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 Interpretation
Claim 11 recites “free surface” and “circular free surface” and as best understood these are open areas on the circuit board without any structure demarcating a border or perimeter. For example, a square area on the circuit board which is free of components and has a width of 2 mm would also comprise a circular free surface with a diameter of 2 mm.
Claim 12 recites “the area of the at least one temperature sensor” which is understood to be a general area around the temperature sensor. It is noted that claim 12 lacks explicit antecedent basis and could be changed to “an area of the at least one temperature sensor”, but is deemed to definite as is.
Claim 17 recites “the further printed circuit board” which is understood to mean “the at least one further printed circuit board” as recited in claim 1.
Claim Objections
Claims 4, 6 and 13-16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 recites “the edge” in line 2 which lacks explicit antecedent basis and should be changed to “the flat edge” for clarity.
Claim 6 recites: “The energy storage unit according claim 1” which should be changed to “The energy storage unit according to claim 1”.
Claim 13 recites “the area of the at least one assembled further printed circuit board” in line 2 which lacks explicit antecedent basis and it is suggested to use different wording for clarity. For example, this could be changed to “an area of the at least one in an assembled state of the energy storage unit” or similar.
Claim 14 recites “according claim 1” which should be changed to “according to claim 1”.
Claim 15 recites “at least one electrical energy store designed as an removeable battery pack according to claim 1”, but there is no removeable battery pack recited in claim 1. Also, it appears “an” should be changed to “a”. Among other possibilities, this could be changed to “at least one electrical energy store designed as [[an]] a removeable battery pack comprising the energy storage unit according to claim 1” for clarity.
Claim 16 recites “a cell holder filled with a thermally conductive material” in line 6 and it is recommended to change the wording for clarity. For example: “a cell holder wherein the recess is filled with a thermally conductive material” or similar.
Claim 16 recites “the the” in line 8 and one instance of “the” should be removed.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 8 is 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 8 recites “conductor tracks made of copper of <1/2 ounce, and/or <= 200 µm” and as best understood ½ ounce is in reference to the weight of copper in the tracks, but as stated it is not clear what is meant by “<=200 µm”. This could be amended as “conductor tracks made of copper of <1/2 ounce, and/or <= 200 µm in width and”.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 6, 12 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901).
Regarding claim 1, Baumgartner et al. discloses an energy storage unit (battery pack, para. [0003]) for an electrical consumer (a consumer, para. [0005], such as hammer drill 24, Fig. 1) as shown below:
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Baumgartner et al. discloses at least one energy storage cell (battery cells 90, para. [0005], multiple shown in cell housing 50, Fig. 2); and a first printed circuit board (electronics unit 102 comprises circuit board 104 shown to be a printed circuit board (PCB), Fig. 2) configured to electrically contact the at least one energy storage cell using a first and a second power supply contact of the energy storage unit (para. [0010]) wherein the first printed circuit board is arranged adjacent to the at least one energy storage cell (Fig. 4); and at least one temperature sensor (para. [0008], temperature sensor 106) configured to sense a temperature of the at least one energy storage cell (thermally coupled, para. [0044]), wherein at least one further circuit board (carrier element 108 is a circuit board, para. [0020], which is connected to the first circuit board [circuit board 104], para. [0041]) is electromechanically connected to the first printed circuit board (para. [0041]), and the at least one temperature sensor is arranged on the at least one further printed circuit board (the temperature sensor is connected to the first PCB [the electronics unit 102/circuit board 104] by a carrier element, Abstract, which may be a circuit board, para. [0020]).
Insomuch as Baumgartner et al. does not explicitly disclose the at least one further circuit board is a PCB , Schmid-Schoenbein et al. discloses an energy storage unit (battery system, para. [0001]) for an electrical consumer shown below:
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Schmid-Schoenbein et al. discloses at least one energy storage cell (battery cell 20); and a first printed circuit board (electronic unit 30 is shown to comprise a printed circuit board, Fig. 2 and “is formed as a printed circuit board (PCB)”, para. [0023]) wherein the first printed circuit board is arranged adjacent to the at least one energy storage cell (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2); and at least one temperature sensor (sensor element 11 may be a temperature sensor, pars. [0003] and [0028]) configured to sense a temperature of the at least one energy storage cell (specifically, the temperature at a terminal of the battery cell, para. [0003]) and Schmid-Schoenbein et al. teaches wherein at least one further printed circuit board (flexible printed circuit board 12, Abstract) is electromechanically connected (using plug 16) to the first printed circuit board (Fig. 2), and the at least one temperature sensor is arranged on the at least one further printed circuit board (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the further circuit board is a PCB.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use a PCB in order to mount a temperature sensor and thereby achieve the predictable result of mounting a temperature sensor between a battery cell and a first printed circuit board (Schmid-Schoenbein et al., Abstract, Fig. 1, Baumgartner et al., pars. [0020] and [0040], Fig. 5) for providing temperature data for battery management.
