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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 7-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/22/2025. Applicant does argue that claim 14 depends upon claim 1 and thus should be included in the examination, however, claim 14 states a computer readable medium comprising a computer program and thus is a different inventive concept that the selected method for manufacturing Z-folded cell stacks and will not be examined in the office action due to the restriction requirement.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 04/03/2023 and 04/11/2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "moving first and second gripper elements of the separating gripper". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim as the first and second gripper elements had not previously been introduced and thus lacks antecedent basis in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakakuki et al. (US 2014/0237808 A1) in view of Bohm (US 2019/0229360 A1) and Hong et al. (US 2020/0153016 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nakakuki discloses a method for manufacturing Z-folded cell stacks, the method comprising:
a) Providing first and second cell components and providing a separator web (Figure 1; [0034-0035] manufacturing method having a separator 6 zigzagged between the positive plate 3 and the negative plate 4 and are alternately stacked),
b) alternately stacking the first and second cell components while interposing said separator web in a Z-shape or meandering manner such that said separator web is folded around a previously placed cell component on a first side and then around a subsequently placed cell component on a second side opposite the first side to thus obtain a cell stack (Figure 1; [0034-0035] manufacturing method having a separator 6 zigzagged between the positive plate 3 and the negative plate 4 and are alternately stacked);
d) providing a length portion of the separator web in a separator buffer storage (Figures 1a-1j; [0058-0060] tail 6’ lags behind the stacked electrode a portion and is read as the length of the separator in a separator buffer storage);
e) severing the separator web at a trailing end in a conveying direction of the length portion (Figures 1a-1j; [0058-0060] tail 6’ lags behind the stacked electrode a portion wherein the stacked electrode table undergoes a transfer at a position for the post stacking step by the intermediary of a table transfer mechanism, the horizontal axis rotator 30; the stacked body is supported by a transfer clamp); and
f) wrapping the length portion of the separator web provided in step d) around the cell stack obtained in step b) (Figures 1a-1j; [0058-0060] tail 6’ lags behind the stacked electrode a portion wherein the stacked electrode table undergoes a transfer at a position for the post stacking step by the intermediary of a table transfer mechanism, the horizontal axis rotator 30; the stacked body is supported by a transfer clamp; the separator tail 6’ is cut at a position between a station for post stacking step and a station for stacking step by use of a cutter 13; the rotary chuck mechanism 42 wraps the separator around the stacked body), with the separation point wraps around the cell stack to provide a wrapped cell stack ([0060] separator tail 6’ wraps around the outer circumference of the stacked body by the intermediary of the rotary chuck mechanism 42 rotating by use of a motor);
wherein step f) is performed at least partially in a parallel on a previously obtained cell stack while step b) is performed to obtain a next cell stack (Figures 1a-1l [0060] another table is present at the station for the stacking step at the time of the post stacking step and is executed in parallel; [0060-0069] steps are described as S1-S3 and are executed in parallel with each other).
Nakakuki is silent with respect to a gripper that holds the separator tail after being cut to wrap around the battery cell.
Bohm discloses a method for producing an electrode stack and stacking system and is analogous with the instant invention as being within the same field of endeavor of method of manufacturing folded electrode stacks. Bohm discloses wherein the separator strip 2 is gripped by gripper elements 12 that move and fold the separator throughout the manufacturing process and discloses wherein the gripper elements are disengaged from the separator strip after the formation of the electrode stack ([0037]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious in view of a skilled artisan to incorporate the gripper element taught by Bohm such that the separator and separator tail after the separator is cut can be gripped by the gripper element and folded around the electrode stack and secured to the electrode stack before being disengaged from the separator as taught by Bohm. The resulting structure would have the gripper element gripping the separator and separator tail after cutting then the rotary chuck mechanism rotates and allows for the separator to wrap around the battery cell with proper tension when wrapping the cell stack with the separator. See In re Larson, 340 F.2d 965, 968, 144 USPQ 347, 349 (CCPA 1965) (see MPEP § 2144.04).
