Bourns Announces New Circuit Protection TBU™ Series That Features a Broad Range of Trigger Currents and Voltages

RIVERSIDE, Calif., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Bourns, Inc., a leading manufacturer and supplier of electronic components, today announced the company's next-generation Transient Blocking Unit (TBU™) Series of circuit protection devices designed to protect a broad selection of industrial and telecommunications applications.  The new series provides ultra-fast overcurrent protection offered in a wide range of trigger currents and voltages and reduced form factors to save valuable board space.  Designated the Bourns® TBU-CA Series, the new devices are electronic current limiters (ECL) that are triggered by excessive voltage or current.  Designed as an optimal circuit protection solution for industrial controls, medical electronics, automated test systems, and military and aerospace applications, the Bourns® TBU-CA Series can be used for protection on Ethernet, RS-485, HART and other ports where dangerous surge and power cross events may occur.  The circuit protection device series can also be used in telecom applications and provides a barrier to surges while allowing high frequency signals such as VDSL2 to pass through without damage to the circuit.  

Protecting sensitive electronics and applications from the potentially damaging effects of surges that can cause current and voltage to rise above normal operating levels, the Bourns® TBU-CA Series eliminates the need for large shunt protection devices by stopping the damaging currents from reaching protected circuits in less than one microsecond.  The new circuit protection devices are low capacitance, single bi-directional high speed devices designed to protect against faults caused by short circuits, AC power cross, induction and lightning surges within rated limits.  The resettable devices also feature significantly lower let-thru energy and overshoot protection, which reduces stress on the printed circuit board (PCB) for increased reliability and product life.  

"Higher data rates combined with more sensitive electronics presents a real challenge for protection engineers," said Paul Wiener, telecom market director at Bourns.  "Bourns' unique TBU™ protection technology limits the energy allowed into sensitive electronics without loading high data rate lines with capacitance.  This allows designers to place high performance protection on even their highest bandwidth applications."  

The Bourns® TBU-CA Series is available in five impulse blocking voltages from 250V to 850V with minimum trip currents of 50 mA to 500 mA featuring resistance values as low as 3 ohms.  Product samples, evaluation boards and sample kits are available now through Bourns' distribution partners.  As a pricing example, Bourns® TBU-CA085-500-WH is priced at ($.69 each) in (10K) quantities.

About Bourns® TBU™ Technology

Bourns' TBU™ High Speed Protector is the first new approach to electronics circuit protection in over a decade. This technology is designed to block a transient through a current disconnecting mechanism. Rather than a complex interstage coordination between two shunting components, the TBU™ device allows customers to protect circuit boards from both overvoltage and overcurrent surges. The TBU™ device protects electronic equipment within nanoseconds, essentially eliminating latency common in the circuit protection design, limiting let-through energy. The TBU™ device has virtually no capacitance or inductance, and therefore can be used in high bandwidth applications. It has a resistive characteristic which permits currents up to a certain level to pass unimpeded to the protected interface. In higher current situations, the TBU™ device switches to a high impedance state, protecting until the surge voltage dissipates or the short-circuit reseals. The TBU™ device offers full bi-directional operation, which is inherently resettable.

About Bourns

Bourns, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and supplier of automotive sensors, circuit protection solutions, magnetic products, microelectronic modules, trimming and precision potentiometers, panel controls and encoders and resistive products.  Headquartered in Riverside, CA, Bourns serves a broad range of markets, including telecommunications, computer, industrial, instrumentation, automotive, consumer, non-critical life support medical, audio and various other market segments.  Bourns® products are manufactured according to ISO-9000 standards under Six Sigma quality programs. Bourns® automotive products are manufactured in accordance with the TS16949 standard. Additional company and product information is available at the company's website at www.bourns.com.

Bourns® and the Bourns logo are registered trademarks of Bourns, Inc. and may be used only with the permission of Bourns and proper acknowledgement. Other listed names and brands are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Bourns, Inc.