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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/30/23 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “so as to get close to the electrode body”, which does not particularly point out and distinctly claim the structure of bent parts. See also claim 4.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the bent part" in line 17. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner suggests “at least one of the bent parts”. See also claim 4
Claim 1 recites the limitation "a power storage device" in line 18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the bent part relative to the long side surface" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 1 recites “bent parts” and “pair of long side surfaces”. See also claim 6.
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) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Saito et al., US 2020/0185663 A1.
Saito teaches a cell (power storage device) in which the possibility of metallic foreign metal penetrating into an electrode assembly (electrode body) is reduced. The individually provided cell includes a rectangular cell case including a case main body and a lid member (sealing plate), the electrode assembly housed in the cell case, and an insulating film (film body) disposed between the cell case and the electrode assembly. The insulating film is in the form of a sheet, and is disposed between at least the electrode assembly and the bottom surface and the pair of long side surfaces of the cell case, and a pair of end portions of the insulating film in the height direction is located on the lid member side with respect to the electrode assembly. Here, in the insulating film, incisions (roughening process) are provided in a thickness direction of the insulating film at least in a part in a width direction which is orthogonal to the height direction and is along the long side surfaces, between a position corresponding to an end portion of the electrode assembly on the lid member side and the pair of end portions, and regions on the side of the pair of end portions with respect to the incisions constitute inclined surfaces (bent portions/light diffusion part) which incline toward the electrode assembly side (abstract). See at least Figures 2, 4 and 6A-6D:
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The case is made of metal, and the case main body and the lid member are welded [0013]. Where the cell case is made of a metal, when the case main body and the lid member are fitted, the case main body and the lid member are rubbed to generate metallic foreign matter, which may penetrate into the cell case. Where burrs are present at the end portions of the case main body or the lid member, the probability of metallic foreign matter generation due to rubbing is increased. In addition, when the case main body and the lid member are joined by welding, weld spatter (typically, minute droplets of molten metal) may be generated and introduced into the cell case. Therefore, if the configuration of the present art is adopted for a cell in which there is a high possibility of penetration of metallic foreign matter, a micro short circuit caused by the metallic foreign matter is more effectively suppressed [0014]. The cell case was sealed by laser welding the lid member and the case main body [0060].
An inclination angle of the inclined surface is more than 0° and equal to or less than 30°. Further, where the dimension of the electrode assembly in the thickness direction orthogonal to the height direction and the width direction is denoted by T0, a distance T1 between the pair of end portions constituting the inclined surface is 0.53×T0 or more and less than 1×T0 [0008]. As a result of the inclination angle (angle of bending) 0 of the inclined surface 32 with respect to the long side surface 12a being larger than 0°, the effect of trapping metallic foreign matter which enters from the gap between the lid member 14 and the case main body 12 is demonstrated, by contrast with the case where the inclined surface 32 is absent (inclination angle 0°). In addition, the effect of trapping metallic foreign matter is enhanced as the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface 32 increases. Although the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface 32 depends on the dimension from the upper end portion 30a of the insulating film 30 to the incision N and cannot be generally defined, the inclination angle may be 1° or more, or 5° or more, and is, for example, 10° or more. Since the metallic foreign matter enters from the gap between the lid member 14 and the case main body 12, in the region above the electrode assembly 20, the metallic foreign matter is less likely to penetrate deeply close to the center in the thickness direction X of the case main body 12. Accordingly, the effect of trapping the metallic foreign matter demonstrated by the inclined surface 32 can be substantially saturated when the inclination angle θ exceeds about 30°. From this point of view, it is exemplified that the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface 32 is set to, for example, about 30° as the upper limit. By setting the upper limit of the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface 32 to about 30°, it is possible to mitigate suitably the impact of the difference in how the inclined surface 32 traps one metallic foreign matter. As a result, even after the inclined surface 32 traps one metallic foreign matter, the effect of subsequently trapping the metallic foreign matter can be maintained without increasing the inclination angle θ. In another aspect, when the cell 1 is configured to include a nonaqueous electrolytic solution and the nonaqueous electrolytic solution is injected into the cell case 10 from the injection hole 18a of the lid member 14, in terms of liquid injection ability, it not may be that the inclined surface 32 reach the vicinity of the center of the case main body 12 in the thickness direction X. That is, the inclined surface 32 will also trap the nonaqueous electrolytic solution supplied from the liquid injection hole 18a and may inhibit the direct supply of the nonaqueous electrolytic solution to the electrode assembly 20. Also from this viewpoint, the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface 32 may be set to, for example, about 30° as the upper limit [0032-0033]. Thus, the claims are anticipated.
