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 Objections
Claims 2-11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2, line 3: “a underframe” should be “an underframe”.
Claims 3-11 are objected to as being dependent on the objected claim 2.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 20220285779 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches an energy storage system comprising:
a mounting rack with an accommodation space (Fig. 1, 300, [0054]);
an energy storage device arranged into the accommodation space (Fig. 1, 200, [0054]); and
connecting members, wherein the mounting rack and the energy storage device are connected by the connecting members (Fig. 2, 320, [0054]).
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) 2-6, 8, 12, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Owens (WO 2006020871 A2, cited in the IDS).
Regarding claim 2, Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 1, but does not teach that the mounting rack comprises:
an underframe supporting the energy storage device;
and two side-frame assemblies respectively connected to both ends of the underframe,
wherein the accommodation space is enclosed by the underframe and the two side-frame assemblies.
Owens, however, teaches a mounting rack for transporting pressurized gases (Abstract) that comprises of:
an underframe(See Owens figure 3 below);
and two side-frame assemblies respectively connected to both ends of the underframe (See Owens figure 1 below),
wherein the accommodation space is enclosed by the underframe and the two side-frame assemblies (Pg. 3, Disclosure of the Invention, Brief Description of Drawings).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the Kim energy storage system by including the mounting rack from Owens in order to take advantage of the light weight transportation container of Owens(Owens Pgs. 2-3). This will allow easier transportation of batteries.
Regarding claim 3, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 2, wherein the underframe comprises:
two first lower cross beams, which extends in a first direction and are arranged in parallel and spaced apart in a second direction, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction (See Owens figure 3 below); and
at least two second lower cross beams, which are arranged at intervals in the first direction, wherein two ends of each of the at least two second lower cross beams are respectively connected to the two first lower cross beams (See Owens figure 3 below),
and the two first lower cross beams and the at least two second lower cross beams jointly support the energy storage device (See Owens figure 3 below).
Regarding claim 4, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 2, wherein each of the two side-frame assemblies comprises:
a rectangular frame located above the underframe, wherein the rectangular frame comprises four first upper cross beams connected end to end in sequence (See Owens figure 2 below);
vertical beams, wherein four corners of the rectangular frame are respectively fixedly connected to the underframe by the vertical beams (See Owens figure 1 below); and
a slanting beam, wherein a top end of one of the vertical beams and a bottom end of an adjacent one of the vertical beams are respectively connected to both ends of the slanting beam (See Owens figure 1 below).
Regarding claim 5, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 2, wherein the mounting rack further comprises:
an upper cross-beam assembly located above the underframe (See Owens figure 2 below),
wherein both ends of the upper cross-beam assembly are respectively connected to the two side-frame assemblies (See Owens figures 1 and 2 below).
Regarding claim 6, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 5, wherein one side-frame assembly is connected to the energy storage device by connecting members (Kim et al. Fig. 2, 320, [0054]). Modified Kim does not teach that the other side-frame assembly, the underframe, and the upper cross-beam assembly are connected to the energy storage device by the connecting members.
However, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date to add connecting members to the other side-frame assembly, the underframe, and the upper cross-beam assembly that connect to the energy storage device in order to better secure the energy storage device.
Regarding claim 8, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 5, wherein the mounting rack further comprises:
a plurality of reinforcing ribs, wherein both ends of each of the plurality of reinforcing ribs are respectively connected to the upper cross-beam assembly and the underframe (See Owens figure 1 below).
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Regarding claim 12, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 1, wherein the mounting rack comprises:
two side-frame assemblies, wherein both ends of the energy storage device are inserted and fitted into the two side-frame assemblies, respectively, and the two side-frame assemblies jointly support the energy storage device. Since Owens states that the gas tank is positioned within the mounting frame (Owens Pg. 3, Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention), then the modified Kim with the Owens mounting rack would have the batteries positioned within the rack. This means that the energy storage device would be inserted and fitted into the two side-frame assemblies.
Regarding claim 14, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 1, wherein the energy storage system further comprises:
corner fittings, which are arranged at outermost corners of the mounting rack (Owens, Fig. 1, 17; Pg. 4, paragraph 2).
