Littelfuse introduces surface-mount PPTC devices that prevent charging cables from overheating

     Littelfuse introduces the PolySwitch LoRho series SMD PPTC, which helps protect charging cables and connectors from heat caused by internal failures of cable connectors or ports. As the connector size gets smaller, the pin spacing shrinks, increasing the potential for dirt, dust, water and other debris to accumulate between the pins and cause electrical failure. Such failures can generate a lot of heat, damage the charging cable and the device being charged, and cause personal injury to the user.

     However, if the connector's Vbus line is installed with the LoRho series PPTC, the device will sense the rise in temperature and stop the charging process until the impurities are removed. After troubleshooting, the device will reset automatically.

     Typical applications of the LoRho series SMD PPTC include protective charging cables and connectors with small pin spacing (pin-to-pin size), such as microUSB and USB-C. This is especially important for fast charging applications with higher voltages and currents, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, televisions and set-top boxes, cameras and video game consoles.

     "The LoRho series SMD PPTC has an advantage over devices that only have overcurrent protection because not all failures are caused by rising current. Both overcurrent and overheat protection is essential for the safety of cable users." Vincent Wu, global Product Manager at Littelfuse. "Until now, no device has been able to combine this low resistance, small size, voltage level, overcurrent and overheat protection, and self-recovery capabilities."