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.
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by, or in the alternative, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Villanueva et al. (US 20200339010).
2. Regarding claims 1-20, Villanueva teaches an aircraft [0040] comprising a battery management system (The system can include battery electronics 112, such as a battery management system (BMS) [0104]), comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories (The computer-readable medium can be stored on any suitable computer-readable media such as RAMs, ROMs, flash memory, EEPROMs, optical devices (CD or DVD), hard drives, floppy drives, or any suitable device. The computer-executable component is preferably a general or application specific processor [0112]), configured to:
receive a thermal model (Block S200 can include directly measuring the instantaneous temperature of the battery pack (e.g., with a temperature sensor), inferring or estimating the temperature of the battery pack (e.g., based on the output of another sensor that is not a temperature sensor, in accordance with a thermal model of the battery pack, etc.) [0138]) in accordance with a first temperature associated with a first battery cell and a second temperature associated with a second battery cell (For example, Block S200 can include detecting propagation of a thermal anomaly between multiple cells in the battery pack based on the measured temperature rise rate in a plurality of adjacent cells [0140]; Based on the expected heat rise, Block S100 can include determining an expected temperature difference between the battery cells [0120]); and determine thermal propagation between the first battery cell and the second battery cell (For example, a thermal event can include a thermal runaway in one or more cells 114 of a battery pack, wherein an uncontrolled, positive feedback exothermic reaction occurs within the cell or cells. A thermal event can also include thermal propagation, wherein an off-nominal (e.g., spiked, increasing, etc.) temperature spreads from one to multiple cells not initially affected [0033]) in accordance with the thermal model (Block S200 can include directly measuring the instantaneous temperature of the battery pack (e.g., with a temperature sensor), inferring or estimating the temperature of the battery pack (e.g., based on the output of another sensor that is not a temperature sensor, in accordance with a thermal model of the battery pack, etc.) [0138])
3. Villanueva teaches wherein the one or more processors are (The computer-readable medium can be stored on any suitable computer-readable media such as RAMs, ROMs, flash memory, EEPROMs, optical devices (CD or DVD), hard drives, floppy drives, or any suitable device. The computer-executable component is preferably a general or application specific processor [0112]) further configured to: determine thermal propagation between the first battery cell and an external environment in accordance with the thermal model; and
determine thermal propagation between the second battery cell and the external environment in accordance with the thermal model (The sensors can measure the electrically-related parameters of the battery pack (e.g., current flow through the battery pack, voltage of the battery pack, charge state of the battery pack, etc.), thermal parameters of the battery pack (e.g., temperature at any suitable point in the battery pack, temperature outside the battery pack, temperature change rate at any suitable point in or around the battery pack, etc.) [0105]). They teach distributing heat across the battery packs (battery string) [0094]).
4. Villanueva teaches a method (the battery thermal management method 200 [0037]), comprising: determining a first temperature associated with a first battery cell; determining a second temperature associated with a second battery cell (For example, Block S200 can include detecting propagation of a thermal anomaly between multiple cells in the battery pack based on the measured temperature rise rate in a plurality of adjacent cells [0140]; Based on the expected heat rise, Block S100 can include determining an expected temperature difference between the battery cells [0120]); receiving a thermal model from a remote computing device (Block S100 is preferably performed based on the trip profile of the vehicle. The trip profile can include ambient temperature (e.g., of locations along the trip), battery parameters (e.g., age, capacity, cell type/model, current temperature,...The trip profile can be received from a remote system and can include any other suitable set of parameters [0116]); and determining thermal propagation between the first battery cell and the second battery cell (For example, a thermal event can include a thermal runaway in one or more cells 114 of a battery pack, wherein an uncontrolled, positive feedback exothermic reaction occurs within the cell or cells. A thermal event can also include thermal propagation, wherein an off-nominal (e.g., spiked, increasing, etc.) temperature spreads from one to multiple cells not initially affected [0033]) in accordance with the thermal model (Block S200 can include directly measuring the instantaneous temperature of the battery pack (e.g., with a temperature sensor), inferring or estimating the temperature of the battery pack (e.g., based on the output of another sensor that is not a temperature sensor, in accordance with a thermal model of the battery pack, etc.) [0138]). Furthermore, Villanueva’s device is capable of receiving the thermal model as one or more of a state-space file or a functional mock-up unit file.
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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