Nakakuki is silent with respect to the separating gripper severing the separator web and holding a separation point in a region of the trailing end with the cutting device.
Hong discloses a cutting apparatus and method of manufacturing a cell and is analogous with the instant invention as being related to method of manufacturing of cells. Hong discloses wherein the process of forming a membrane electrode assembly sheet contains a cutting apparatus and gripper modules that can cut and grip the membrane electrode assembly sheet (Figure 5-7; [0042-00447; [0015]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious in view of a skilled artisan to further modify Nakakuki such that the cutting element of Nakakuki and the separator gripper elements of Bohm can be formed together and integral with one another as taught by Hong such that the separator gripper can grip the separator at a specific region and cut the separator to form the separator tail at a region near the separator tail. A skilled artisan would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to have the separator tail be gripped by the gripper after cutting such that the separator tail can uniformly be wrapped around the electrode stack after cutting. The use of a one-piece, integrated construction instead of the structure disclosed or taught in the prior art would have been within the ambit of a person of ordinary skill in the art. Thus all the claim limitations of claim 1 are rendered obvious through the combination.
Regarding claim 2, modified Nakakuki discloses all the claim limitations of claim 1. Modified Nakakuki discloses moving the gripper element of the separating gripper to engage the separator web in between and moving a cutting edge of the separating gripper relative to the gripper element to sever the separator web (see modification of claim 1, the cutter 60 is used to cut the separator when the stacked electrode and separator move through the system by the transfer clamp 60. Through the modification of claim 1, a separator gripper element 12 and cutter element are integrally formed to cut and grip the separator and separator tail once cutting occurs).
Modified Nakakuki discloses a single gripper element and not a first and second gripper element, however, it would have been obvious in view of a skilled artisan to duplicate the gripper element to have multiple gripper elements that is used to grip and sever the separator. The mere duplication of parts, without any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Harza, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960) (see MPEP § 2144.04). Thus all the claim limitations of claim 2 are rendered obvious through the modification.
Regarding claim 3, modified Nakakuki discloses all the claim limitations of claim 1. Modified Nakakuki discloses wherein step f) comprises tensioning the separator web (Bohm [0034] as soon as the separator films are gripped with the gripper elements, the gripper elements move away from each other so that they exert a tensile stress on the separator film to form a tensioning of the separator). Through the modification of claim 1, the gripper elements of Bohm used within the method of Nakakuki would provide tensioning of the separator film to aid in the folding and wrapping of the separator.
Regarding claim 4, modified Nakakuki discloses all the claim limitations of claim 1. Modified Nakakuki further discloses transferring the cell stack from a stacking device to a wrapping device; wherein in step c) the cell stack is moved through between open gripper elements of the separating gripper (Nakakuki Fig. 1(i)-1(j); [0060] after the stacking step the electrode is moved by the table 5 through the open gripper elements to a post stacking work position and is cut between the post stacking step and the stacking step and then is lifted by the lift mechanism the separator tail is wrapped around the stacked electrode).
Regarding claim 5, modified Nakakuki discloses all the claim limitations of claim 1. Nakakuki further discloses fixing the separation point of the separator web to thew wrapped cell stack (Figure 1(l); [0060] separator tail is fastened to the stacked body with the use of an adhesive tape).
Regarding claim 6, modified Nakakuki discloses all the claim limitations of claim 1. Nakakuki further discloses wherein the cell stack is mechanically clamped at least during all transfers and movements unit final fixation with a tape application after wrapping to maintain the positive of the first and second cell components within the cell stack ([0032-0040] and Figure 3; zigzag folding clamps 8-9 for the electrodes; [0060] transfer clamps 60 and rotary chuck mechanism 42; [0067] after coupling with the tape the stacked body is removed from the clamps).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Oh et al. (US 2012/0110836 A1)-discloses a secondary battery inner cell stack stacking apparatus and method for preparing a secondary battery inner cell stack of a Z-folding stacking format.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Adam J Francis whose telephone number is (571)272-1021. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 7 am-4 pm EST.
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/ADAM J FRANCIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1728