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 § 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0059901 to Ren (“Ren”).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, and 13, Ren discloses a battery pack comprising a two dimensional array of battery cells, with cells extending in a first stacking direction, and also in an orthogonal second lateral direction. (See, e.g., Figures 2d and 3b). Each battery cell includes an anti-explosion valve configured to open and allow pressure relief when the pressure inside the cell reaches a certain predetermined level. Id. at paragraph [0017]. A plate of the battery housing is bonded to the battery cells via a gasket, where the plate includes, in one-to-one correspondence with the anti-explosion valves, inlet vents (31) that allow the smoke/flame/gas vented by the opening of an anti-explosion valve to be vented into an air passage of the housing such that the hot smoke/flame/gas is kept away from the interior of the case near the other battery cells. Id. at paragraph [0043]. Included on one side of the plate is a gasket with through-holes corresponding to the inlet vents/anti-explosion valves for bonding the battery cells and plate to one another to prevent the escape of the smoke/flame/gasses being vented, where the gasket portion of the plate is made from polyurethane foam, silicon foam, flame retardant polypropylene foam, all common insulating materials. Id. at paragraph [0083].
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.
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) 5 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren. Regarding claim 5, Ren is applied as described above. The battery cells of Ren are comprised of flat sides forming a cuboid shaped cell. However, its teachings can be applied to other commonly known battery types, including cylindrical batteries having arc-shaped sides.
Regarding claim 14, Ren inherently discloses provision of a plurality of battery cells in the recited manner, and attachment of a plate in the recited manner. Ren does not specifically disclose a system that includes provision modules to achieve each of those. Nonetheless, use of any sort of module as part of that provision is considered to be nothing more than the use of commonly known manufacturing techniques.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0181408 to Jang et al. (“Jang”). Ren is applied as described above. The vent system of Ren is a valve, rather than a weakened portion that ruptures in order to vent. However, use of a thinned/notched portion of a side of a battery housing as a rupturable venting mechanism to achieve the same goal as the valve of Ren was commonly known in the art at the time of invention. Thus, use of that style vent in the invention of Ren is considered to be nothing more than the use of a commonly known alternative structure to achieve a predictable result.
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren in view of 2023/0216126 to Yang (“Yang”). Ren is applied as described above. Ren is silent regarding the recited thermal management component. Like Ren, Yang discloses a battery module comprising a plurality of battery cells having a vent component formed on a lower surface thereof, and further including upper and lower heat sinks on an upper portion of the battery module which cooperatively form a channel through which cooling water flows to cool the batteries. The heat sink includes a thermally conductive adhesive that matches the surface shape of the battery cells and bonds the heat sink there to. This is present as a means to help prevent/control overheating of the batteries. Thus, in order to help prevent/control overheating of the batteries of Ren, the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would have found it obvious to provide the battery module with the thermal management system of Yang.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 4 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. Ren is silent regarding a protection plate that covers some of the anti-explosion valves. Indeed, doing so would go against the purpose/intent of the plate of Ren, since its purpose is to guide the hot gas/smoke/flame away from other battery cells and into a contained duct.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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