A top cap for a secondary battery includes a circumferential area which defines an outer circumferential surface of the top cap, a central area which defines a central portion of the top cap, a connection area which connects the circumferential area to the central area, and a protrusion area which protrudes downward from the circumferential area, the central area, or the connection area. The top cap is assembled with a battery case, an electrode assembly positioned therein, and a through-hole formation member to form a secondary battery, in which at least a portion of the protrusion area of the top cap is positioned within a through-hole of the through-hole formation member.

An all-solid-state battery including a laminated body with a cathode current collecting layer, cathode active material layer, solid electrolyte layer, anode active material layer, and anode current collecting layer in this order, and a restraining member that applies a restraining pressure to the laminated body in a laminated direction; containing a conductive material, an insulating inorganic substance, and a polymer, is in at least one of a position between the cathode active material layer and the cathode current collecting layer, and a position between the anode active material layer and the anode current collecting layer; the content of the insulating inorganic substance in the PTC layer is 10 volume % or more and 40 volume % or less; and a proportion of a particle size D.sub.90 of the insulating inorganic substance, D.sub.90, to a thickness of the PTC layer, T.sub.PTC, regarded as D.sub.90/T.sub.PTC is 0.6 or more and 1.0 or less.

An electrode assembly having an improved connection structure between electrode tabs includes: an electrode laminate including a plurality of unit cells, each unit cell of the plurality of unit cells formed of a positive electrode having an electrode tab extending from an end thereof, a negative electrode having an electrode tab extending from an end thereof, and a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and a conductive adhesion portion connecting the electrode tabs of the positive electrode to each other or connecting the electrode tabs of the negative electrode to each other, wherein the conductive adhesion portion includes a safety element material, and wherein the safety element material is applied in the form of a slurry.

A thermistor assembly includes an elastomeric body, a thermistor housed at least partially inside the elastomeric body, and a thermistor tip that protrudes outside of the elastomeric body. The thermistor assembly may be used within a battery assembly of an electrified vehicle.

Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a battery pack including a battery cell having an electrode assembly received in a battery case, made of a laminate sheet including a resin layer and a metal layer, together with an electrolytic solution. An upper case, a PCB, and a battery cell are simultaneously coupled to each other through a hot-melt process without using additional members, such as double-sided adhesive tape and a PCM case. In particular, a label can be removed from an embedded type battery pack. Consequently, it is possible to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce manufacturing cost due to the reduction in the number of parts.

In case a similar component-to-be-loaded is erroneously loaded on a main body side apparatus, contact of terminals are avoided. To this end, a video camera (main body side apparatus) 1 has a main body side terminal 30, and a battery pack (component-to-be-loaded) 100 has a battery side terminal (component-to-be-loaded side terminal) 120. In the vicinity of the battery side terminal of the component-to-be-loaded, a discriminating tab 111 is provided, and a blocking portion 19 is provided in the vicinity of the main body side terminal of the video camera (main body side apparatus) for determining whether or not its loading is permitted based on the combination of concave and convex engagement with respect to the above-mentioned discriminating tab, and when the loading is not permitted due to the interference between the blocking portion and the above-mentioned discriminating tab, an electric connection between the main body side terminal and the battery side terminal (component-to-be-loaded side terminal) is not to be established.

A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly including a first electrode, a second electrode, and a separator between the first electrode and the second electrode, a cap assembly electrically connected to the first electrode, a case accommodating the electrode assembly therein, the case having an opening in which the cap assembly is inserted, a first insulator between the cap assembly and the case, and a second insulator between the first insulator and the cap assembly. In the secondary battery, the second insulator has a higher melting point than the first insulator, thereby improving durability.

An externally-attached PTC element attachable to one electrode terminal of a tubular battery with electrode terminals on both end surfaces, the externally-attached PTC element including: a bottom plate made of a metal plate; a plate-shaped PTC element; and a top panel made of a metal plate, the plate-shaped PTC element and the top panel being stacked in that order above the bottom plate disposed below, the PTC element being disposed in an opposed area between the top panel and the bottom plate, the top panel projecting and extending in one direction with respect to a planar area of the bottom plate, the top panel having a distal end formed into a lead terminal shape mountable to a circuit board.

Disclosed herein are a secondary battery configured to be prevented from catching fire or exploding in a critical situation such as overcharging and a method of preventing the secondary battery from catching fire or exploding. Since a separator including a low melting point material is used, a short circuit in the battery occurs when the battery is abnormally heated, and the resistance of an electrode is increased when the temperature of the battery increases to a predetermined temperature or higher. As a result, a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) material is operated at a stable State of Charge (SoC). Consequently, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a thermal runaway phenomenon of the battery.

A PTC heating element and an electric heating device containing such a PTC heating element are disclosed. The PTC heating element comprises two insulating layers with a metallic coating provided on one side and a PTC element arranged therebetween which is provided on oppositely disposed main side surfaces with a respective metallization which is electrically conductively connected to the coating of one of the insulating layers. The metallization provided on one of the main side surfaces is assigned only to one potential for energizing the PTC element. The metallization provided on the other main side surface is assigned to only the other potential for energizing the PTC element. The metallization of the one main side surface of the PTC element and the metallization of the other main side surface of the PTC element are formed in such a way that the current path (P) through the PTC element is extended relative to the thickness (D) of the PTC element.