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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on June 22, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1,3 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Takahata (JP2012-252909; paragraph numbers to corresponding English language translation).
Claim 1: Takahata discloses a battery pack 1 (¶ 15; fig. 1). The pack includes a plurality of battery modules including cases, wherein side surfaces of the module cases in which battery cells are accommodated face each other and an injection hole is formed in a top surface of each of the module cases (¶¶ 15-20; fig. 1); and a fire extinguishing tank unit containing a fire extinguishing agent located over the plurality of battery modules and configured to supply the fire extinguishing agent only into a battery module in which a thermal event occurs from among the plurality of battery modules through the injection holes (fig. 1; ¶¶ 15-22, 30).
Claim 3: Takahata provides a separate nozzle into each casing and supplies agent to the corresponding casing through that nozzle (¶¶ 18, 20, 22, 30; fig. 1).
Claim 10: Takahata discloses the fire extinguishing tank unit includes a tank body provided to accommodate the fire extinguishing agent 12 (¶¶ 16, 18, 21); and a plurality of ejection members having one side coupled to communicate with an inside of the tank body and the other side protruding downward from the tank body (¶¶ 15-20; fig. 1), wherein the plurality of ejection members respectively face the injection holes of the plurality of battery modules and are configured to be broken by high temperature or impact to eject the fire extinguishing agent of the tank body (¶¶ 18-22; figs. 1-2).
Claim 11: Takahata discloses each ejection member includes thermoplastic resin plug 17 (¶ 19).
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.
Claims 2 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Lim (US 2013/0236754).
Claim 2: Takahata is silent as to the claimed sealing members. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lim discloses sealing members each provided on each battery module and disposed on the top surface of the module case to surround a circumference of the injection hole of each battery module and protrude beyond the injection hole (¶¶ 25, 41, 43, 51-56, 64; fig. 1), wherein the tank unit is seated on upper portions of the plurality of battery modules and contacts the sealing members to individually seal the upper portions of the plurality of battery modules (¶¶ 30-31, 49, 52-56; fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have modified Takata’s overhead tank and module-top injection interfaces by providing Lim’s gasket regions around injection openings with the tank assembly seated on the module tops to reduce unintended leakage at the individual upper interfaces. Lim teaches fixing the pressure member to an overlying structure, seating that structure on battery tops, and compressing the respective opening—surrounding seals to improve sealing.
Claim 4: Lim’s silicone seal is selected to specifically resist the heat emitted by the cells without melting (¶¶ 23-25) and is a closed loop around the opening.
Claim 5: Lim’s sealing member is silicone rubber and non-asbestos gasket (¶ 25).
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Matsumoto (WO 2019/230879; page numbers to corresponding attached English language translation).
Claim 6: Matsumoto, in the same field of endeavor, describes using heat-dissipation sheets 122, including an elastic resin material promoting heat dissipation from battery cells (page 6). Matsumoto places each sheet along heat-dissipation surface 126 on inner surface 32a of case side wall 32 with paired opposed walls. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have placed the heat dissipation sheets of Matsumoto on rear surfaces of the facing side surfaces of the module cases of Takahata to conduct heat from the enclosed battery cells into the case walls and improve heat dissipation, as Matsumoto expressly teaches (page 6).
Claim 7: Matsumoto discloses the module case including a middle case having a hollow structure to have an inner space in which the battery cells are accommodated (figs. 2, 4-5), a bottom plate coupled to a lower end of the middle case (fig. 2); and a top plate (fig. 2). Takahata discloses the injection.
Claim 8: Matsumoto discloses a module connect bottom cover provided to integrally support and fix lower portions of the plurality of battery modules wherein each module is provided so that the bottom plate is fixedly coupled to an upper portion of the module connect bottom cover (figs. 2-5).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Golubkov (WO 2018/105878).
Claim 9: Golubkov discloses cells having vents that eject gas jets during abnormal functioning and an extinguishing agent conduit that the emitted jet strikes (¶ 12). Golubkov’s fire extinguishing tank is configured to, in response to gas ejected from each battery module to the fire extinguishing tank unit, selectively supply the fire extinguishing agent only into the battery module from which the gas is ejected from among the plurality of battery modules through the injection hole of each battery module (¶¶ 14-22). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have applied Golubkov’s gas jet responsive plug arrangement to each of Takahata’s independent tank nozzles to reduce unintended extinguishing agent release caused by elevated cell case temperature while providing actuation during abnormal gas ejection.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Guo (CN111509163; page numbers to corresponding English language translation).
Claim 12: Guo, in the same field of endeavor discloses using antifreeze solution as a battery fire extinguishing agent (pages 5-6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have utilized the antifreeze of Guo as the fire extinguishing agent of Takahata to effectively extinguish battery fires, as taught by Guo.
Claims 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahata, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Meschter (US 2010/0055556).
Claim 13: Meschter, in the same field of endeavor, discloses an integral battery management system accommodated in BMS chamber 174 (¶¶ 16, 35). The BMS acts as a safety device for electrical charge/discharge and thermal management (¶ 35). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have provided Takahata’s modules with Meschter’s common charge/discharge BMS and to have incorporated Meschter’s upper BMS compartment and secured component mounting on Takahata’s existing overhead tank in order to provide space for BMS integration, mechanical stability, simplified assembly, and compact packaging, as taught by Meschter (¶¶ 10, 13, 16, 34-35).
Claim 14: Meschter discloses a connection member to electrically connect the control module to the plurality of battery modules (¶¶ 16, 35-37).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARRY THROWER whose telephone number is (571)270-5517. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm MT M-F.
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754
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