Assuming, arguendo, that power supply contacts of Baumgartner et al. (para. [0010]) are somehow not electrically contacted with the energy storage cell; Jang discloses an energy storage unit (battery pack, para. [0003]) and Jang teaches electrically contacting battery cells to a first printed circuit board (pars. [0030] and [0035]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the first printed circuit board is configured to electrically contact the at least one energy storage cell using a first and second power supply contact (at least a contact on the cell and a contact on the PCB) of the energy storage unit.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to configure the first PCB for electrical contact with the at least one energy storage cell in order to transmit voltage values and other data (Baumgartner et al., para. [0040], Jang, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 2, Baumgartner et al. discloses wherein the at least one further printed circuit board is, in an assembled state, arranged between the first printed circuit board and the at least one energy storage cell (Fig. 5) as shown below:
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Regarding claim 6, Baumgartner et al. discloses wherein the at least one further printed circuit board features a rectangular, square, or honeycomb design (curved rectangular, Fig. 4) and bears no further electrical components other than the at least one temperature sensor (only comprises temperature sensors 106 as electrical components, Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 12, Baumgartner et al. discloses wherein the first printed circuit board (circuit board 104) comprises at least one recess (recess 120, Fig. 2) which, in the assembled state with the at least one further printed circuit board, is arranged on the first printed circuit board in the area of the at least one temperature sensor in that the recess (recess 120) is located near the temperature sensor (sensor 106, Fig. 3) and serves as a passage for the sensor’s carrier element (which is or comprises the further printed circuit board [circuit board 114], para. [0041]).
Regarding claim 14, Baumgartner et al. discloses an electrical consumer comprising an energy storage unit (machine tool 12 with battery pack, para. [0030]) according claim 1 (see comments for claim 1 above).
Regarding claim 15, Baumgartner et al. discloses a system consisting of an electrical consumer designed as a hand-held power tool (handheld machine 12, para. [0030]) and at least one electrical energy store designed as an removeable battery pack (exchangeable battery pack 18, para. [0030]) according to claim 1 (see comments for claim 1 above).
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Park (US 20090087694) and Segret et al. (attached translation of Applicant disclosed DE 102019205953A1).
Regarding claim 3, Baumgartner et al. is silent as to edge metallizations or half-hole contacts, but Baumgartner et al. discloses soldering the further circuit board to the first printed circuit board (carrier element 108/flexible circuit board 114, para. [0041], soldered at point 116, Fig. 4) and Park discloses an energy storage unit (battery, Abstract) with a printed circuit board (printed circuit board 110) where half hole contacts (half-circle soldering holes 151c, Fig. 4, where a plurality of the half holes 551a are used for the connection, Fig. 5) are used as soldering points for attaching components to the printed circuit board via copper pads on the printed circuit board (conducting pads 131/132, para. [0052]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the at least one further printed circuit board comprises a plurality of flat edge metallizations and/or half-hole contacts (at least half-hole contacts).
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to include a plurality of half-hole contacts (Park, holes 151c or a plurality of holes 551a) and copper pads (Park, pads 130-132) in order to facilitate attachment of the further printed circuit board to the first printed circuit board via soldering (Baumgartner et al., para. [0041]).
The combined teaching of the above-cited references further discloses the electromechanical connection to the first printed circuit board is made via bonded solder connections, flat edge metallizations, and/or half-hole contacts using corresponding copper pads of the first printed circuit board (at least bonded solder connections, Baumgartner et al., “solder connection”, para. [0041], using the half hole contacts, Park, holes 551a, with copper pads 131/132).
Insomuch as the combined teaching of the above-cited references do not disclose copper pads (plural), Segret et al. teaches an energy storage unit (battery, para. [0001]) with an energy storage cell (battery cell, Abstract) having a temperature sensor (temperature sensor 2) and Segret et al. teaches the temperature sensor has two electrical contacts (contact terminals 7, Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein at least two copper pads (Park, pad 131) are used on the first printed circuit board in order to electrically connect two terminals of the temperature sensor to the first printed circuit board (via the half-holes, Park 551a, of the further circuit board, Baumgartner et al., element 108/circuit board 114).
