Application and development trend of chip fuse
With the miniaturization and surface mounting of electronic components, fuses are also undergoing miniaturization and surface mounting. In particular, the use of surface-mount micro fuses in the protection circuits of portable handheld electronic products is increasing day by day. In its more than 100 years of history, small fuses have gone through multiple development stages, including cylindrical, plug-in, axial or radial pin types.
Since the 1990s, surface-mount fuses have been introduced and have developed to account for nearly 30% of the overall market for small fuses in less than 20 years. They are continuing to expand and replace other traditional forms of fuses, demonstrating their strong vitality.
With the booming development of the electronics industry, the small fuse market is showing a continuous growth trend, especially in 2005, which was a particularly encouraging year for the development of surface-mount fuses. In terms of both quantity and amount, surface-mount fuses accounted for one-third of the total market share.
From the data, it can also be seen that surface-mount fuses are the most valuable type of small fuses, but they also face intense price competition and a downward trend in average unit price. In 2003-2005, the average unit price of products decreased by 20-30%. From the perspective of global fuse production distribution, a large proportion of electronic assembly factories are located in China, and more than 40% of the actual applications are in China.
The main market for surface-mount fuses is in Asia, and it is concentrated in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. Many Japanese and Korean companies also have factories in China, making China the most important market for surface-mount fuses.
Currently, the actual annual usage of surface-mount fuses in the Greater China region (including Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese factories in mainland China) accounts for approximately 50% of the global surface-mount usage and nearly 15% of the total usage of small fuses. The application space is still expanding, and surface-mount fuses, as a lightweight and small new component, are suitable for various electronic products with compact structures and small volumes. Its application field is very broad, especially in the current trendy digital handheld electronic devices.
From the perspective of industries that have already extensively used surface-mount fuses, it will involve the following areas: communication equipment, computers and peripherals, audio-visual equipment, power converters, and digital personal electronic products. In addition, the application of surface-mount fuses still has a lot of room for development, and foreseeable areas include financial and commercial ATMs, tax control machines, high-end computers, POS machines, cash registers, mobile scanners, barcode readers, various car electronics, medical instruments and equipment, precision instruments and meters, control parts of industrial equipment or household appliances, electronic toys, and control parts of electric vehicles.
Surface-mount fuses are a relatively high-tech new type of protection component in the small fuse industry. Most of their main manufacturers are in developed countries and regions such as Europe, America, and Japan. There are three main sizes: 1206, 0603, and 0402, and they are divided into three types: fast-blow, slow-blow, and enhanced melting energy.
The fast-blow series is suitable for important components that require quick response in the protection circuit, and are rarely subjected to surge currents. The slow-blow series is suitable for circuits where large surge currents often occur. The enhanced melting energy series is between the two, with strong surge resistance and is relatively economical.
Specific products include 1206FA-fast-blow series (0.5A-8A, 24V-63V), 1206HI-enhanced melting energy series (1A-5A, 32V-63V), 1206SB-slow-blow series (1A-8A, 24V-63V), 0603FA-fast-blow series (0.5A-6A, 24V-63V), 0603HI-enhanced melting energy series (1A-5A, 32V), 0603SB-slow-blow series (1A-5A, 32V), and 0402FA-fast-blow series (0.5A-4A, 24V).
Surface-mount fuses have continued to develop rapidly with the development of terminal products in their application fields. Especially with the rapid development of personal digital handheld devices, the usage of surface-mount fuses is constantly growing. At the same time, as various electronic devices become smaller and smarter, many traditional fuse applications will gradually be replaced by surface-mount fuses.
From the market analysis data above, it can be foreseen that the usage of surface-mount fuses will continue to increase year by year, and like all electronic components, their prices will continue to decrease, thereby maintaining the overall market sales revenue.
From the perspective of product types and technical performance, following the development of digital technology, surface-mount fuses will continue to introduce multiple new product series, including higher rated voltage, larger or smaller rated current, lower internal resistance, more diverse melting characteristics, stronger breaking capacity, recoverable, and multi-line array, intelligent function, multi-functional integrated components or modules, etc., to meet the circuit protection needs of more updated terminal products.
From the perspective of product levels and cost reduction, many manufacturers have introduced many product series that have certain protection functions but are low-priced to meet the needs of users to reduce costs and compete. These include series that use resistance technology, have simpler structures, and have wider ranges of technical parameters to meet the circuit protection needs of many low-end consumer products with low technical requirements. They also provide the possibility of replacing many other traditional types of fuses.
Watt Smith
Collaborator & Editor
Hello! My name is Watt Smith working on Chipdatas. I write and share relevant articles on electronic components category.
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