Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/09/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-5 and 8-16 are pending. Claim 1 is amended. Claims 6-7 are cancelled. Claims 10-13 remain withdrawn from consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102:
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, 5 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Blersch (WO 2019/121985 A1, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Blersch discloses:
a cooling member (40) (figs. 1-2C) for cooling a battery cell (201) [par. 0038], comprising:
an upper plate (2), a lower plate (1), an inlet port (49a) at a first side for injecting coolant into an inner space between the upper plate (2) and the lower plate (1), and an outlet port (49b) at the first side for removing coolant (figs. 1-2C and annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, page 3); and
an indentation part (3 plus 48) formed by introducing the upper plate (2) into the lower plate (1) (seen in figs. 2B-2C) [par. 0059], wherein the indentation part (3 plus 48) includes:
a first indentation part (3) formed in an edge part of the cooling member (40) (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, page 3),
a second indentation part (48) including a groove (the joining recess where weld 44 is formed, seen in fig. 2C, as it applies to fig. 9) extending from the first side and between the inlet port (49a) and the outlet port (49b) (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, page 3), and
a plurality of third indentation parts (3) (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, below),
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wherein a sealing pad (at 43) is located in the edge part between the upper plate (2) and the lower plate (1) [par. 0080],
wherein a first flow path and the inlet port (49a) are located on a first side of the second indentation part (48) (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above),
wherein a second flow path extends from a terminal end of the first flow path (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above),
wherein a third flow path and the outlet port (49b) are located on a second side of the second indentation part (48) at a terminal end of the second flow path (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above), and
wherein each of the plurality of third indentation parts (3) is circular (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above),
wherein the first flow path and the third flow path extend in a first direction (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above),
wherein each of the first flow path and the third flow path has several of the plurality of third indentation parts (3) spaced from each other in the first direction (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, above).
Regarding claim 2, Blersch discloses:
the first indentation part (3) having a depth (see fig. 2C), and a direction in which the depth extends is perpendicular to a direction of flow of the coolant in the cooling member (40) (see annotated fig. 2A-BLERSCH, page 3, as it applies to fig. 2C).
Regarding claim 3, Blersch discloses:
the first indentation part (3) comprising an upper indentation part (23) in which the upper plate (2) is deformed and a lower indentation part in which the lower plate (1) is deformed (see annotated fig. 2C-BLERSCH, below), and
a lowest point of an upper surface of the upper indentation part (23) being located below an upper surface of the lower plate (1) in which the first indentation part (3) is not formed (see annotated fig. 2C-BLERSCH, below).
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Regarding claim 5, Blersch discloses:
the first indentation part (3) comprising an upper indentation part (23) in which the upper plate (2) is deformed and a lower indentation part in which the lower plate (11) is deformed (see annotated fig. 2C-BLERSCH, above), and
a maximum value of an outer diameter of the upper indentation part (23) is larger than a minimum value of an inner diameter of the lower indentation part) (seen in annotated fig. 2C-BLERSCH, above).
Regarding claim 14, Blersch discloses:
a battery module (200) comprising the cooling member (40) according to claim 1 (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 15, Blersch discloses:
a battery pack (200) comprising the cooling member (40) according to claim 1 (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 16, Blersch discloses:
The battery pack (200) including a battery module (200) having an open structure (seen in fig. 1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103:
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Blersch in view of Reinz (DE 20-2018107289 U1, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 4, Blersch does not disclose:
the lowest point of the upper surface of the upper indentation part (23) being located below a lower surface of the lower plate (1) in which the first indentation part (3) is not formed.
However, Blersch considers different shapes for the indentation portion (3) (seen in figures 2C, 3 and 4) as obvious variations of each other in order to optimize the coupling force between plates. Further, Reinz, also directed to a cooling member (10) for cooling a battery (2) (figs. 1-5 and 7A) comprising an upper plate (12), a lower plate (11), an inlet port (4/4a), and an outlet port (4’/4a’) for injecting coolant into an inner space between the upper plate (12) and the lower plate (11) [par. 0042], teaches that indentation parts (20d) formed in an edge part of the cooling member (10) (figs. 2-3) and comprising an upper indentation part (24d) in which the upper plate (12) is deformed and a lower indentation part (23d) in which the lower plate (11) is deformed, wherein the lowest point of the upper surface of the upper indentation part (24d) is located below a lower surface of the lower plate (11) in which the first indentation part (20d) is not formed (see annotated fig. 5-REINZ, page 6), for the purpose of optimizing the coupling force between the plates, are old and known in the art. Furthermore, it has been held that changing the shape of an old device is a matter of design choice which involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.04, section IV, part A.
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Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Blersch in view of Capati et al. (US 2019/0077276, herein “Capati”).
Regarding claim 8, Blersch does not disclose:
the lower plate comprising a first portion formed from a first material and a second portion formed from a second material different from the first material.
Capati, also directed to a cooling member (105) for cooling a battery (125) (figs. 1-2) comprising an upper plate (110), a lower plate (115) and a port (120) for injecting coolant into an inner space between the upper plate (110) and the lower plate (115) [par. 0025], teaches the cooling member (105) including the upper plate (110) comprising a first portion formed from a first material including aluminum [par. 0024, lines 14-18] and a second portion (inserts 220) formed from a second material including thermoplastic polymer resin [par. 0036, lines 1-7 and 16-23] different from the first material (aluminum) for the purpose of having the inserts (220) melt during a thermal runaway event to increase protection of the battery cells [par. 0003, 0042, 0043].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into Blersch the teachings of Capati to have the lower plate comprising a first portion formed from a first material and a second portion formed from a second material different from the first material, for the purpose of increasing protection of the battery cells during a thermal runaway event.
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Blersch and Capati discloses:
the first material being aluminum [Capati, par. 0024], and
the second material being a thermoplastic polymer resin having a melting point of 200°C or less [Capati, par. 0036, lines 27-29].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/09/2026 have been fully considered but they do not apply to the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA whose telephone number is (571)272-6018. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
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/GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JENNA M MARONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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