Patent ID: 7164341

Claim:
A surface-mountable PTC thermistor element comprising: a thermistor element body including a top surface and a bottom surface; electrodes disposed on the top surface and the bottom surface of the thermistor element body; lower and upper terminals arranged such that each of the electrodes is connected with a respective one of the lower and upper terminals, and each of the lower and upper terminals is extended downward; wherein said lower terminal includes a junction portion, a short vertical-leg portion connected to and bent vertically in a downward direction from the junction portion such that the short vertical-leg portion extends perpendicular to the surface of the thermistor element body and to the junction portion, and a lower-end portion which extends entirely in a plane substantially parallel to the junction portion and substantially perpendicular to the short vertical-leg portion; said short vertical-leg portion is directly connected and extends directly between the junction portion and the lower-end portion; the junction portion of the lower terminal is mechanically attached to one of the electrodes; the upper and lower terminals contact only the electrodes on the top and bottom surfaces of the thermistor element body and a mounting surface when the surface-mountable PTC thermistor element is mounted on the mounting surface; the lower-end portion of the lower terminal is disposed in contact with the mounting surface when the surface-mountable PTC thermistor element is mounted on the mounting surface; and said vertical-leg portion of the lower terminal is located closer to the center of the thermistor element body than to a periphery of the thermistor element body so as to be spaced inwardly from the periphery of the thermistor element body.