Toshiba ships 80V eFuse for 48V industrial power lines

A fault on a 48V power line can threaten the electronics downstream, especially in servers, network equipment, robots and factory-automation machines. Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has started shipping the TCKE1401NM, an 80V-rated electronic fuse, or eFuse IC, designed to protect those systems and other equipment using 24V, 48V and 54V power lines.

An eFuse is a semiconductor fuse rather than a conventional physical fuse. It can limit current when an overcurrent occurs, shut down the output during overvoltage, block reverse current, protect against input reverse polarity and switch off during abnormal heat generation. Those functions are gathered into one chip instead of relying only on a physical fuse that responds to a short circuit.

The TCKE1401NM operates across 4.7V to 75V and uses a VQFN24D package measuring 4.0×4.0mm (typ.), with a maximum thickness of 0.9mm. Toshiba specifies 44.5mΩ (typ.) on-resistance, which can help reduce power loss during operation. The company says the compact package can also help shrink the printed circuit board in industrial equipment.

Designers can set the current-limiting and overvoltage thresholds with external resistors. External MOSFETs support true reverse-current blocking and reverse-connection protection. The chip also reports abnormal conditions through a FLAG function, indicates output-voltage status through a power-good function and provides output-current monitoring.

So what changes in practice? Makers of servers, network equipment, factory-automation systems, robots, power tools and home appliances can integrate several power-line safeguards and status signals into a compact protection circuit. The device offers either auto-retry after a fault or latch-off recovery triggered by an external signal. Shipments have started, but Toshiba has not identified an end customer or an installed deployment; the published electrical figures are the company’s specifications, including values marked typical.