Claim(s) 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Owens as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Takata (US 20220278411 A1).
Regarding claim 7, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 6, but does not teach that the connecting members comprises two connecting plates perpendicular to each other, one of the two connecting plates is detachably connected to the two side- frame assemblies, the underframe, or the upper cross-beam assembly, and the other of the two connecting plates is detachably connected to the energy storage device.
Takata, however, teaches a battery stack comprising a plurality of batteries (Abstract). Takata also teaches of a binding bar fixed to a battery stack [0007], where the connecting members comprises two connecting plates perpendicular to each other, with the plates being detachable (Fig. 1, 71, [0007]).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use any conventional connecting means to connect the mounting frame and the energy storage system. In this case, the connecting means would be the connecting plate of Takata (Fig. 1, 71, [0007]).
Regarding claim 9, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 8, but does not teach that those of the plurality of reinforcing ribs on one side of the mounting rack are detachably connected to the upper cross-beam assembly and the underframe.
Takata, however, teaches of a binding bar being detachably connected to a battery case with screws (Fig. 1, 79, [0067]).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date to use any conventional connecting means to connect the plurality of reinforcing ribs to the upper cross-beam-assembly and the underframe. In this case the connecting means would be the screws of Takata (Fig. 1, 79, [0067]).
Claim(s) 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Owens as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Weber et al. (US 10593915 B2).
Regarding claim 10, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 5, but does not teach that the mounting rack further comprises:
two sets of first limiting assemblies arranged on the underframe and spaced apart in the second direction, wherein the two sets of first limiting assemblies are configured to limit the position of the energy storage device in the accommodation space in the first direction.
Weber, however, teaches of a housing for a battery (Abstract) that comprises of limiting assemblies, wherein the two sets of first limiting assemblies are configured to limit the position of the energy storage device in the accommodation space in the first direction (Fig. 7, 19, Col. 3, lines 64-67 and Col. 4, lines 1-7).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date to modify the modified Kim in order to include limiting assemblies on the underframe because the limiting assemblies allow the mounting rack to be fixed on the battery easily and securely (Weber et al. Col.2, lines 4-9).
Regarding claim 11, the further modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 5, wherein the mounting rack further comprises: two sets of second limiting assemblies arranged on the underframe and spaced apart in the first direction, wherein the two sets of second limiting assemblies are configured to limit the position of the energy storage device in the accommodation space in the second direction (Weber et al. Fig. 7, 19, Col. 3, lines 64-67 and Col. 4, lines 1-7).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Owens as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Jin (US 20120177979 A1).
Regarding claim 13, modified Kim teaches the energy storage system according to claim 12, but does not teach that each of the two side-frame assemblies comprises:
a side frame body, which is of a cubic frame structure;
and fixing parts, wherein the fixing parts are formed by extending four corners on a side, which faces the other side-frame assembly, of the side frame body of one side-frame assembly in the first direction, the fixing parts arranged at the four corners of the side frame body are arranged around an outer periphery of one side of the energy storage device, and each of the fixing parts is fixedly connected to the energy storage device by the connecting member.
However, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date to modify the side frame body to change it from having a rectangular prism structure to having a cubic structure. In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966) (MPEP 2144.04).
In addition, Jin teaches of a housing containing battery cells and barriers (Abstract), where the barriers contain fixing parts, wherein the fixing parts are formed by extending corners on a side.
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date to modify the two side-frame assemblies to include fixing parts that face the other side-frame assembly, of the side frame body of one side-frame assembly in the first direction, the fixing parts arranged at the four corners of the side frame body are arranged around an outer periphery of one side of the energy storage device, and each of the fixing parts is fixedly connected to the energy storage device by the connecting member. This is because the fixing parts will securely fix the battery cells so as not to significantly vibrate by external force (Jin [0079]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lin et al. (US 20210164718 A1) teaches of a container for an energy storage system including a frame and a bottom plate (Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YVONNE WEI whose telephone number is (571)270-0870. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30am-5pm, Friday 7:30am-4pm.
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/YVONNE WEI/Examiner, Art Unit 1722
/ANCA EOFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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