Vorrichtung zur Begrenzung des Einschaltstromes in einem Laststromkreis

The invention relates to a device for the limiting of the making current in a load circuit, having at least one limiting resistor switched in series with the load current and a briding component connected to a controller to bridge the limiting resistor. In order to limit the current reliably when the load is switched on, a control and measuring instrument (99) is provided to monitor the operating state of the limiting NTC thermistor (4) which is connected in a control circuit with a bridging component (5) and an interlock component (3) connected in series with the load. If a predefinable resistance for the NTC thermistor (4) is undershot, load power-up is blocked. The starting current can thus not exceed a predefined limit value even if the load is switched on repeatedly after a short period of time or in sequence. Moreover, the limiting NTC thermistor (4) is protected from overload by switching on and off too often. The device can be implemented without the use of electronic switching elements and is therefore particularly suited for safety-related applications (Fig. 1)