What this MCCB is and where it fits
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1163-4EF36-0AD0 is a 3-pole molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) designed for line protection in distribution panels. It carries a TM240 thermal-magnetic overcurrent release, so it handles sustained overloads and short-circuit faults without an external relay. Rated 63 A at 40 °C, it holds that full rating up to 50 °C before the thermal curve starts to pull back — at 70 °C it still delivers 58 A. That matters in a hot cement plant control room or a sealed enclosure near a kiln; the breaker eats the dust and runs without nuisance tripping as long as the ambient stays under 70 °C. Breaking capacity is the headline number for an MCCB, and this one has headroom: 121 kA at 240 V, 75.6 kA at 415 V, 52.5 kA at 440 V, and 11.9 kA all the way up to 690 V. That means it can interrupt a bolted fault at the service entrance without cascading upstream — you get selectivity without oversizing the whole panel. Insulation voltage is rated 800 V, so it's comfortable on 480 V and 600 V class systems.
Thermal derating and real-world loading
The 63 A rating holds flat from 40 °C through 50 °C. At 55 °C it derates to 62 A, at 60 °C to 61 A, at 65 °C to 60 A, and at 70 °C to 58 A. That's a shallow curve — only 5 A lost over a 30 °C rise — so in a hot panel you don't have to oversize the frame to keep the load. Compare that to some MCCBs that drop 10–15 % by 50 °C. The TM240 release is tuned for this frame; no external adjustment needed.
Physical fit and auxiliary options
The 3VA1163-4EF36-0AD0 measures 130 mm high, 76.2 mm wide, and 70 mm deep. That 76.2 mm (3 in) width is the standard 3-pole MCCB footprint for this SENTRON frame size — it drops into the same panel cutout as other 3VA 3-pole units. The breaker ships with a design for 3 auxiliary switches HQ, so you can add status feedback or shunt-trip monitoring without a separate interface module. No undervoltage release fitted as standard; no ground-fault monitoring version. Power loss is 17.3 W maximum — manageable for a 63 A frame, but account for it in a sealed enclosure thermal calc.
Environment and storage
Operating temperature range is -25 °C to 70 °C; storage range is -40 °C to 80 °C. That covers frozen warehouses and desert shipping containers. No communication function, no voltage trigger, no trip indicator on this variant — it's a straight line-protection MCCB, not a metering or communicating device.