ABB Celebrates 100 Years of MCB Safety Innovation

ABB’s first-of-its-kind Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)* reaches a milestone 100-year anniversary of protecting electrical circuits and while evolving to meet the sustainability needs of the future. MCB’s has transformed our daily lives by ensuring the safety of both commercial and residential buildings, mitigating the risk of unforeseen incidents. Its implementation has not only revolutionized home safety but also extended electrical safety across society as a whole. Applied across all segments, ABB’s MCBs help in protecting particularly vulnerable spaces, such as factories, data centres, homes, commercial spaces, transport infrastructure and more from electrical hazards. The company has been manufacturing these MCBs in India since 2001 in their Industry 4.0 Nelamangala factory.

Enhanced Electrical Safety

MCBs detect electrical faults such as overcurrents (short circuit & overload) They then disconnect the circuit within 10 milliseconds which is 10 times faster than the blink of an eye. The electrical system can then be quickly and easily reset without the need for it to be replaced. As we transition towards a net-zero future, it is essential to increase electrification and integrate more diversified, renewable energy sources. This means protection devices such as ABB’s MCBs, have larger electrical loads to manage along with variations in power supply and demand. ABB  provides electrical safety to everything from solar panels and heat pumps to electric vehicles and brings additional protection against faults like residual currents, surges, earth fault currents, or arc faults.

“We at ABB India are proud to be part of this 100-year old legacy of MCBs enhancing electrical safety in India and around the world. Our future-focused portfolio centres on achieving energy efficiency and transparent, sustainable practices. Our designs are compact, modular, and flexible, enabling buildings to be retrofitted and to integrate renewable energy sources, quickly and safely. These products are ‘Made in India’ at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility equipped with automation technology for utmost precision and quality. These play a key role in ensuring the safe development of sustainable & modern communities, cities and urban landscapes for our future.” says Kiran Dutt, President Electrification, ABB India.

Today’s protection devices make new and old buildings around the world safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Compact designs enable retrofitting even in historical buildings where space is limited. ABB has helped safeguard and update the electrical systems with their MCBs and auxiliary products, across various key infrastructure projects, monuments, commercial and residential spaces not only in India but across the globe. With different ranges available for varied applications and additional features through auxiliary products, ABB’s MCBs are versatile and adaptable. Nowadays, complete protection, including Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs), Residual-current devices (RCD), Art Fault Detection Devices (AFDD), and Surge Protection Device (SPD), is providing increasingly higher performance, lower carbon footprint, and greater connectivity to increase energy efficiency and decarbonization.