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 § 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.
(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) 1-12 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1/a2 as being anticipated by Pechan et al. (US 2023/0187774).
Pechan et al. disclose a battery module including a power storage device (20 and 22), with a safety valve (24) which ejects a fluid volume in the case of a thermal escalation (see [0252]). The safety valve includes an ejection direction portion and a direction change part that are integral with the storage device (see [0162]) as shown in the following annotated figure:
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With regard to claim 2, the group of direction change parts (guide elements-32), shown in annotated Fig 3, correspond to the claimed “dispersion part” because they serve to disperse a fluid stream 26 that is ejected from any of the safety valves (24).
With regard to claim 3, it is noted that Figure 3 shows a fluid (26) being ejected from the safety valve in a plurality of advancing directions in a path through the openings being two adjacent guide elements (32). One of ordinary skill in the art would expect the fluid to exit the two guide elements in a plurality of advancing directions given the width of the spacing between guide elements (32) and the different entry angles of the fluid. See also paragraph [0074], which describes the preferred exit angles of the gas/fluid, and the annotated portion of Figure 3 below:
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With regard to claims 4-6, the guide elements (32) corresponding to the claimed direction change part are designed to redirect the flow of an elected fluid. Therefore, they are necessarily formed from a material that is capable of not deteriorating at the temperature of ejection. Furthermore, Pechan et al. teaches that the guide parts are made of materials to improve their head resistance (see para [0062]).
With regard to claims 7-12, direction change parts 932) are provided integrally with the power storage device in the form of a covering on the safety valves (see Figure 3-4).
Claims 16-20 are met for the foregoing reasons.
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.
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pechan et al. (US 2023/0187774) in view of Aldrich (US 2020/0251703).
Pechan et al. teaches all of the limitations of the claims, as detailed above, including a rupture safety valve having a thin part that is a part of the battery case wall and is configured to rupture in the case of thermal runaway (see [0052]-[0053]). The reference fails to teach that the device includes a metal case forming a case wall part.
Aldrich teaches a similar structure with a battery pack (104) in a housing structure (106) having a rupture valve (114) therein – see Fig 1. The reference teaches that the battery pack housing is formed from metal (see para [0042]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use metal for the battery casing surrounding the battery cells taught by Pechan et al. in view of Aldrich’s teaching that metal was known to be suitable for this purpose.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li et al. (US 2016/0133901) and WO 2018/138226 are cited as art of interest.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOLLY RICKMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1514. The examiner can normally be reached Mon, Tues, and Thurs, from 9am-3pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Ruthkosky can be reached at 571-272-1291. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Holly Rickman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
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