The person of ordinary skill would have found it obvious to make two connections with copper pads in order to attach connections from two terminals of a temperature sensor.
Regarding claim 4, Baumgartner et al. does not expressly disclose copper pads.
However, as discussed above for claim 3, Park teaches copper pads (conducting pads 131/132, para. [0052]) and further discloses wherein the copper pads of the first printed circuit board are designed such that they feature a tolerance range with respect to the edge metallizations and/or half-hole contacts (Park only appears to expressly disclose the half-hole contacts) of the at least one further printed circuit board in that the copper pads are shown to be larger than the contact surface of the component they are soldered to which allows for horizontal tolerance in the placement of the component and the half-hole contacts (Park, holes 151c, Fig. 4, holes 551a, Fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the copper pads of the first printed circuit board are designed such that they feature a tolerance range with respect to the edge metallizations and/or half-hole contacts (the half-hole contacts) of the at least one further printed circuit board.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to provide a tolerance in order to ensure that the component is not soldered outside of the copper pad.
Regarding claim 5, the combined teaching of the above-cited references for claim 3 discloses wherein the at least one further printed circuit board (Baumgartner et al., element 108/circuit board 114, Fig. 4) bears a number N>=1 of temperature sensors (Baumgartner et al., such as one to three temperature sensors 106, Fig. 4) and comprises a number M>=N+1 of flat edge metallizations and/or half-hole contact (Segret et al., each temperature sensor has two terminals, each of which needs a soldered connection to the first PCB via a half hole on the further PCB and copper pad on the first PCB resulting in two half-hole contacts for each sensor).
Claims 7, 9-10 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Windhövel et al. (attached translation of Applicant disclosed DE 102018131716A1).
Regarding claim 7, insomuch as Baumgartner et al. does not expressly disclose at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one first recess which partially surrounds the at least one temperature sensor or arranged in the immediate vicinity thereof; Windhövel et al. discloses an energy storage unit (storage module 10, Abstract) having a further printed circuit board (circuit board 16) with at least one temperature sensor (sensor 20, Abstract) and Windhövel et al. teaches wherein the at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one first recess (recess 24) which partially surrounds the at least one temperature sensor and/or is arranged in the immediate vicinity thereof (various configurations of recess 24 with sensor 20/20a shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 4, and Fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one first recess which partially surrounds the at least one temperature sensor and/or is arranged in the immediate vicinity thereof.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include a first recess in the at least one further printed circuit board which partially surrounds the at least one temperature sensor in order to fill the recess with thermally conductive material for thermal contact with components (Windhövel et al., pars. [0036]-[0037]).
Regarding claim 9, Baumgartner et al. discloses wherein a cell holder for the at least one energy storage cell comprises at least one recess for the at least one temperature sensor (recess 91 which is mislabeled as “120” in Fig. 2, para. [0047]).
Baumgartner et al. does not expressly disclose the recess is configured to be filled with a thermally conductive material.
However, Windhövel et al. discloses an energy storage unit (storage module 10, Abstract) having a further printed circuit board (circuit board 16) with at least one temperature sensor (sensor 20, Abstract) and Windhövel et al. teaches using thermally conductive material to thermally connect a storage cell to a temperature sensor (para. [0013]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein thermally conductive material is used to thermally connect the energy storage cell (Baumgartner et al., battery cells 90) to the temperature sensor (Baumgartner et al., sensor 106) where the recess (Baumgartner et al., recess 91) is configured to be filled with a thermally conductive material (Windhövel et al., para. [0013]).
The person of ordinary skill would have been motivated to configure the recess for filling with thermally conductive material in order to establish a good thermal connection between the at least one energy storage cell and the temperature sensor.
Regarding claim 10, Baumgartner et al. does not expressly disclose, wherein the at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one further recess in proximity to the at least one temperature sensor configured to enable a visual check for the presence of the thermally conductive material between the at least one temperature sensor and the at least one energy storage cell.
However, Windhövel et al. further discloses wherein the at least one further printed circuit board (circuit board 16) comprises at least one further recess (recess 24) in proximity to the at least one temperature sensor (sensor 20) configured to enable a visual check for the presence of the thermally conductive material (para. [0016]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein
the at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one further recess in proximity to the at least one temperature sensor configured to enable a visual check for the presence of the thermally conductive material between the at least one temperature sensor and the at least one energy storage cell.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include a recess configured to enable a visual check for the presence of the thermally conductive material to facilitate quality assurance inspections (Windhövel et al., para. [0016]).
