DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
This is a final office action in response to Applicant’s remarks and amendments filed on 07/03/2025. Claim 1 is currently amended. Claim 3 is canceled. Claim 9 is new. Claims 1-2, 4-5, and 7-9 are presented for examination.
The 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejections in the previous office action are maintained.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/03/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues (p. 7 ¶3) that Jiang discloses only a sealing of the chamber 42s for the arrangement of the stopper (sealing plug 11 and sealing plate 13) on case 10. However, Jiang does not disclose a sealing of the chamber for welding within the chamber or, for that matter, does not disclose any other use of the internal cavity space 42s. Accordingly, a combination of Jiang with Iwasaki does not teach one of ordinary skill in the art how to use the internal volume of the smaller sealed container for welding therein under negative pressure conditions.
Examiner notes that the space 42s is disclosed in Iwasaki (Figs. 11A-11D, [0074]) rather than Jiang. As discussed below, it would be obvious to perform the welding in the small volume 42s of Iwasaki because the space already includes a vacuum pump and because Jiang teaches the benefits of performing laser welding in a small, local vacuum (p. 12-13).
Moreover, Applicant points out that amended independent claim 1 recites that "after closing the opening in a liquid-tight manner, arranging a chamber on the housing so that the opening and the closing element are arranged inside the chamber and so that at least one part of the housing is arranged outside the chamber." While Jiang may disclose laser welding under a local vacuum, Jiang does not show that the chamber encloses only the opening and the closing element within the chamber while leaving at least one part of the housing outside the chamber. Thus, Jiang does not teach "after closing the opening in a liquid-tight manner, arranging a chamber on the housing so that the opening and the closing element are arranged inside the chamber and so that at least one part of the housing is arranged outside the chamber."
Examiner respectfully disagrees. As discussed in the rejection of claim 1 below, Iwasaki discloses that “after closing the opening in a liquid-tight manner,” the housing is sealed by laser welding but does not disclose particular details of the welding process. Jiang describes (p. 12 bridging p. 13) laser welding using a chamber (vacuum cap) over the welding area. The chamber provides a local vacuum above the welding area and therefore at least one part of the object to be welded is arranged outside the chamber. The cited paragraph of Jiang refers to Figure 13, which shows this configuration. It would be obvious to use the space 42s as a vacuum cap to perform the laser welding of Iwasaki because it is already configured with a vacuum pump and because Jiang teaches that local vacuum welding reduces manufacturing costs, increases process stability, reduces the risk of contamination, and yields higher-quality weld seams.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasaki (JP-2016051597-A; the rejections below refer to the machine translation mailed 09/06/2024) in view of Jiang (Laser Welding under Vacuum: A Review, 2017; cited 04/09/2025).
Regarding claim 1, Iwasaki discloses a method for producing a battery cell (electricity storage device 100, Fig. 2, [0061]), comprising:
providing a housing (case 10, Fig. 2, [0031]) having a first volume (space inside of case 10, Fig. 2), and, in the first volume (space inside of case 10 in Fig. 2), a multiplicity of electrodes (positive 2 and negative 3, Fig. 2, [0063]) stacked one on top of another and an electrolyte ([0061]), wherein the electrolyte is introduced into the first volume (space inside of case 10 in Fig. 2) via an unsealed opening (liquid injection hole 20, Figs. 3A-3C, [0062]);
degassing the first volume (space inside of case 10 in Fig. 2) via the opening (20) (vacuum pump 45B is operated to reduce the pressure in space 42s and inside of the case 10, Fig. 11B, [0078]) and closing the opening (20) with a closing element (sealing plug 11, Figs. 6A and 11B, [0054]), wherein the closing element (11) and the opening (20) form a non-material connection (the inner circumferential surface 20c of the housing 10 and a part of the first side surface portion 34a of the closing element 11 abut against each other over the entire circumference to ensure sealing, Fig. 6A, [0054]; this connection is non-material because the opening and the closing element are not held together by atomic or molecular forces), and wherein the closing element (11) comprises a sealing material (holding member 31, FIG. 6A, [0030]) by which the opening (20) is closed in a liquid-tight manner (holding member 31 of sealing plug 11 suppresses permeation of the liquid electrolyte [0030]); and
providing a laser welding device and materially connecting the closing element (11) to the housing (12) using a laser beam (cell is moved to a welding device [0082]; laser welding [0070]), so that the opening (20) is sealed gas-tight by the material connection thus created (welding ensures hermeticity, [0036]).
