Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/473,693

COOLING ASSEMBLY FOR A BATTERY PACK

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 25, 2023
Examiner
HAUTH, GALEN H
Art Unit
1743
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
GM Global Technology Operations LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
65%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 6m
To Grant
83%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 65% of resolved cases
65%
Career Allow Rate
670 granted / 1033 resolved
At TC average
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 6m
Avg Prosecution
7 currently pending
Career history
1040
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
53.1%
+13.1% vs TC avg
§102
18.9%
-21.1% vs TC avg
§112
21.3%
-18.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1033 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION 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 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. 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim (s) 1 -3 and 9-1 4 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over German et al. (US 2005/0170240 A1) in view of Brauning et al. (WO 2019/046012 A1) and Bergnach et al. (US 2021/0280930 A1) . With regards to claim s 1 and 12 , German teaches a cooling assembly for a battery pack comprising at least one cylindrical battery cell (Abstract, Fig. 3, cylindrical cells shown in Fig. 12-13 necessarily including a tray for the complete assembly to keep the cells in place similar to the horizontal configuration as seen in Fig. 18-19 ¶ 0050 ) in which the assembly comprises a manifold (6, 7) comprising an inlet for receiving a coolant and an outlet for discharging a coolant as seen in Figure 3. German teaches that connected to the manifolds are ribbon headers having ribbon inlet and outlet feed lines as annotated below. German teaches that each ribbon (3) is in contact with a battery cell and has channels that circulate the coolant (¶ 0045). German does not teach a configuration in which a single manifold has both the inlet and outlet for coolant distribution, nor does German teach a spacer plate disposed between respective ribbon headers and the manifold. In a similar field of endeavor, Brauning teaches a battery cooling system in which a manifold (3) provides coolant to respective ribbon headers (5) that allow for circulation of a coolant in a respective ribbon (2) as seen in Fig. 1- 4 and 10. This alternative arrangement of having the inlet and outlet headers on the same side of the coolant system is also demonstrated in Bergnach (Fig. 2 , 10 ). Brauning teaches that the combined inlet/outlet manifold is connected to the ribbon headers with dedicated inlet/outlet connections such that coolant flows from the inlet line of the manifold to the ribbon feed line of the ribbon header to the outgoing channel of the ribbon to cool the battery element and the coolant flows from the outgoing channel to the return channel and through the ribbon return line of the ribbon header to the outlet of the manifold (Fig. 1-4 and 10). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized a combined inlet/outlet manifold in German as taught by Brauning as both relate to coolant systems for batteries comprises manifolds, individual ribbon headers and ribbons to circulate a coolant through a battery pack presenting a reasonable expectation of success, and doing so presents a simple substitution of the separated manifolds for the joint manifold yielding the predictable result of having the inlet and outlet feeds on the same side of the battery pack which is a known and predictable arrangement in the art as taught by Brauning and Bergnach. German as modified does not teach a spacer plate between the manifold and the ribbon headers; however, in a similar field of endeavor, Bergnach teaches a similar arrangement in which a manifold (51) distributes coolant to a plurality of circulation paths mechanically secured below the manifold as seen in Fig. 10. Bergnach teaches that it was known in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to include a compressible gasket (108) between the manifold and the element secured thereto with holes in the gasket to allow for fluid transport as this created a fluid tight seal between the manifold and the rest of the apparatus (¶ 0076). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have included a similar gasket between the manifold of German and the ribbon headers in order to ensure a fluid tight seal. With regards to claim s 2 and 13 , German teaches that the ribbon (3) is connected to a front of the respective ribbon header (Fig. 3 and 4). With regards to claim s 3 and 14 , German does not teach a specific mechanical securement for the manifold to the respective ribbon headers; however, Bergnach demonstrates that a known technique comprises providing holes (109) in the ribbon header to allow for a mechanical fastener to secure the manifold above it and pass through the gasket to compress the system and prevent fluid leakage (Fig. 10, ¶ 0075-0076). With regards to the limitation “preventing forces from being transferred to the ribbon during assembly of the manifold to the ribbon header”, this limitation is interpreted as the intended use of the device and does not structurally limit the assembly. With regards to claim 9, the gasket of Bergnach as applied above includes a plurality of windows that seal the manifold to the header and allow for a fluid tight seal. With regards to claim 10, as seen in Figures 3 and 4 of German the manifold bottom surface is in fluid communication with feed ports of the ribbon headers and as modified above includes both inlet lines and outlet lines. German teaches that the respective ribbon headers have ribbon header inlets and outlets disposed on their top surface as seen in Fig. 4. With regards to claim 11, as seen in Bergnach, the purpose of the gasket is to align windows with all of the fluid communication openings of the manifold and ribbon header. With regards to claims 30, German teaches a cooling assembly for a battery pack comprising at least one cylindrical battery cell (Abstract, Fig. 3, cylindrical cells shown in Fig. 12-13 necessarily including a tray for the complete assembly to keep the cells in place similar to the horizontal configuration as seen in Fig. 18-19 ¶ 0050) in which the assembly comprises a manifold (6, 7) comprising an inlet for receiving a coolant and an outlet for discharging a coolant as seen in Figure 3. German teaches that connected to the manifolds are ribbon headers having ribbon inlet and outlet feed lines as