Bourns, Inc. has introduced a breakthrough miniature resettable thermal cutoff (TCO) device series delivering the highest current capacity for comparable devices, matching the protection needs of today’s denser, higher capacity Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) battery cells. The new Model AA Series is capable of carrying 14 A at 60°C, offering as much as 37 percent more current capacity compared to Bourns’ previously available miniature resettable TCOs. The new protection devices also deliver low impedance/resistance (2 mΩ max.), which is 60 percent lower than earlier generation TCOs from Bourns. Saving costs and valuable design space, higher current Li-ion battery designs that previously needed two miniature resettable TCOs now only need a single AA series device to meet protection requirements due to the innovative design and high precision metal press process.
Advances in technology have enabled larger, denser Li-ion battery cells and made lower power consumption components possible. “Beyond laptops, more and more of today’s electronics such as e-bikes, power tools and even consumer robots and energy grid storage are seeing the benefits of a reduced battery pack cell count that ultimately cuts application costs. Working closely with our customers, we realized current miniature resettable TCO solutions were incapable of adequately or efficiently protecting these higher capacity Li-Ion batteries,” said Yoichi Yoshimura, President of Bourns KK. “At Bourns, we’ve engineered the Model AA Series to provide the necessary higher current overtemperature protection so these batteries can be made not only safer and more reliable, but also smaller and more cost-effective.”
