Case Study: Mersen improves fuse and bus bar design with COMSOL Multiphysics

Mersen reduces bus bar hot spots and designs 400A to 50kA protection with Comsol

Mersen, an international company specializing in electric protection components like fuses and bus bars, faced design challenges in managing heat and failure mechanisms in these high-current systems. Their traditional trial-and-error approach was inefficient for optimizing designs and ensuring safety, particularly for controlling electric arcs in fuses and preventing dangerous hot spots in bus bars. They turned to simulation software from the vendor COMSOL.

Using COMSOL Multiphysics, Mersen implemented a simulation-driven design workflow to model Joule heating and thermal behavior. This solution allowed them to adjust fuse element geometry and bus bar plate thickness to eliminate hot spots and understand internal physics beyond surface observations. The results included improved product design and safety, reduced development costs through less physical testing, and better communication with customers via detailed heat mappings. COMSOL's software enabled Mersen to move toward simulating real-world, nonstandard operating conditions for further optimization.

Mersen