*
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tanaka, US 2023/0411793 A1 and/or by Tanaka, WO 2022/190439 A1.
Tanaka teaches a square secondary battery including a conductive container (case main body) which is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape opened on one surface side; a lid (sealing plate) which seals the one surface side of the container; a charge/discharge body which is housed in the container and which has electrodes respectively formed on both sides in a width direction (electrode body); and an insulating member (film body) which coats the charge/discharge body and which insulates the charge/discharge body and the container from each other, wherein the insulating member is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape opened on one surface side and at least one side surface among a pair of side surfaces respectively opposing the electrodes of the charge/discharge body is folded (bent) in a direction of separation from the charge/discharge body along a height direction (abstract). FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the present square secondary battery 1.
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As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, the battery can 2 has a rectangular bottom surface 2A, a pair of wide-width side surfaces 2B which rise from respective long sides of the bottom surface 2A, a pair of narrow-width side surfaces 2C which rise from respective short sides of the bottom surface 2A, and an opening section 2D which is opened upward at upper ends of the wide-width side surfaces 2B and the narrow-width side surfaces 2C. The opening section 2D is sealed by the battery lid 3. The battery lid is sealed by laser welding. The battery can 2 houses a wound electrode group 12 coated by an insulating member 11 made of a resin [0023-0028].
The insulating member 11 is a member for insulating the battery can 2 and a charge/discharge body 17 which is housed in the battery can 2 and which is constituted of the wound electrode group 12, the positive electrode collector plate 13, and the negative electrode collector plate 14 from each other and the insulating member 11 is formed by folding and assembling a single insulation sheet. The insulating member 11 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a rectangular bottom surface 11A to oppose an inside surface of the rectangular bottom surface 2A of the battery can 2 when housed in the battery can 2, a pair of wide-width side surfaces 11B which rise from respective long sides of the bottom surface 11A, a pair of narrow-width side surfaces 11C which rise from respective short sides of the bottom surface 11A, and an opening section 11D which is opened upward at upper ends of the wide-width side surfaces 11B and the narrow-width side surfaces 11C. The wound electrode group 12 is inserted into the insulating member 11 from the opening section 11D so that a winding axis direction coincides with a lateral direction of the insulating member 11 and the battery can 2 and is housed in the battery can 2 in a state of being coated by the insulating member 11 [0035]. In the insulating member 11, a crease 11E is provided in a height direction (z axis) from the opening section 11D so as to reach the bottom surface 11A at a center position in a width direction (x axis) of each narrow-width side surface 11C. With respect to the narrow-width side surface 11C of the insulating member 11 opposing the positive electrode-side coupling end section 13A of the positive electrode collector plate 13 constituting the charge/discharge body 17, the crease 11E is folded in a direction in which the narrow-width side surface 11C separates from the wound electrode group 12 (more accurately, a direction in which the wound electrode group 12 separates from the positive electrode-side coupling end section 13A), and with respect to the narrow-width side surface 11C of the insulating member 11 opposing the negative electrode-side coupling end section 14A of the negative electrode collector plate 14, the crease 11E is folded in a direction in which the narrow-width side surface 11C separates from the wound electrode group 12 (more accurately, a direction in which the wound electrode group 12 separates from the negative electrode-side coupling end section 14A) [0036].
FIG. 4 shows a configuration of the insulating member 11. As described above, the insulating member 11 is formed by folding a single insulation sheet and FIG. 4(A) shows a development view thereof while FIG. 4(B) shows an assembly diagram thereof. As shown in FIG. 4(A), in addition to the bottom surface 11A, the pair of wide-width side surfaces 11B, and the pair of narrow-width side surfaces 11C, the insulating member 11 includes heat welding object sections 11F (hatched portions in FIG. 4) which are respectively provided on an outer side of each narrow-width side surface 11C and which are heat-welded to the wide-width side surfaces 11B during assembly and wing sections 11G respectively provided on both sides in a longitudinal direction of the bottom surface 11A [0048-0049]. Thus, the claims are anticipated.
Conclusion
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/TRACY M DOVE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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