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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aikata (US 2020/0194819).
Regarding claim 1, Aikata further discloses a battery, comprising:
a battery cell (see abstract which describes electrodes along with a separator),
a first wall of the battery cell being provided with a pressure relief mechanism (see Fig. 2 which shows a relief valve 6 on a first/rear wall 10);
a thermal management component configured to regulate the temperature of the battery cell, the thermal management component being attached to a second wall of the battery cell, and the second wall being different from the first wall (second wall on the bottom of the battery and in contact to cooling plate 33, see paragraph 100); and
a bus component (busbar 32) configured to be electrically connected to an electrode terminal of the battery cell (see paragraph 98 which teaches the busbar connecting the terminals of the battery cell), the electrode terminal being arranged on a third wall of the battery cell (see fig. 1 which illustrates the terminals on the front/third wall 9 of the cell), and the third wall being different from the first wall.
Regarding claim 2, Aikata further discloses the third wall (front wall 9) is different from the second wall (bottom wall).
Regarding claim 3, Aikata further discloses the area of the second wall is greater than or equal to that of the first wall; and/or the area of the second wall is greater than or equal to that of the third wall (the second wall/bottom surface area is larger than the third wall/front wall 9 area).
Regarding claim 5, Aikata further discloses the battery further comprises: a box, comprising an electrical cavity and a collection cavity (as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below), wherein the electrical cavity is configured to accommodate the battery cell and the thermal management component, and the collection cavity is configured to collect emissions from the battery cell when the pressure relief mechanism is actuated (the electrical cavity is the portion of the box where the cooling plate 33, bus bars 32 and cells are and the collection cavity is the portion of the box that defines the gas relief passages).
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Annotated Fig. 6
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 1-7 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. (US 2015/0207186) in view of Aikata (US 2020/0194819).
Regarding claim 1, Schmidt teaches a battery (Figure 4, 10) comprising:
a battery cell (10), a first wall (14) of the battery cell (10) being provided with a pressure relief mechanism (16);
a thermal management component (30) configured to regulate the temperature of the battery cell (10) (Abstract), the thermal management component (30) being attached to a second wall (side wall) of the battery cell (10) (as illustrated Figure 1-6), and the second wall (side wall) being different from the first wall (14).
Schmidt teaches a configuration which includes the terminals of the cell and the pressure relief mechanism on the same side of the battery cell (see Fig. 2 where terminals 12 and pressure relief valve 16 are on the same side). Schmidt, however, does not teach:
a bus component configured to be electrically connected to an electrode terminal of the battery cell, the electrode terminal being arranged on a third wall of the battery cell, and the third wall being different from the first wall.
Aikata also discloses a battery cell (see abstract).
Aikata, like Schmidt, teaches a pressure relief valve (6). Aikata goes on to teach that the pressure relieve valve is preferably placed on separate faces from the electrical terminals/connections in order to minimize the space which is occupied by the electrical connection between the cells (paragraph 22). Aikata also discloses a bus bar structure (32) that is connected to the electrode terminals of the battery cells (see Fig. 5 which illustrates the busbars 32 connecting terminals of the battery cells) and teaches that this busbar assembly is on a different wall (third wall) from the first wall (location where the rupture valve is located). As mentioned above, Aikata teaches such a configuration in order to minimize the space which is occupied by the electrical connection between the cells.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the busbar configuration of Aikata to the battery of Schmidt in order to allow for electrical connection between the cells while also minimizing the space which is occupied by the electrical connection between the cells
Regarding claim 2, Schmidt, as modified by Aikata, further discloses the third wall (front wall 9 of Aikata) is different from the second wall (heat exchange wall/sidewall of Schmidt).
Regarding claim 3, Schmidt teaches wherein the area of the second wall (side wall) is greater than or equal to that of the first wall (14) (as illustrated).
Regarding claim 4, Schmidt teaches wherein the second wall (side wall) is the wall of the battery cell that has the largest area (as illustrated in Figure 1).
Regarding claim 5, Schmidt further discloses a box body (formed by lower wall (58) and upper wall (not numbered)), the box body comprising an electrical cavity and a collection cavity (54), wherein the electrical cavity is configured to accommodate the battery cell (10) and the thermal management component (30) (as illustrated), and the collection cavity (54) is configured to collect emissions/gasses from the battery cell (10) when the pressure relief mechanism (16) is actuated (para. [0040]).
Regarding claim 6, Schmidt further discloses the box further comprises a first box wall arranged opposite and spaced apart from the first wall, there is a gap between the first wall and the first box wall, and the gap is configured to form at least part of the collection cavity (as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 below).
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Annotated Fig. 4
Regarding claim 7, Schmidt further discloses the battery further comprises: an isolation component (seal 40), wherein the isolation component is attached to the first wall (as depicted in Fig. 4), and the isolation component is configured to isolate the electrical cavity from the collection cavity (as described in paragraph 12 which discloses sealing the exhaust ducts from the battery cells).
Regarding claim 20, Schmidt teaches an electrical apparatus comprising: the battery of claim 1 being configured to supply electric energy to the electrical apparatus.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. (US 20150207186) in view of Aikata (US 2020/0194819) and further in view of Motohashi (US 2019/0020006).
Regarding claims 8 and 9, Schmidt, as modified above, teaches a first and third wall that are on opposite sides of the cell from each other and teaches a second box wall (bottom plate/wall 58). Schmidt, however does not teach any fixing or adhesion between the third wall and the second box wall. More specifically, Schmidt does not teach:
the second box wall being configured to be fixed to the third wall such that the battery cell is fixed to the box, wherein the third wall is fixed to the second box wall via a binder.
