What it is and what it does
The Siemens SENTRON 3VA2116-6HL32-0DH0 is a 3-pole molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) rated for 160 A continuous current, designed for line protection in distribution panels. It carries a flat 160 A rating from 40 °C all the way up to 70 °C — no derating headache in a warm enclosure, which is the first thing a panel builder checks when the gland plate is full and airflow is tight. Breaking capacity is the headline here: 242 kA at 240 V, 187 kA at 415/440 V, 121 kA at 500 V, and 3.7 kA at 690 V. That 242 kA at 240 V means it can interrupt a fault current that would vaporize a lesser breaker — critical for high-available-fault installations like a utility tie or a large motor control center fed by a big transformer. The 690 V figure drops to 3.7 kA, so if you're on a 690 V system, check your available fault current against that number before committing the BOM line. Physical footprint: 105 mm wide, 181 mm tall, 86 mm deep. That depth is the dimension that matters most when you're swapping into an existing panel — if the old MCCB was deeper, this one fits; if it was shallower, you'll need to check the deadfront clearance. Width and height are standard for this frame size; it'll drop into a 3-pole SENTRON mounting base without panel rework.
Integration and auxiliaries
This MCCB ships with an undervoltage release (UVR) built in — it will trip the breaker if control voltage drops below the dropout threshold. That's a safety feature for machinery where loss of control power should kill the load, not leave it live. It also carries 2 auxiliary switches plus 1 trip alarm switch (HQ type), so you get status feedback for both the breaker position and the fault condition on separate dry contacts. That's enough for a PLC to know whether the breaker is open manually or tripped on a fault. Rated as line protection, not motor protection — there's no adjustable overload curve for a motor start. Use it for feeder, distribution, or backup protection where the load is a bus or a group of downstream devices. Maximum power loss is 28 W at rated current, which is modest for a 160 A frame; it won't cook the neighboring devices in a dense DIN-rail layout.