The Siemens SENTRON 3VA1180-3EF36-0AB0 is a 3-pole molded case circuit breaker rated for 80 A continuous current at 40 °C, with a TM240 thermal-magnetic release. It's built for line protection in distribution panels — the kind of install where you need a clean trip curve for feeder or main breaker duty without the communication or monitoring extras. Breaking capacity sits at 75.6 kA at 240 V, 52.5 kA at 415 V, 32 kA at 440 V, and 10.5 kA at 690 V. That's enough headroom for most industrial service entrances or sub-feeders on a 480Y/277 V system — the 415 V figure covers the common 400 V class installations across Europe and Asia. The TM240 release is a fixed thermal-magnetic type — no electronic adjustment, no communication module, no ground-fault monitoring. It's the workhorse variant: set it, torque it, and move on. The 2 auxiliary switches (HP type) give you status feedback for the PLC or alarm annunciator without needing a separate aux block.
Temperature derating and panel fit
The breaker holds its full 80 A rating from 40 °C up through 50 °C. Above that, it steps down: 76.8 A at 55 °C, 75.2 A at 60 °C, 73.6 A at 65 °C, and 72 A at 70 °C. If your panel ambient runs hot — say, a packed enclosure near a furnace line — you'll need to account for that 10 % drop by 70 °C. The IP40 front protection means it's fine in a clean indoor panel; keep it out of washdown zones. Footprint is 76.2 mm wide, 130 mm tall, 70 mm deep — standard 3-pole MCCB spacing that drops into a SENTRON panelboard or a DIN-rail adapter plate. No undervoltage release, no shunt trip, no voltage trigger on this variant — it's a straight thermal-magnetic block with aux switches only.
Mechanical endurance is rated at 15,000 operations — that's typical for a molded case breaker used as a main disconnect or infrequently switched feeder. It's not a contactor; don't cycle it daily as a motor starter. The latching mechanism is robust for its class, but the TM240 release is what governs the trip characteristic, not a separate electronic trip unit. Storage temperature range spans -40 °C to 80 °C, operating range is -25 °C to 70 °C. The storage limit is the handling limit — the breaker can sit in a cold warehouse or hot shipping container without damage, but the operating range is what matters once it's energized in the panel.