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Fuses are designed to operate under fault conditions. However, because of ageing processes, fuses also operate in practice under normal load conditions. This article presents a method to determine how fuse characteristics change depending on specific load conditions. Based on metal fatigue laws, the process of ageing is described and compared with measurements. A method is proposed how to formulate general ageing behaviour from a limited number of measurements under specific conditions. The method is demonstrated for miniature fuses but also showed to be valid for fuses for the protection of motors and semiconductors.

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