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 .
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.
Specification
The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6 and 8-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 212230479 U with references made to the machine translation) in view of Tetsuji (JP 2017162703 A with references made to the machine translation) and Campbell (US 6,117,588).
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a battery module comprising:
a battery cell stack comprising a plurality of battery cells(see annotated Liu Fig. 1 below); and
a first side plate and a second side plate each located at first and second side surfaces of the battery cell stack (see annotated Liu Fig. 1 below),
wherein the first side surface is opposite to the second side surface (see annotated Liu Fig. 1 below),
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Annotated Liu Fig. 1
Liu discloses a battery module that comprises side walls, but is silent regarding a structure that allow for lifting via a lifting hole. More specifically, Liu does not teach:
wherein at least one lifting hole is formed in each of the first side plate and the second side plate.
Tetsuji also discloses a battery module (see abstract).
Tetsuji teaches, like Liu, a stack of battery cells that are sandwiched by sidewalls (40). Tetsuji goes on to teach that the sidewalls can include a hole (40A) such that the battery has a convenient lifting point for a lifting member (50). Such a feature is beneficial as it allows for lifting of the often heavy battery (lines 42-56).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the holes and lifting mechanism of Tetsuji to the sidewalls of Liu in order to provide a mechanism for lifting the heavy battery.
As modified above, Liu teaches a configuration where the battery side walls have holes such that they can be lifted, but is silent regarding the shape of the lifting hole. More specifically, Liu does not disclose:
wherein the at least one lifting hole has a shape in which an insertion hole and a fastening hole overlap, and
wherein an opening area of the insertion hole is larger than an opening area of the fastening hole.
Campbell also discloses a battery (see abstract).
Campbell, like modified Liu, teaches holes (50/52) in the battery walls that allow for lifting of the battery (see abstract). Campbell goes on to teach that the configuration for this setup can be a hole with a shape which includes an insertion hole (50) and a fastening hole (52) overlapping each other (see Fig. 5a which illustrates such a configuration). Campbell also teaches that the insertion hole is larger than the fastening hole (again, see Fig. 5a which shows a larger hole 50 than hole 52). Campbell teaches such a configuration in order to provide a locking mechanism for the lifting component when it is inserted into the insertion and fastening hole (see col. 5 lines 33-46 which discloses preferably locking the lifting handle into the aperture).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the “keyhole” shaped aperture of Campbell to the configuration of modified Liu such that the lifting mechanism can be locked into place when lifting. Furthermore, such a modification is nothing more than a simple substitute of one known element for another to yield entirely predictable results.
Liu, as modified above, further discloses:
a first end plate (6) and a second end plate (6) located on a first side and a second side of the battery cell stack (as depicted in Fig. 1) , respectively, wherein the first side is opposite to the second side of the battery cell stack (see Fig. 1);
a first busbar frame (4) located between the battery cell stack and the first end plate (see Fig. 1 where the busbar frame 4 is between the end plate 6 and the cell stack 7); and
a second busbar frame (4) located between the battery cell stack and the second end plate (see opposite side of the first busbar frame 4),
wherein the at least one lifting hole is formed in the first side plate in a portion corresponding to the first busbar frame or formed in the second side plate in a portion corresponding to the second busbar frame (as modified by Tetsuji above, the holes are located in the upper corner of the side plate, see Fig. 12 of Tetsuji, which would correspond to the location of the busbar frame of Liu).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Liu, as modified by Campbell above, further discloses the fastening hole is located higher than the insertion hole, and the opening area of the insertion hole and the opening area of the fastening hole are connected to each other and are shaped as circles (as depicted in Fig 5a of Campbell where the insertion hole 52 is higher than the insertion hole 50 and the holes are connected to each other and are shaped as circles).
Regarding claim 5, Liu, as modified above, further discloses each of the first side plate and the second side plate comprises at least two lifting holes (see Fig. 1 of Tetsuji which discloses two lifting points for each side plate 40), and a first chamber portion is formed in a first busbar frame portion corresponding to a first of the at least two lifting holes and a second chamber portion is formed in a second busbar frame portion corresponding to a second of the at least two lifting holes (see annotated Tetsuji Fig. 12 below and lines 237-241 which illustrates a chamber/insertion space in the location of the lifting holes to allow for the lifting mechanism to be inserted which, as discussed above, would translate to a chamber/insertion space being placed in the busbar frame of modified Liu).
Regarding claim 6, Liu, as modified above, further discloses each of the first and second chamber portions comprises an open first side, and each of the at least two lifting hole is located at a corresponding open first side of the first and second chamber portions, respectively (as depicted in annotated Tetsuji Fig. 12 below).
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Annotated Tetsuji Fig. 12
Regarding claim 8, Liu, as modified by Tetsuji and Campbell above, further discloses a transfer member is inserted into the insertion hole, and the transfer member lifts the battery module through the fastening hole (see transfer member 50 of Tetsuji which is capable of lifting the battery module).
Regarding claim 9, Liu further discloses a plurality of connecting members (1, 2) that are located at each of the upper and lower sides of the battery cell stack (see Fig. 1), wherein the plurality of connecting members connect the first side plate and the second side plate (see Fig. 1 where the connecting members/plates 1, 2, connect the side plates 6).
