A thermistor material and a method for preparing a thermistor material are provided. The thermistor material is prepared by mixing and heating a mixture containing BaTiO.sub.3, B.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, Li.sub.2O, P.sub.2O.sub.5, Cs.sub.2O, Nd.sub.2O.sub.3, Al.sub.2O.sub.3 and TiO.sub.2.

The invention is to provide a chip resistor suitable for lowering an initial resistance value. A chip resistor 1 according to the present invention is provided with: an insulating substrate 2; a pair of front electrodes 3 which are provided on a front surface of the insulating substrate 2 so as to face each other with a predetermined interval therebetween; a resistive element 4 which is provided so as to bridge the front electrodes 3; a pair of auxiliary electrodes 5 which are provided so as to cover the front electrodes 3 and overlap end portions of the resistive element 4; and the like. The chip resistor 1 is configured such that: the front electrodes 3 are formed of a material which contains 1 to 5 wt % Pd and the balance Ag; and the auxiliary electrodes 5 are formed of a material which contains 15 to 30 wt % Pd and a metal material (e.g. Au) lower in resistivity than Pd and the balance Ag.

A multilayer ceramic electronic component has a dimension in a longitudinal direction of no less than about 0.12 mm and no more than about 0.27 mm, a dimension in a width direction of no less than about 0.06 mm and no more than about 0.14 mm, and a dimension in a lamination direction of no less than about 0.06 mm and no more than about 0.14 mm, for example. Each of a first outer electrode and a second outer electrode includes an underlying electrode layer disposed on a surface of a multilayer body, a nickel-plated layer covering the underlying electrode layer, and a tin-plated layer covering the nickel-plated layer. The nickel-plated layer in each of the first outer electrode and second outer electrode has surface roughness of no less than about 3 μm and no more than about 6 μm, for example.

In order to further improve stress tolerance, a thermistor device includes a first base material member made of resin, a thermistor element including a thermistor thin film provided on a metal base material and first and second external electrodes provided on the thermistor thin film, and a first lead electrode and a second lead electrode provided on a principal surface of the first base material member, and connected to the first external electrode and the second external electrode. Each of the metal base material and the thermistor thin film undergoes a deflection between the first external electrode and the second external electrode.

In a manufacturing method for a thermistor element (3) including: a thermistor portion (49) which is a sintered body formed from a thermistor material; and a pair of electrode wires (25) which are embedded in the thermistor portion (49) and at least one end portion of each of the electrode wires projects at an outer side of the thermistor portion (49), the resistance value of the thermistor element (3) is adjusted by performing a removal processing of removing a part of the thermistor portion (49).

Systems and methods for monitoring the temperature of a liquid are disclosed herein. Systems can include a thermistor in contact with a liquid coolant and circuitry configured to measure a temperature of the thermistor by applying a nominal current through the thermistor and detecting a voltage drop across the thermistor. The circuitry may be further configured to apply a current pulse greater than the nominal current through the thermistor, detect a transient thermistor response to the current pulse, and compare the detected transient thermistor response to an expected transient response. The circuitry may be capable of determining if the thermistor is immersed in a fluid or at least partially located within a fluid-free region based on comparing the detected transient thermistor response to the expected transient response.

A sintered electroconductive oxide having a perovskite oxide type crystal structure represented by a compositional formula: M1.sub.aM2.sub.bMn.sub.cAl.sub.dCr.sub.eO.sub.f wherein M1 represents at least one element selected from group 3 elements; and M2 represents at least one element selected from among Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba, wherein element M1 predominantly includes at least one element selected from Nd, Pr and Sm, and a, b, c, d, e and f satisfy the following relationships: 0.6005≦a<1.000, 0<b≦0.400, 0≦c<0.150, 0.400≦d<0.950, 0.050<e≦0.600, 0.50<e/(c+e)≦1.00, and 2.80≦f≦3.30. Also disclosed is a thermistor element including a thermistor portion which is formed of the sintered electroconductive oxide as well as a temperature sensor employing the thermistor element.

A commutating circuit breaker that works by progressively inserting increasing resistance into a circuit. This is done via physical motion of a shuttle that is linked into the circuit by at least one set of sliding electrical contacts on the shuttle (“shuttle electrodes”) that connect the power through the moving shuttle to a sequence of different resistive paths with increasing resistance; the motion of the shuttle can be either linear or rotary. A feature of the commutating circuit breaker is that at no point are the shuttle electrodes separated from the matching stationary stator electrodes so as to generate a powerful arc, which minimizes damage to the electrodes. Instead, the current is commutated from one resistive path to the next with small enough changes in resistance at each step that arcing can be suppressed. The variable resistance can either be within the moving shuttle, or the shuttle can comprise a commutating shuttle that moves the current over a series of stationary resistors. In either case, a “soft” opening of the circuit can be accomplished, with low switching transients, provided that the maximum step change of resistance is limited until the current is nearly extinguished. Commutating circuit breakers work equally well for DC or AC power.

A method for manufacturing a sheet of positive temperature coefficient (PTC) material includes providing a PTC material, grinding the PTC material into a powder, and inserting the ground PTC material into a press. The ground PTC material is compressed within the press until the PTC material defines a planar shape. The PTC material is then removed from the press to thereby provide a PTC sheet.

A measuring resistor for high-current measurements is provided, which has a defined resistance value. The measuring resistor has a resistive layer having a sheet resistivity. The resistance value of the measuring resistor is defined by the resistive layer and is less than the sheet resistivity of the resistive layer.