Regarding claim 13, Baumgartner et al. discloses wherein the first printed circuit board and/or the cell holder (at least the first printed circuit board 104), in the area of the at least one assembled further printed circuit board (element 108/circuit board 114), comprises at least one protrusion (element 126, Fig. 2) configured to create a defined distance between the first printed circuit board and the at least one energy storage cell (as shown in Fig. 5).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Federle et al. (US 20150214581).
Regarding claim 8, Baumgartner et al. reasonably discloses conductor tracks (circuit traces, para. [0020]) having a dimension of <=200 µm (such as circuit traces having a diameter of less than about 113 µm or a width of less than 100 µm as indicated by the cross-section of less than 0.010 mm2, para. [0020]) configured to electrically contact the at least one temperature sensor.
Baumgartner et al. is silent as to the material of the conductor tracks.
However, Federle et al. discloses an energy storage unit (battery system, Abstract) having a temperature sensor connected to a printed circuit board (pars. [0012] and [0022]) with conductor tracks of <= 200 µm (100 µm, para. [0007]) and Federle et al. teaches conductor tracks are made of copper (para. [0036]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the conductor tracks are copper.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use copper as the selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination. See Sinclair & Carroll Co. v.Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945) and In re Leshin, 277 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Pique et al. (US 20090217517) and Chiatti et al. (US 20230152204).
Regarding claim 11, Baumgartner et al. discloses free surfaces and a circular free surface on the further circuit board as shown annotated below (various free surfaces are drawn onto Fig. 4):
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However, Baumgartner et al. is silent as to dimensions.
However, Schmid-Schoenbein et al. further teaches a dimension of the further printed circuit board may be up to 30 mm (para. [0009]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein a dimension of the further printed circuit board may be up to 30 mm and in view of the image of the further circuit board of Baumgartner et al. (Fig. 4) this would reasonably result in the at least one further printed circuit board comprising at least one free surface of >3 mm2, and a circular free surface with a diameter >2 mm.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use a known size of a further printed circuit board to achieve the predictable result of supporting a temperature sensor (Baumgartner et al., pars. [0003] & [0020], Schmid-Schoenbein et al., para. [0003]) and thus resulting in the claimed free surface dimensions. The person of ordinary skill in the art would have otherwise found it obvious to change the size of the further circuit board to arrive at the claimed free surface dimensions. See In re Rose, 220 F.2d 459, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955) and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 189 USPQ 143 (CCPA 1976).
Further, Pique et al. discusses a prior art system which is analogous art at least because it is reasonably pertinent to the problem of manufacturing electronic components by attachment to a first printed circuit board (para. [0004]) using a “pick and place” technique (para. [0004]) and Pique et al. states that “pick-and-place tools are ineffective at handling small (less than 1 mm square)” components (dies, para. [0008]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. to include free surfaces greater than 1 mm2 in order to utilize pick and place manufacturing.
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the proportions taught by Pique et al. overlap the instantly claimed proportions and therefore are considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select any portion of the disclosed ranges including the instantly claimed ranges from the ranges disclosed in the prior art reference, particularly in view of the fact that;
“The normal desire of scientists or artisans to improve upon what is already generally known provides the motivation to determine where in a disclosed set of percentage ranges is the optimum combination of percentages.” See In re Peterson, 65 USPQ2d 1379 (CAFC 2003) and MPEP 2144.05.
Assuming, arguendo, that the above-cited references do not disclose multiple free surface locations on the further printed circuit board; Chiatti et al. discusses a prior art system which is analogous art at least because it is reasonably pertinent to the problem of manufacturing electronic components by attachment to a first printed circuit board (para. [0009]) using a “pick and place” technique (para. [0009]) using a plurality of pick-and-place areas.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the further printed circuit board includes at least one free surface and a circular free surface.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to provide multiple free surfaces in order to facilitate manufacturing.
Claims 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Windhövel et al. (attached translation of Applicant disclosed DE 102018131716A1), Roepke (US 6984065), and Li et al. (US 20220255141).
Regarding claim 16, Baumgartner et al. discloses a method for manufacturing an energy storage unit according to claim 1 (see comments for claim 1 above), comprising: assembling the at least one further printed circuit board by soldering the at least one further printed circuit board on the first printed circuit board in a bonded manner (Baumgartner et al., “solder connection”, para. [0041]).
Baumgartner et al. does not explicitly disclose soldering the temperature sensor to the further printed circuit board.