annotated below. German teaches that each ribbon (3) is in contact with a battery cell and has channels that circulate the coolant (¶ 0045). German does not teach a configuration in which a single manifold has both the inlet and outlet for coolant distribution, nor does German teach a spacer plate disposed between respective ribbon headers and the manifold. In a similar field of endeavor, Brauning teaches a battery cooling system in which a manifold (3) provides coolant to respective ribbon headers (5) that allow for circulation of a coolant in a respective ribbon (2) as seen in Fig. 1-4 and 10. This alternative arrangement of having the inlet and outlet headers on the same side of the coolant system is also demonstrated in Bergnach (Fig. 2, 10). Brauning teaches that the combined inlet/outlet manifold is connected to the ribbon headers with dedicated inlet/outlet connections such that coolant flows from the inlet line of the manifold to the ribbon feed line of the ribbon header to the outgoing channel of the ribbon to cool the battery element and the coolant flows from the outgoing channel to the return channel and through the ribbon return line of the ribbon header to the outlet of the manifold (Fig. 1-4 and 10). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized a combined inlet/outlet manifold in German as taught by Brauning as both relate to coolant systems for batteries comprises manifolds, individual ribbon headers and ribbons to circulate a coolant through a battery pack presenting a reasonable expectation of success, and doing so presents a simple substitution of the separated manifolds for the joint manifold yielding the predictable result of having the inlet and outlet feeds on the same side of the battery pack which is a known and predictable arrangement in the art as taught by Brauning and Bergnach. German as modified does not teach a spacer plate between the manifold and the ribbon headers; however, in a similar field of endeavor, Bergnach teaches a similar arrangement in which a manifold (51) distributes coolant to a plurality of circulation paths mechanically secured below the manifold as seen in Fig. 10. Bergnach teaches that it was known in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to include a compressible gasket (108) between the manifold and the element secured thereto with holes in the gasket to allow for fluid transport as this created a fluid tight seal between the manifold and the rest of the apparatus (¶ 0076). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have included a similar gasket between the manifold of German and the ribbon headers in order to ensure a fluid tight seal. German teaches a recovery tank (52) and pump (51) with a heat exchanger ( 62 ) in contact with the recovery tank of the system (Fig. 29-30 , 35 , ¶ 0082-0084) as well as external cooling units (50, 58) if needed (Fig. 29-35) rendering obvious the use of a heat exchanger between an outlet line of the manifold and a recovery tank in order to ensure the appropriate temperature of the cooling medium and presenting a predictable rearrangement of the particular location of the heat exchanger in the system . Claim (s) 4 -7 and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over German et al. (US 2005/0170240 A1) in view of Brauning et al. (WO 2019/046012 A1) and Bergnach et al. (US 2021/0280930 A1) as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Espersen et al. ( US 2018/0 0 51938 A1 ) . With regards to claim s 4 and 15 , German does not teach a specific connection means for the ribbons to the ribbon header. In a similar field of endeavor, Espers e n teaches a variety of arrangements for distributing a heat transfer medium to a plurality of ribbons or plates for thermal management. Espers e n teaches one arrangement includes providing vertical headers (3, similar to the vertical ribbon headers of German) with slots into which respective ribbons (102, similar to the ribbons of German) are seated (Fig. 64, ¶ 0138). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized a slot in the ribbon header of German to seat the ribbon as taught by Espers e n as both relate to heat transfer systems in which vertical headers distribute a heat transfer medium to a plurality of ribbon elements presenting a reasonable expectation of success, and German is silent with respect to a specific connection prompting one of ordinary skill to look to related art. With regards to claims 5-7 and 16-18 , as German in view of Brauning and Bergnach renders obvious the ribbon header including both inlet and outlet feeds which necessarily need to flow into the ribbon it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have included the necessary fluidic ports and channels to allow for coolant to flow into the manifold, down into the vertical ribbon headers, into the ribbons, back into the headers and up into the manifold for exiting the system. Claim (s) 8 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over German et al. (US 2005/0170240 A1) in view of Brauning et al. (WO 2019/046012 A1) and Bergnach et al. (US 2021/0280930 A1) as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Hermann et al. (US 2008/0311468 A1) . With regards to claim s 8 and 19 , German does not teach a specific material for the manifold prompting one of ordinary skill to look to related art. In a similar field of endeavor, Hermann teaches that a variety of materials can be used for the coolant flow means in a battery coolant system (Abstract, ¶ 0002, 0051) including composite. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have utilized composite material as German is silent with respect to a specific material for the manifold prompting one of ordinary skill to look to related art and composite material is a known material for the coolant passages presenting a reasonable expectation of success. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT GALEN H HAUTH whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-5516 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday 9:30 AM to 6 PM EST . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Alexa Neckel can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-2450 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /GALEN H HAUTH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 25, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 31, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
65%
Grant Probability
83%
With Interview (+18.5%)
3y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1033 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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