DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to applicant’s amendment received on 10/30/2025. Amended claims 1, 10, 12-13 are acknowledged. Claims 1-5 and 8-16 are pending. 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 Claims 10-13 remain withdrawn from consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b).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 1-5 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Reinz (DE 20-2018-107289U1, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Reinz discloses:
a cooling member (10) (figs. 1-5 and 7A) for cooling a battery cell (2) [par. 0019 and 0042], comprising:
an upper plate (12), a lower plate (11), an inlet port (4/4a) at a first side (right side of member 10 in fig. 2) for injecting coolant into an inner space between the upper plate (12) and the lower plate (11), and an outlet port (4’/4a’) at the first side (right side of member 10 in fig. 2) for removing coolant (figs. 1-5) [par. 0042]; and
an indentation part (20: 20d, 20c, and 20co plus 20cu) formed by introducing the upper plate (12) into the lower plate (11) (figs. 3-5 and 7A) [par. 0043] (it is noted…by turning the cooling element 10 180 degrees, the plate 12 would be the upper plate and the plate 11 would be the lower plate), wherein the indentation part (20d, 20c, 20co plus 20cu) includes:
a first indentation part (20d) formed in an edge part of the cooling member (10) (seen in figs. 2-3 as it applies to fig. 5),
a second indentation part (20co plus 20cu) including a groove (the joining recess of the joining point, par. 0008) extending from the first side and between the inlet port (4/4a) and the outlet port (4’/4a’) (see annotated fig. 2-REINZ, page 3), and
a third indentation part (20c: 20c’, 20c’’, 20c’’’) (fig. 3),
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wherein a sealing pad (“material bond”) is located in the edge part (at 20d) between the upper plate (12) and the lower plate (11) [par. 0025],
wherein a first flow path and the inlet port (4/4a) are located on a first side of the second indentation part (20co plus 20cu) (see annotated fig. 2-REINZ, above),
wherein a second flow path extends from a terminal end of the first flow path (see annotated fig. 2-REINZ, above),
wherein a third flow path and the outlet port (4’/4a’) are located on a second side of the second indentation part (20co plus 20cu) at a terminal end of the second flow path (see annotated fig. 2-REINZ, above), and
wherein the third indentation part (20c: 20c’, 20c’’, 20c’’’) is located in the first flow path and the third flow path (see annotated fig. 2-REINZ, above).
Regarding claim 2, Reinz discloses:
the first indentation part (20d) having a depth (see fig. 5), and a direction in which the depth extends is perpendicular to a direction of flow of the coolant in the cooling member (10) (see annotated fig. 2-REINZE, above, as it applies to fig. 5).
Regarding claim 3, Reinz discloses:
the first indentation part (20d) 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 (seen in fig. 5), and
a lowest point of an upper surface of the upper indentation part (24d) being located below an upper surface of the lower plate (11) in which the first indentation part (20d) is not formed (see annotated fig. 5-REINZ, below).
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Regarding claim 4, Reinz discloses:
the lowest point of the upper surface of the upper indentation part (24d) being 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, above).
Regarding claim 5, Reinz discloses:
the first indentation part (20d) 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 (see annotated fig. 5-REINZ, above), and
a maximum value of an outer diameter of the upper indentation part (24d) is larger than a minimum value of an inner diameter of the lower indentation part (23d) (seen in annotated fig. 5-REINZ, above).
Regarding claim 14, Reinz discloses:
a battery module (batteries 2) comprising the cooling member according to claim 1 (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 15, Reinz discloses:
a battery pack (batteries 2) comprising the cooling member according to claim 1 (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 16, Reinz discloses:
a battery module (batteries 2) including a battery module having an open structure (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.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reinz in view of Capati et al. (US 2019/0077276, herein “Capati”).
Regarding claim 8, Reinz 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 Reinz 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 Reinz 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
The objection to the drawings as set forth in the Office Action mailed 07/30/2025, are withdrawn in light of the amendments to the drawings.
Applicant's arguments filed 10/30/2025 have been fully considered but they do not apply to the new grounds of rejection.
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.
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/GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/LEN TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763