Regarding claims 10 and 12, Liu further discloses the plurality of connecting members are band members that are connected to the first side plate and the second side plate (covers 1 and 2 are connected to both sides via bolts, as depicted in Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 11, Liu further discloses each of the band members comprises a band body disposed on the upper side or the lower side of the battery cell stack (covers 1 and 2 have a body on the upper and lower side of the battery cell stack), and band clips bent from the band body and fixed to each of the first side plate and the second side plate (see Fig. 5 which illustrates a bent clip at the side of connecting member 1 where the bent portions are attached to the side plates).
Regarding claim 13, Liu further discloses the plurality of connecting members are disposed apart from each other on the upper side or the lower side of the battery cell stack (see Fig. 5 which illustrates several ribs/connecting members that are spaced apart from each other on each side of the cell stack).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 212230479 U with references made to the machine translation) in view of Tetsuji (JP 2017162703 A with references made to the machine translation) and Campbell (US 6,117,588) as applied to claim 4 above and further in view of Kim (KR 20210015547 with references made to the machine translation) .
Regarding claim 7, Liu discloses busbars mounted on the first and second busbar frames and teaches electrode leads (7-1) of the plurality of battery cells pass through lead slits (5-1) formed in the first busbar frame or the second busbar frame (see Fig. 1) but fails to disclose:
wherein the electrode leads are bent and connected to the busbar after passing through the lead slits.
Kim also discloses a battery system (see abstract).
Kim, like Liu, teaches a busbar frame that comprises slits (231, 241) where the electrode leads pass through the slit (see Fig. 4 which illustrates lead 113 passing through slit 241). Kim goes on to teach that the leads are bent and joined to the busbar (230/240) in order to secure a connection (both physical and electrical) between the lead and the busbar (see lines 175-185 that discloses bending the electrode lead and welding them to the busbar such that they are connected).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the bend in the electrode lead of Kim to the electrode leads of modified Liu in order to secure the leads, both electrically and physically, to the busbar.
Claim(s) 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 212230479 U with references made to the machine translation) in view of Tetsuji (JP 2017162703 A with references made to the machine translation) and Campbell (US 6,117,588) as applied to claim 4 above and further in view of Kim (KR 20210015547 with references made to the machine translation) .
Regarding claims 14-17, Liu does not teach the structure of the claimed pack tray. More specifically, Liu does not teach:
a pack tray that houses the battery module, wherein the first side plate and the second side plate of the battery module are fixed to the pack tray;
the first side plate and the second side plate each comprises a support portion that is disposed perpendicular to a bottom portion of the pack tray and supports an outermost battery cell of the battery cell stack, and a fixing portion that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the support portion, and the fixing portion is fixed to the pack tray;
a mounting beam disposed on an upper surface of the bottom portion of the pack tray, wherein the fixing portion is fixed to the mounting beam; and
the fixing portion is located higher than a height of the mounting beam in a height direction, and the height direction is a direction perpendicular to a surface of the bottom portion of the pack tray.
Takahiro also discloses a battery module (see abstract).
Takahiro teaches a configuration in which the battery module can be secured down to a base. The configuration of Takahiro includes:
a pack tray that houses the battery module, wherein the first side plate and the second side plate of the battery module are fixed to the pack tray (see Fig. 2 which depicts a case/surrounding around the battery module);
the first side plate and the second side plate each comprises a support portion that is disposed perpendicular to a bottom portion of the pack tray and supports an outermost battery cell of the battery cell stack (see Fig. 2 of Takahiro that teaches a support portion/bracket 25 that is on the outermost side of the battery and supports the outermost cell), and a fixing portion (such as the bolts depicted in Fig. 1 that attach 6 to 7) that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the support portion (bolts are perpendicular to bracket 25 and go through the hole in the bracket) and the fixing portion is fixed to the pack tray (by being fixed to the support portion and the support portion being fixed to the pack tray, the fixing portion/bolt is indeed fixed to the pack tray);
a mounting beam (7) disposed on an upper surface of the bottom portion of the pack tray, wherein the fixing portion is fixed to the mounting beam (see Fig. 2 where the mounting beam (curved portion of the 7) has an upper portion that is fixed to the mixing portion and a lower portion that rests on a lower surface); and
the fixing portion is located higher than a height of the mounting beam in a height direction (the bolt is higher than the mounting beam, see Fig. 1).
Takahiro teaches such a configuration in order to secure and fix the battery module (lines 87-97).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the support/fixing structure of Takahiro the apparatus of modified Liu in order to secure and fix the battery module to a certain location, such as a car.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. On page 6, indentation A1, Applicant argues that Liu does not teach busbar frames between the cell and the end plates because the busbar support plates 4 serve simultaneously as the sidewalls and the structural support for the busbars. The Office respectfully disagrees with this argument. The bus bar frame/bracket 4 sits between the cells 7 and the endplate 6 as depicted in Fig. 1.
On page 6, indentation A2, Applicant argues that placing lifting holes in the side plates 4 of Liu would be structurally incompatible because it places lifting holes in the busbar frame (Applicant argues this same point with “first”, “second” and “third” indentations on page 7). The Office respectfully disagrees with this argument. It is noted that Applicant is arguing features that are not present in the claim. The claim states that the lifting holes are located in the side plate, not the busbar frame.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is (571)272-9813. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/MATTHEW J MERKLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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