The Siemens 3VA1040-4ED32-0AE0 is a 3-pole IEC frame 100 circuit breaker from the 3VA1 series, carrying a 40 A fixed thermal-magnetic trip unit (TM210) and a 36 kA breaking capacity at 415 V. That Icu rating places it in breaking capacity class S — meaning it can safely clear a 36 kA fault without welding its contacts or rupturing the case, which is the spec that decides whether it holds on a high-fault panelboard or gets swapped for a higher-rated frame. It ships with a nut keeper kit and provisions for four auxiliary switches, so it's ready for the panel builder to wire in status feedback without chasing loose hardware.
What the ratings mean for fit
The TM210 trip unit is fixed: overload protection Ir is locked at 40 A, and short-circuit protection Ii is fixed at 10 x In (400 A). No adjustment dials, no interchangeable trip blocks — so the breaker is sized for a specific 40 A load circuit, not a flexible range. That fixed Ir matters when you're swapping it into an existing panel: if the upstream conductor or load calculation expects a different pickup, this isn't the breaker to grab. The 36 kA @ 415 V interrupting rating is the headline number for fault duty; at 400 V (common in IEC panels) it's effectively the same, so it handles most industrial distribution boards without a series rating sticker hunt.
Panel integration and wiring
Snap-on DIN-rail mount for the 3VA1 frame — standard 35 mm rail, no adapter plate needed. The four auxiliary switch slots let you add early-make or late-break contacts for PLC status feedback or shunt-trip supervision without drilling the enclosure for extra terminal blocks. The nut keeper kit keeps the hardware captive during installation, which saves time on the wireman's ladder when the breaker is mounted in a tight enclosure.