The Siemens SENTRON 3VA2216-5KP42-0AA0 is a 4-pole molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) rated for 160 A continuous current, built around the ETU850 electronic trip unit. It's designed for line protection in distribution panels and switchgear, with an adjustable overcurrent trip range from 240 A up to 1,920 A — giving you a wide band to dial in the protection curve for the feeder or main.
Breaking capacity and what it means on the line
At 240 V this breaker clears 187 kA; at 415 V and 440 V it handles 121 kA; at 500 V it's 75.6 kA; and at 690 V it still manages 4.5 kA. Those numbers tell you the SCCR (short-circuit current rating) at each voltage level — the fault current the breaker can safely interrupt without welding contacts or venting plasma. For a 160 A frame, 187 kA at 240 V is serious muscle; it means this unit can sit on a high-capacity transformer secondary or a large industrial service entrance where available fault current is high.
Thermal performance — no derating headache
Rated continuous current holds at 160 A across the entire ambient temperature range from 40 °C through 70 °C. That's unusual — most MCCBs start derating above 40 °C. Here you can load it to 160 A even in a hot panel or enclosure without recalculating the cable or bus bar ampacity. The insulation voltage is rated 800 V, so it's comfortable on 480 V and 600 V class systems with headroom.
Trip unit and communication capability
The ETU850 is an electronic trip unit with a communication function — it can talk to a higher-level system (typically via PROFIBUS or PROFINET on the SENTRON platform) for power monitoring, remote trip indication, and load profiling. That's useful if you're building a smart distribution panel or need to feed data into a building management system. There's no undervoltage release or voltage trigger on this variant, and no ground-fault monitoring module fitted. The trip indicator is also absent, so you'd rely on the communication function or a local ammeter to see the breaker state.
Environmental limits
Operating temperature range is -25 °C to 70 °C; storage range is -40 °C to 80 °C. The storage limit is the one that governs handling and warehousing — it's wider than the operating range, which is typical for breakers. No special climate-controlled storage needed as long as you stay inside those bounds.