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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 9 and 12 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Rinker et al (US 2023/0187654 A1) hereinafter Rinkerin view of Narhi et al. (US 2021/0299785 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 Rinker teaches a method for joining external tabs of a battery cell to a terminal, comprising: providing a battery cell stack (14, 16) including: C cathode electrodes (26) each including a cathode current collector (27) made of foil, a cathode active layer (Fig 1)arranged on the cathode current collector (27), and an external tab (28A) extending from the cathode current collector (27); A anode electrodes (21) including an anode current collector (22) made of foil, an anode active layer (Fig 1) arranged on the anode current collector (22), and an external tab (23A) extending from the anode current collector (22); and S separators (25) , where C, S and A are integers greater than one (Fig 1); and arranging a stack (14, 16) of external tabs of one of the C cathode electrodes (26) and the A anode electrodes (21) on a terminal (Fig 1); creating a weld in the stack (14, 16) of external tabs of the one of the C cathode electrodes (26) and the A anode electrodes (21) at a weld location (40) during a first laser processing step; and welding the stack (14, 16) of external tabs of the one of the C cathode electrodes (26) and the A anode electrodes (21) at the weld location (40) during a second laser processing step (Fig 1).
Rinker is silent regarding creating a trench in the stack at a weld location during a first laser processing step.
However, Narhi teaches creating a keyhole (trench) in a stack (22) at a weld location of the melted material that penetrates through all foils and tabs during welding (see par.0023). Such welding method allows vapor to escape from the trench, minimizes the formation of splatter and eliminates any unwanted defects (par.0023).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Rinker to include the teachings of Narhi by creating a trench in the stack at the weld location during a first laser processing step to minimize the formation of splatter and eliminating any unwanted defects.
Regarding Claim 2 Narhi teaches wherein the first laser processing step and the second laser processing step are both performed using a single laser source (12) (Fig 1A) .
Regarding Claim 3 Narhi teaches further comprising adjusting at least one of laser power, for the second laser processing step after the first laser processing step is performed (par.0023).
Regarding Claim 4 Narhi teaches wherein the first laser processing step and the second laser processing step are performed using a first laser and a second laser that originate from the same source (12) (Fig 1A).
Regarding Claim 9 Narhi teaches wherein at least some defects created during the first laser processing step are repaired during the second laser processing step (Narhi discloses prevention of defects see par.0023).
Regarding Claim 12 Rinker as modified above teaches, further comprising arranging fill material in the trench after the first laser processing step and prior to the second laser processing step (par.0023).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 an 10-11 are objected to but would be allowable if rewritten including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 13-20 are allowed. Regarding Claims 13-20 the prior art remain silent regarding using a first laser, creating a trench in the stack of external tabs of the one of the C cathode electrodes and the A anode electrodes at a weld location during a first laser processing step; and using a second laser, welding the stack of external tabs of the one of the C cathode electrodes and the A anode electrodes at the weld location during a second laser processing step.
Conclusion
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/ABIY TEKA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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