Iwasaki is silent as to the details of the welding device and thus does not disclose wherein the method further comprises, after step b) and before step e), the steps of:
c) after closing the opening in a liquid tight manner, arranging a chamber on the housing so that the opening and the closing element are arranged inside the chamber and so that at least one part of the housing is arranged outside the chamber; and
d) creating a negative pressure in the chamber.
Jiang teaches that performing laser welding under vacuum or reduced pressure increases process stability, reduces the risk of contamination, yields higher-quality weld seams, and has low operating costs (sec. 6 “Prospects of Laser Welding under Vacuum” ¶1, p. 12). Jiang further teaches that laser welding under a local vacuum has a more practical application value because a larger vacuum chamber means higher cost and associated pumping time (p. 12 bridging p. 13). It therefore would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have used the chamber in space 42s of Iwasaki, which is already equipped with a vacuum pump, to laser weld the closing element to the housing under negative (vacuum) pressure as taught by Jiang with a reasonable expectation of successfully sealing the battery and reduce process complications.
Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches wherein the chamber has a bearing surface for contacting the housing (10) (Jiang: O-ring 43, Figs. 11A-11C, [0076]), and wherein the bearing surface (43) is designed to seal the chamber gas-tight from an environment (Jiang: when O-ring 43 is in contact with housing, the space 42s and housing 10 are either filled with gas or reduced in pressure, indicating that they are isolated from the external environment [0076]).
Regarding claim 2, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the invention as discussed in claim 1. Jiang further teaches that laser radiation is a matter of light, and therefore the laser beam for laser welding is coupled into the vacuum chamber through glass (p. 4 ll. 7-10). Therefore, in Iwasaki in view of Jiang, the laser beam is coupled into the chamber via a transparent wall of the chamber.
Regarding claim 4, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the invention as discussed in claim 1, wherein the chamber has a second volume (Iwasaki: space 42s, Figs. 11A-11D, [0074]) which is smaller than the first volume (the first volume corresponds approximately to the volume of exterior can 12, which is depicted partially in Figs. 11A-11D of Iwasaki).
Regarding claim 5, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the invention as discussed in claim 4. Iwasaki does not explicitly disclose that the second volume is at most 5 percent of the first volume. However, Figs. 11A-11D of Iwasaki suggest that the second volume (space 42s) is significantly smaller than the first volume (the first volume corresponds approximately to the volume of exterior can 12, which is depicted partially in Figs. 11A-11D). It is therefore the Office’s position that the second volume is at most 5 percent of the first volume.
Alternatively, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have minimized the second volume in order to minimize the time and costs associated with operating the vacuum pump (45B, Fig. 11A, [0076]) that controls the pressure in the chamber (space 42s, Fig. 11A, [0076]), including to a size such that “the second volume is at most 5 percent of the first volume.”
Regarding claim 7, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the invention as discussed in claim 1. Iwasaki further teaches wherein the closing element is connected to the housing in a form-fitting manner (the inner circumferential surface 20c of the housing and a part of the first side surface portion 34a of the closing element abut against each other over the entire circumference to ensure sealing, Fig. 6A, [0054]).
Regarding claim 8, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the invention as discussed in claim 1, wherein the negative pressure in the chamber is 0 mbar (vacuum, see discussion of Jiang in claim 1), which reads on the claimed range of “less than 30 mbar.”
Regarding claim 9, Iwasaki in view of Jiang teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising removing the chamber from the housing after the opening has been sealed gas-tight by the material connection of the closing element to the housing (Iwasaki: battery cell is moved to a testing device after being sealed by welding, [0082]-[0083]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.C.D./Examiner, Art Unit 1723 /TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723