Motohashi also discloses a battery module (see abstract).
Motohashi, like Schmidt, teaches a plurality of cell (150) s held within a box (as depicted in Fig. 10C). Motohashi goes on to teach that the cells are adhered/fixed to the casing walls (111, 122) with an adhesive material/binder (170, 180) in order to improve reliability by facilitating and strengthening adhesive fixation of each battery cell to a holder (paragraph 7).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the adhesive/binder of Motohashi between the third wall (wall with the terminals on it) and the battery case to the configuration of modified Schmidt in order to improve reliability by facilitating and strengthening adhesive fixation of each battery cell to a holder. In other words, placing adhesion between all battery faces and the casing/box walls would be beneficial and obvious.
Claims 10-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. (US 20150207186) in view of Aikata (US 2020/0194819), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DE 102015103475 A1 (Boddakayala et al.) – translation attached and relied upon below.
Regarding claim 10, Schmidt discloses all claim limitations as set forth above but fails to teach wherein the battery comprises a plurality of rows of battery cells arranged in a first direction, and each row of battery cells of the plurality of rows of battery cells comprises at least one battery cell arranged in a second direction, the first direction being perpendicular to the second direction and the second wall.
Boddakayala teaches a battery module (Figure 10A) comprising a plurality of rows of battery cells arranged in a first direction (from front to back), and each row of battery cells of the plurality of rows of battery cells comprises at least one battery cell arranged in a second direction (left to right), the first direction being perpendicular to the second direction (as illustrated) and the second wall in order to provide the necessary number of battery cells for providing sufficient power for operating an electric vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing for the invention to have the battery of Schmidt comprise a plurality of rows of battery cells arranged in a first direction, and each row of battery cells of the plurality of rows of battery cells comprise at least one battery cell arranged in a second direction, the first direction being perpendicular to the second direction and the second wall, as taught by Boddakayala, in order to provide the necessary number of battery cells for providing sufficient power for operating an electric vehicle.
Regarding claim 11, Schmidt teaches wherein the thermal management component (30) is attached to the second wall (side wall) of the at least one battery cell (10) of at least one row of battery cells of the plurality of rows of battery cells (10) (as illustrated in Figures 1-6).
Regarding claim 12, Schmidt teaches wherein the battery cell (10) comprises two second walls oppositely arranged in the first direction, and on two sides of at least one row of battery cells (10) of the plurality of rows of battery cells (10) in the first direction, provided are the thermal management components (30) attached to the two second walls (side walls) of the at least one battery cell (10) respectively (as illustrated in Figures 1-6).
Regarding claim 13, Schmidt, as modified above by Boddakayala, further discloses a plurality of thermal management components arranged in the first direction (as modified, there is a thermal management component between each of the cells in each row, which will place them adjacent to each other in the first (left to right) direction).
Regarding claim 14, Schmidt further discloses the thermal management components are each provided with a heat exchange channel for accommodating a heat exchange medium (channel 32 is located between the cells, as depicted in Fig. 4), and the heat exchange channels of the plurality of thermal management components are in communication with each other (see Fig. 6 which illustrates that the channels between the cells communicate with each other via inlet and outlet headers 66).
Regarding claim 15, Schmidt, as modified above, further discloses the plurality of thermal management components comprise a first thermal management component and second thermal management component adjacent to each other (the thermal management components are adjacent to each other as dictated by the configuration where Schmidt is modified with the multiple rows of Boddakayala), wherein the first thermal management component comprises a first connecting pipe in communication with the heat exchange channel (see Fig. 6 where the thermal management component comprises a header/supply conduit/first connecting pipe that flows fluid to all heat exchange channels), the second thermal management component comprises a second connecting pipe in communication with the heat exchange channel (identical to that of the first thermal management component), and the first connecting pipe and the second connecting pipe are connected to each other (connected via a header which will connect both supply conduits), such that the heat exchange channel of the first thermal management component and the heat exchange channel of the second thermal management component are in communication with each other (via a supply that distributes heat exchange fluid to both the first and second thermal management components).
Regarding claim 16, Schmidt further discloses the first connecting pipe is arranged in a region of the first thermal management component that is beyond a row of battery cells in the second direction (the region is the supply header, labeled as 62 in Fig. 6), the second connecting pipe is arranged in a region of the second thermal management component that is beyond the row of battery cells in the second direction (this region is the same as the region of the first thermal management component, as Schmidt was modified by Boddakayala), the row of battery cells is a row of battery cells located between the first thermal management component and the second thermal management component (see how the first thermal management component 62 in Fig. 6 of Schmidt is located on an outer wall of the stack of battery cells in the first direction), and the first connecting pipe and the second connecting pipe extend in the first direction and are connected to each other (the pipes extend along the outer walls of the stack of cells and are fed/connected with the same air).
Regarding claim 17, Schmidt further discloses the box further comprises a support component, the support component being configured to support the first connecting pipe and/or the second connecting pipe (see Fig. 1 where walls 24 are situated in the box such that they support the first and/or second connecting pipes 30).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art, Schmidt, teaches connecting pipes that are connected to the heat exchange conduits between the cells, but is silent when it comes to the claimed support component that is attached to the first and/or second connecting pipe on one side of the support component in the third direction where the third direction is perpendicular to the first and second directions. Furthermore, there is nothing in the prior art that teaches or suggests configuration a support component in such a way.
Relevant Prior Art
JP 6686286 B2 - Discloses a configuration where a cooling plate, a busbar and an exhaust valve are all positioned on different surfaces of a battery cell, similar to that of the instant claims.
Conclusion
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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