New Industry Products

5.5A to 8A Reflow-Solderable Thermal Cutoffs for Battery Cell Protection

February 19, 2019 by Scott McMahan

Bourns released the SC Series of miniature resettable thermal cutoff devices. This series is Bourns' next generation of surface mount miniature resettable thermal cutoff devices, following the successful SA Series.

Battery packs with miniature resettable thermal cutoff devices traditionally are assembled using welding. However, the new SC series allows reflow soldering onto printed circuit boards, opening these circuit protection devices to multiple new applications.

The primary application for these devices is battery cell protection in smartphones and USB 3.1 type-C cables. Other applications include battery cell protection for notebooks, tablets, and smartphones as well as over-temperature protection for electronic cigarettes, medical heaters, and notebook AC adapters.

The new SC series features current capabilities from 5.5A up to 8A at 60°C and is available in two height options. The very-low profile SCxxAAB option has a height of just 0.94mm ±0.05mm, and the reinforced SCxxAAA option, at 1.07mm ±0.05 mm is designed to withstand the high injection molding pressures often encountered during USB cable manufacturing.

The company designed the SC series to withstand humid environments, and they employ a high corrosion resistance bimetal mechanism.

Features

  • Surface mount, smallest body size
  • Over-temperature and over-current protection
  • Controls abnormal, excessive current virtually instantaneously, up to rated limits
  • Wide range of temperature options
  • High corrosion resistance
  • Two height options: low-profile & high-force withstand