However, Schmid-Schoenbein et al. further teaches assembling the at least one temperature sensor by soldering the at least one temperature sensor (sensor element is a temperature sensor, para. [0003]), on the at least one further printed circuit board (flexible printed circuit board 12) in a bonded manner (para. [0003]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the method includes assembling the at least one temperature sensor by soldering the at least one temperature sensor on the at least one further printed circuit board in a bonded manner.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to solder the temperature sensor to the further printed circuit board to achieve the predictable result of attaching the sensor in an electrically conductive manner (Schmid-Schoenbein et al., para. [0003], Baumgartner et al., para. [0020]).
Baumgartner et al. discloses providing a recess for the temperature sensor in a cell holder (recess 91, pars. [0047]-[0048]).
Baumgartner et al. does not explicitly disclose filling a recess with thermally conductive material.
However, Windhövel et al. discloses an energy storage unit (storage module 10, Abstract) having a further printed circuit board (circuit board 16) with at least one temperature sensor (sensor 20, Abstract) and Windhövel et al. teaches wherein the at least one further printed circuit board comprises at least one first recess (recess 24) filled with a thermally conductive material (Abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the method includes providing a recess for the temperature sensor in a cell holder filled with a thermally conductive material.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to fill the recess with thermally conductive material in order to establish a good thermal connection between the at least one energy storage cell and the temperature sensor.
Baumgartner et al. does not disclose immersing only the temperature sensor and/or further printed circuit board in thermally conductive material.
However, Roepke discloses an energy storage unit (accumulator, Abstract) where thermally conductive adhesive material (element 18”, Fig. 3) is used to thermally connect an energy storage cell (cell 10) to a temperature sensor (temperature sensor 12, Fig. 3) in a manner such that only the temperature sensor is substantially immersed (Fig. 2a and Fig. 3).
Likewise, Li et al. discloses an energy storage unit (battery, Abstract) where the at least one temperature sensor is immersed in the thermally conductive material (“covered by a thermal conductive adhesive 5”, para. [0052]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the method includes assembling the first and the at least one further printed circuit board such that only the at least one further printed circuit board and/or the at least one temperature sensor are immersed in the thermally conductive material.
The person of ordinary skill would have found it obvious to contact components with thermally conductive material while immersing the temperature sensor in order to establish a good thermal circuit with the sensor.
Regarding claim 18, Baumgartner et al. does not expressly disclose checking the presence of the thermally conductive material through a further recess of the at least one further printed circuit board.
However, Windhövel et al. further discloses wherein the at least one further printed circuit board (circuit board 16) comprises at least one further recess (recess 24) configured to enable a visual check for the presence of the thermally conductive material (para. [0016]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the method comprises checking the presence of the thermally conductive material through a further recess of the at least one further printed circuit board.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include a recess for conducting visual checks for the presence of the thermally conductive material to facilitate quality assurance inspections (Windhövel et al., para. [0016]) as part of the method.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baumgartner et al. (US 20210367284) in view of Schmid-Schoenbein et al. (US 20180348305), Windhövel et al. (attached translation of Applicant disclosed DE 102018131716A1), Roepke (US 6984065), and Li et al. (US 20220255141) and with or without Jang (US 20210105901) as applied to claim 16 above and in further view of Park (US 20090087694).
Regarding claim 17, Baumgartner et al. is silent as to copper pads.
However, Park discloses an energy storage unit (battery, Abstract) with a printed circuit board (printed circuit board 110) where soldering points for attaching components to the printed circuit board are provided via copper pads on the printed circuit board (conducting pads 130/131/132, para. [0052]) and Park further teaches wherein the copper pads of the first printed circuit board are designed such that they feature a tolerance range for lateral fine adjustment in that the copper pads are shown to be larger than the contact surface of the component they are soldered to which allows for horizontal/lateral tolerance in the placement of components and the half-hole contacts (Park, pads 130/131/132. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Baumgartner et al. wherein the method includes providing the first printed circuit board with copper pads for soldering with the further printed circuit board; and designing the first printed circuit board such that the copper pads provided for soldering with the further printed circuit board each have a tolerance range for lateral fine adjustment of the further printed circuit board.
The person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use copper pads to provide a conductive surface for joining components which carry a current and to provide a tolerance in order to ensure that the component is not soldered outside of the copper pad.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Zhao et al. (US 20160133908) discloses a temperature sensor (thermistor 192) immersed in thermally conductive material (para. [0041]).
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/P.M.M./Examiner, Art Unit 1774
/CLAIRE X WANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1774
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