist in over‑current protection, cooling, and power-transfer components, needed to move beyond trial‑and‑error design to ensure fuses and laminated bus bars withstand very high currents without dangerous arcing, hot spots, glue or insulation failure, and excessive thermal/mechanical stress. To address these challenges the company adopted Comsol’s COMSOL Multiphysics to bring simulation into its design workflow.

Using Comsol Multiphysics, Mersen modeled Joule heating and multiphysics interactions to optimize fuse element thickness and bus‑bar conductor geometry, predict temperature fields (validated against thermal images), eliminate hot spots, and assess short‑circuit scenarios up to ~400 A nominal and 50 kA peak. The Comsol-driven approach reduced testing and development costs, enabled smaller and safer designs, improved understanding of internal behavior, and extended device performance and life.

Mersen

Antoine Gerlaud

Mersen