What this MCCB carries and what it means for your panel
The 3VA1140-6EF32-0CH0 is a SENTRON molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) sized for line protection — three poles, 40 A continuous at 40 °C, with a short-circuit breaking capacity of 220 kA at 240 V. That 220 kA figure means it can safely interrupt a fault up to that level without the arc flashing over to adjacent gear, which is the kind of headroom you want on a high-fault utility feed or a transformer secondary. The thermal derating curve is already baked into the evidence: it holds 40 A all the way to 50 °C, drops to 39 A at 55 °C, and stays at 38 A through 65 °C, then 37 A at 70 °C — so in a hot panel near a drive cabinet or a motor starter lineup, you still get nearly full rating. The 70 mm depth and 76.2 mm width (2.76 in × 3 in) put it in the standard MCCB footprint for a 3-pole frame, so it swaps into existing Sentron or competitive cutouts without reworking the gland plate.
Breaking capacity across voltages — selectivity planning
This breaker's interrupting rating drops as the voltage climbs: 154 kA at 415 V, 121 kA at 440 V, and 17 kA at both 500 V and 690 V. That 17 kA at 690 V is the number to watch if you're feeding a 690 V drive bus or a mining conveyor — it's still a strong figure for a 40 A frame, but it means the upstream device (transformer breaker or main) needs to be coordinated so the fault current at the 3VA1140's terminals stays under 17 kA. The 220 kA at 240 V tells you this is a current-limiting MCCB designed for high-fault commercial or industrial services, not a residential-grade plug-on.
Built-in undervoltage release and auxiliary switch complement
The 3VA1140-6EF32-0CH0 ships with an undervoltage release (UVR) factory-installed — that's the "6EF32" segment of the order code. The UVR trips the breaker if the control voltage drops below a set threshold, which is standard for motor feeder protection where you want the breaker open on a loss of control power. It also carries two auxiliary switches plus one trip alarm switch (HQ type), giving you three dry contacts for status feedback to a PLC or a remote annunciator panel. The supplied basic switch is order code 3VA11406EF320AA0, so if you ever need to replace just the switching mechanism, that's the service part. No communication module on this variant — it's a hardwired breaker, not a smart breaker with Modbus or PROFIBUS.