Battery knowledge · Safety and abuse
Positive temperature coefficient device
A polymer element in series with a cell whose resistance jumps when it heats, choking an external short-circuit current. It resets as it cools, unlike a fuse, but adds resistance and does not help against internal faults.
- Abbreviation
- PTC
Example
Safety and abuse: an example situation
A low normal-load temperature does not demonstrate thermal-runaway containment.
Read Positive temperature coefficient device alongside Current interrupt device in this context. A pressure-activated switch in the cap of a cylindrical cell. When internal pressure rises, usually from overcharge, a disc flips and permanently breaks the current path, removing the cell from the circuit before it vents.
Use in Lemonergy
Connect mechanisms with appropriate test evidence.
This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.
References & further reading
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Thermal runaway mechanism of lithium ion battery for electric vehicles: A review
Xuning Feng et al. · Energy Storage Materials · 2018
Topic background · Electrical, mechanical and thermal abuse; thermal-runaway mechanisms and propagation.