RF Thermal Fuse

A thermal protection system comprising:

• a plurality of RF thermal fuses, each RF thermal fuse comprising:
• a body adapted to be positioned on a transmission line between an RF signal source and an RF device;
• a conductive bolt positioned in the body, the conductive bolt having a length sufficient to provide an impedance at a point of protection on the transmission line in response to the conductive bolt contacting a live conductor of the transmission line;
• and
• a driving mechanism configured to cause the conductive bolt to contact the live conductor in response to a temperature at or near the point of protection exceeding a threshold temperature;
• wherein the plurality of RF thermal fuses are positioned on the transmission line at intervals such that the plurality of RF thermal fuses provide a combined impedance that is adapted to reflect a portion of the incident power of an RF signal in a predetermined frequency band from the RF signal source.

A system comprising:

• an RF device in communication with an RF signal source via a transmission line;
• an RF thermal fuse positioned on the transmission line, the RF thermal fuse comprising:
• a body adapted to be positioned on the transmission line between the RF signal source and the RF device;
• a conductive bolt positioned in the body, the conductive bolt having a length sufficient to provide an impedance at a point of protection on the transmission line in response to the conductive bolt contacting a live conductor of the transmission line, wherein the impedance is configured to reflect a portion of the incident power of an RF signal from the RF signal source;
• and
• a driving mechanism configured to cause the conductive bolt to contact the live conductor in response to a temperature at or near the point of protection exceeding a threshold temperature.