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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I: Claims 11-21 in the reply filed on March 26, 2026 is acknowledged. Claim 22 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 11-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katsuo et al. (JP 2016192261 A), and further in view of Sandahl et al. (US 20220407174 A1).
Claim 11: Katsuo teaches a method of operating a fire extinguishing device (104) in a power storage system (100) comprising a container (101) (i.e., housing) that forms the outer shell of the power storage system,
a rack (102) housing a power storage device (103)
comprising a plurality of secondary battery cells (131) (i.e., storage cell) containing a combustible substance [0022, see claim 1],
a gas extinguishing pipe (105) (i.e., metering device) extends from the gas fire-extinguishing system (104) to the interior of the container (101), and a nozzle is provided on the portion of the pipe (105) arranged inside the container [0023] (Fig. 1);
wherein in the event of an internal short circuit in the secondary battery or when the battery is continuously charged by mistake due to malfunction of the battery and a temperature reading and voltage reading exceeding the upper limit values are recorded by the control unit [0027, 0028], the fire extinguishing device (104) releases the fire-extinguishing gas containing an inert gas through the extinguishing pipe (105) into the container (101) [0011, 0029] (i.e., inert gas is metered into the housing) so that an oxygen partial pressure of an atmosphere of the secondary battery (i.e., threshold value) becomes equal to or less than a limit oxygen concentration of a combustible gas generated from the combustible substance [0013, 0030 see claim 8].
Katsuo does not teach an oxygen sensor inside the housing. However, Sandahl teaches a fire suppression system for a housing containing a plurality of battery cells (19) wherein an oxygen sensor (24a) is used to track changes in oxygen concentration or oxygen levels in the battery racks (16) over time to determine if any of the battery cells are emitting off-gas emitted by the battery cells [0037-0038] (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filling the instant invention to have included an oxygen sensor in Katsuo’s power storage system housing to directly measure the oxygen concentration inside the housing because Sandahl teaches the sensor can be used to track the concentration of oxygen over time and this information can also be used to determine if the batteries are emitting any gases.
Claim 12: Katsuo teaches a fire extinguishing experiment of a secondary battery and discloses a diagram (Fig. 3) illustrating two examples of fire extinguishing experiment results of a lithium-ion secondary battery among secondary batteries. The test was performed using the secondary batteries (131) (battery A and battery B) containing different combustible substances [0030]. From the experimental results, Katsuo teaches that depending on the type of secondary battery (131), if the oxygen partial pressure is 15% or less, the combustion of the secondary battery (131) occurs and does not continue (i.e., the limiting oxygen concentration) [0030].
Claims 13-15: Katsuo teaches the oxygen partial pressure of an atmosphere of the secondary battery (i.e., threshold value) is equal to or less than a limit oxygen concentration (i.e., 1.0 times) of a combustible gas.
Claim 16: Katsuo teaches a monitoring device (210) for measuring the temperature and voltage of the secondary battery wherein a controller for releasing the fire extinguisher is triggered when the temperature and voltage measured by the monitoring device exceeds the threshold values [0006,0025 0059] (Fig. 2).
Claim 17: Katsuo teaches a fire-extinguishing gas pipe (105) (i.e., pipeline) expending from the gas fire-extinguishing device (104) to the inside of container (101) (i.e., housing) (Fig. 1) wherein the fire extinguishing gas is discharged into the inside of the container via a nozzle provided on a portion of the fire-extinguishing pipe (105) disposed on the inside of the container (101) [0023].
Claim 18: As described above, Katsuo teaches a pipeline metering inert gas into the housing. Katsuo does not teach the pipeline is flexible. However, Sandahl teaches the fire suppressant gas is metered from the fire suppressant tank (812) to the desired area through a pipe (840), which can either be a conduit or a hose (i.e., a flexible pipe), and is fluidly coupled to a plurality of nozzles [0098, 0099] (Fig. 5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filling the instant invention to have made Katsuo’s pipeline a flexible pipeline because Sandahl teaches such is an operable pipeline.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katsuo et al. (JP 2016192261 A) and Sandahl et al. (US 20220407174 A1), and further in view of Lian et al. (US 20190168038 A1).
Claim 19: As described above, Katsuo teaches a pipeline metering inert gas into the housing. Katsuo does not teach a weakening zone which creates a metering opening of the pipeline when a threshold temperature is reached within the housing. However, Lian teaches an apparatus for automatically generating firefighting foam at elevated temperatures wherein the apparatus comprises a pressure vessel (340), a feedthrough tube (330) and an obturated aspirating nozzle (310) having an interior throat surface that is attached to the pressure vessel and an obturator (320) (i.e., weakening zone) made of a temperature depended breakdown material designed to rupture at a threshold temperature, wherein the obturator covers the nozzle such that the firefighting contents stored in the pressure vessel are released through the feedthrough tube and the nozzle when the temperature reaches the threshold temperature (i.e., when the battery fails) [0006, 0060-0061] (Fig. 3A, 3B).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filling the instant invention to have included an obturator designed to rupture at a threshold temperature in Katsuo’s pipe nozzle because Lian teaches such is an effective way of operating the pipe nozzle.
