Description
The ABB 170M5388, also identified by the legacy technical designation PC72UD13C250T and order code 3AUA0000090404, is a high-speed square-body fuse link for semiconductor protection. It belongs to ABB’s Protistor 170M fuse family and is engineered to clear severe short-circuit faults before vulnerable power semiconductors exceed their energy-withstand limits.
Rated at 250 A, the 170M5388 is designed for 1250 V AC operation under its IEC rating and 1300 V under its UL rating. With a 100 kA breaking capacity, quartz-sand arc quenching and a precisely matched aR time-current characteristic, it is intended for demanding drive, rectifier, soft-starter and power-conversion applications rather than general low-voltage circuit protection.
Application Scenarios
A mining company experienced repeated IGBT failures in a 690 V class conveyor drive after a control-system upgrade. The previous protection devices were slow enough that a DC-bus or rectifier fault could damage the power stack before the fault was cleared. Each failure created a costly stoppage and required evaluation of the drive module, dc link, cabling and upstream protection devices.
The maintenance team re-examined the original protection coordination and replaced the mismatched fuses with the ABB 170M5388. The 250 A rating matched the original design current, while the aR characteristic and published I²t values were coordinated with the drive’s semiconductor withstand limits. During later fault events, the fuse cleared the fault and limited let-through energy more effectively than the previous protection device.
The result was not simply a new fuse in an old panel. It was a return to the protection philosophy intended by the original equipment design: contain the fault quickly, sacrifice the low-cost protective device first and preserve the expensive power module. For plants operating legacy PC72UD13C250T installations, the 170M5388 can be a strategically important spare because it reduces the risk of converting a short-circuit event into a major drive rebuild.
Parameter
| Main Parameters | Value / Description |
|---|---|
| Product Model | 170M5388 |
| Legacy Technical Designation | PC72UD13C250T |
| ABB Order Code | 3AUA0000090404 |
| Manufacturer | ABB |
| Product Category | High-speed fuse link for semiconductor protection |
| Utilization Category | aR, partial-range protection per IEC 60269-4 |
| Rated Current | 250 A |
| Rated Voltage | 1250 V AC IEC; 1300 V UL |
| Breaking Capacity | 100 kA at rated voltage |
| Pre-Arcing I²t | 6500 A²s |
| Total Clearing I²t | 38,500 A²s at 1000 V; 51,500 A²s at 1250 V |
| Power Dissipation | 65 W at 250 A |
| Fuse Body | Ceramic body filled with quartz sand for arc quenching |
| Contacts | Silver-plated copper flush-end blades |
| Status Indicator | Central Type K striker pin for use with a compatible microswitch |
| Mounting | Bolted flush-end mounting; M10 hardware |
| Connection Spacing | 74.3 mm hole spacing |
| Body Dimensions | 61 × 75 × 77 mm |
| Overall Dimensions | 168 × 124 × 80 mm |
| Net Weight | 743.5 g |
| Standards | IEC 60269-4; additional approvals should be confirmed from the unit marking |
| Recommended Replacement | 170M65368 for equivalent 250 A / 1230 V applications, subject to datasheet and dimensional verification |
