Certain electrical designs require permanently disabling hardware functionality on the fly. Sending an overcurrent to a weak fuse may be a method for accomplishing this, breaking the circuit in a particular region of a device. My questions are:
- What are the potential risks caused by this process, assuming a fairly weak fuse?
- Are there alternatives to this method for disabling functionality permanently?
Best Answer
Assuming that by "permanent" you mean "without physical repair", what you describe is reminiscent of a crowbar circuit: short the bus, blow the fuse. I'm not aware of any safer way of doing what I understand you to want. An SCR is probably a good choice.
Risks include detonation of the device being used as the crowbar, if it absorbs too much energy from the short before the fuse opens. To avoid that, check the \$I^{2}T\$ rating of the fuse and of the device. If the \$I^{2}T\$ rating of the device is higher, it should not detonate before the fuse fails. You may need to use high-speed fuses, which may be difficult to find, depending on the voltages and currents involved.
Another risk is accidentally triggering the crowbar early. How you deal with that depends on the context, and how irritating a false trigger is compared to a missed trigger.