Claim 20: As described above, Katsuo teaches a storage container from which the inert gas is metered into the housing upon establishing the malfunction of the at least one storage cell and/or the electrical stored energy source. Katsuo does not teach the inert gas is created by reacting a precursor. However, Lian teaches that when the failure of the battery results in a temperature increase exceeding the threshold temperature, cartridges (530A and 530B) (i.e., storage container) storing pressurized inert gas and foaming agent release the inert gas and the forming agent into water in a bottom compartment such that the foam fills the compartment housing the storage cells, travel case (500) [0089] is formed when the foaming agent (i.e., precursor) reacts with the water. Lian teaches that the foaming agent comprises additives such as carbonates which generate additional inert gas, carbon dioxide [0085, 0088], that further expands the ratio of the foam by aerating the foam [0088].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Katsuo’s fire extinguishing apparatus by including a cartridge comprising a compressed inert gas and a foaming agent comprising additives that can generate additional inert gas to expand the fire extinguishing capabilities of the apparatus.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katsuo et al. (JP 2016192261 A) and Sandahl et al. (US 20220407174 A1), and further in view of Scharner et al. (DE 102018209877 A1) and Scharner et al. (DE 102017212223 A1).
Claim 21: As described above, Katsuo teaches a method of operating a fire extinguishing device (104) in a power storage system (100) comprising a container (101) (i.e., housing) housing a plurality of cells. Katsuo does not teach two chambers separated by a gas impermeable wall. However, Scharner ‘877 teaches an electrochemical energy storage device (1) comprising a housing (2) (i.e., first chamber) containing at least one energy storage cell (3); wherein the housing (2) is connected to a chamber (4) (i.e., second chamber) via an airtight common wall section (8) having a pressure equalization device (5) arranged on the wall [0020-0021] (fig. 1); wherein the pressure equalization device (5) is a disc or membrane designed to burst or crack to expose an opening (i.e., feedthrough) when a threshold pressure is exceeded so that gas can flow from the housing (2) into the chamber (4) which can prevent an explosion as well as compensate for over pressurization in housing (2) in the event of malfunction of energy storage cell (3) [0022-0023]. Scharner ‘877 further teaches a first sensor is provided in the chamber (4) to continuously monitor the concentration of a gas or gas mixture flowing from the housing (2) [0024]. Scharner ‘877, does not explicitly teach oxygen as the gas being monitored. However, as described above, Sandahl teaches an oxygen sensor configured to track changes in oxygen concentration in the battery housing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filling the instant invention to have modified Katsuo’s energy storage system by including a pressure equalization chamber connected to the housing by a gas-impermeable wall with a pressure equalization device to prevent over pressurization in the housing in the event of a battery cell malfunction.
Katsuo does not teach a storage cell housing with a safety mechanism. However, Scharner ‘223 teaches a battery comprising a plurality of energy storage cells (8),
wherein each cell has a cell housing (14) and the cell housing has an opening on a first side of the housing, which is closed by a thermally conductive bursting membrane (28) (i.e., safety mechanism) [0007],
wherein each cell is arranged on a cooling plate such that the opening of the cell housing aligns with the feedthrough of the cooling plate (i.e., partition plate) that opens into a cell degassing chamber (16) (i.e., second chamber) [0007, 0016],
wherein in the event of a thermal event (i.e., malfunction), gas produced in the storage cell and the increase in pressure triggers the rupture membrane to burst, allowing the gas to be expelled through the cooling plate into the degassing chamber (16) [0010, 0045] (Figs. 1 and 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filling the instant invention to have provided a rupture membrane on Katsuo’s storage cells and aligned them with the feedthrough on the wall between housing and the pressure equalizing chamber, because Scharner ‘223 teaches such is an effective degassing configuration.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lee et al. (KR 101998279B1) teaches an energy storage system (110) comprising a sensor that measures the oxygen concentration inside the energy storage system and transmits the value to the control unit so that the compressed gas valve (142) can be opened to inject inert gas to lower the oxygen concentration if the oxygen concentration rises above a specific value [0055].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINAH RUSERE whose telephone number is (571)272-9954. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00 EST.
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/L.N.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1712
/MICHAEL B CLEVELAND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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