DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 16-29 in the reply filed on 9 June 2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 30 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9 June 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 2 January 2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it exceeds the limit of 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
Claims 16-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2013/0316560, hereinafter Yoon.
Regarding claim 16, Yoon teaches a device (100) for electrically contacting a fuel cell assembly having a plurality of bipolar plates (10) (paragraphs [0003-0006, 0046] and figure 1).
The device (100) comprises a plurality of connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”). Each connecting terminal (120, “connector elements”) is designed to be electrically connected to a terminal (11, “contacting portion”) on a corresponding bipolar plate (10) (paragraph [0047] and figures 8, 13, 15B).
The device (100) further comprises a housing (130). The housing (130) is designed to receive the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) (figures 5, 8, 9 and 14). The connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are inserted into apertures (135) of the housing (130) and are restrained (“fixed”) by housing elements (134) (paragraph [0059]). Yoon further teaches that the housing (130) is used to press-fit the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) into place (paragraph [0051]). The connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are also shown latched into place by element (121c) (figures 13 and 14). As such, the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are understood to be “received latching into place in a form-fitting manner”. The housing (130) further includes a side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) (paragraph [0054] and figures 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9).
The device (100) further comprises a positioning part (110), which is a separate element from the housing (130) (figures 8 and 9). The positioning part (110) includes a rear portion (“holding portion”). The rear portion (“holding portion”) is designed to hold each of the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) in its own slit (111, “predetermined position”) on the positioning part (110) (paragraphs [0048]). The positioning part (110) further includes a recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”) (paragraph [0054]). The recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”) is designed to guide the housing (130) from a first position into a second position by interaction with the side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) (paragraph [0054] and figure 6). The direction from the first position toward the second position is in the direction of the rear portion (“holding portion”) (figure 6).
The first position may be defined as a position in space occupied by the housing (130) when the side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) is not fully engaged with the recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”). The second position may be defined as a position in space occupied by the housing (130) when the side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) is fully engaged with the recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”) (see figure 6).
The connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) may be placed in the first position, be partially received in the housing (130) and be spaced apart from the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) held via the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110). This arrangement is possible when the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are partially received in the housing (130), but are not inserted fully into the device (100) and thus are not in contact with the terminals (11, “contacting portions”).
Similarly, the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) may be placed in the second position, be received in the housing (130), be fully inserted into the device (100) and thus contact the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) held via the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110).
Regarding claim 17, Yoon teaches that the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) is designed to receive the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) (paragraph [0060]).
Regarding claim 18, Yoon teaches that the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) is located between the housing (130) and the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) when the housing (130) is in the first and/or second position (figure 1).
Regarding claim 19, Yoon teaches that the positioning part (110) is integral with (“formed monolithically with”) its rear portion (“holding portion”) (figure 9).
Regarding claim 20, Yoon teaches that elements (134) of the housing (130) are insertable into terminal insertion apertures (112, “receptacles”) on the positioning part (110) (paragraph [0056]). Elements (134) are removable reversibly from the terminal insertion apertures (112, “receptacles”).
Regarding claim 21, Yoon teaches that the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are each designed to clamp an edge portion of a corresponding terminal (11, “contacting portion”). The connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are “beak-shaped” (paragraph [0061] and figure 15B).
Regarding claim 22, Yoon teaches that the housing (130) is provided with apertures (135, “cutouts”) which are designed to each receive one of the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 23, Yoon teaches that the apertures (135, “cutouts”) are arranged along two planes – each plane extending in the x-direction and in the y-direction (see Figure 1 below). Thus, the two planes run parallel to one another.
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The planes run perpendicularly to the terminals (11, “contacting portions”), which extend in the z-direction, when the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) holds the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) and the housing (130) is in the second position (see Figure 1 below).
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 1 – Each of the two parallel lines shown across the apertures (135) is on a plane extending in x-direction and in the y-direction. The top three apertures (135) are arranged along one of the two planes. The bottom three apertures (135) are arranged along the other of the two planes. (The x-y-z directions are added for clarity).)]
Regarding claim 24, Yoon teaches that the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) has a plurality of slits (111) (figure 9). Each slit (111) is configured to receive one of the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) in a form-fitting manner (paragraph [0060] and figures 1 and 16).
Regarding claim 25, Yoon teaches that when the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) holds the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) and the housing (130) is in the second position, the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) extend in the z-direction (see annotated Figure 1 above).
When the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) holds the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) and the housing (130) is in the second position, the slits (111) also extend in the z-direction (figure 9).
Thus, the slits (111) are aligned parallel with the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) when the rear portion (“holding portion”) of the positioning part (110) holds the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) and the housing (130) is in the second position.
Regarding claim 26, Yoon teaches that the recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”) is defined by a feature that may be described as a “rail” (see annotated Figure 2 below).
Yoon teaches moving the side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) along the “rail”, when the housing (130) is moved from the first position to the second position (figure 6).
As such, the side fixing piece (131, “first guide portion”) may be described as a “slider”.
The side fixing piece (131, “slider/first guide portion”) is in engagement with the “rail” in the first position and in the second position (figure 6).
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[AltContent: textbox (Figure 2 - Illustrating the features considered the claimed "rail", "arm" and "base portion". (The upper panel is from Yoon’s figure 8. The lower panel is Yoon’s figure 6.))]
Regarding claim 27, Yoon teaches that the recessed surface (110a, “second guide portion”) includes an arm extending from the rear portion (“holding portion”) (see annotated Figure 2 above). The arm comprises a boss (110b) configured to latch the side fixing piece (131, “slider/first guide portion”) in place (paragraph [0054]). Thus, the arm is a “latching arm” and given that it holds the side fixing piece (131, “slider/first guide portion”) in place, it is understood to be resilient.
In the second position, the housing (130) is held between the latching arm and a base portion of the positioning part (110). The base portion extends from the rear portion (“holding portion”) in a direction parallel to the latching arm (see annotated Figure 2 above).
Regarding claim 28, Yoon teaches that the connecting terminals (120, “connector elements”) are in engagement with the rear portion (“holding portion”) in the second position (paragraph [0049] and figure 7).
Regarding claim 29, Yoon teaches a system. The system comprises a fuel cell stack having a plurality of bipolar plates (10) and the device (100) of claim 16 (paragraphs [0006, 0046] and figure 1).
Each of the terminals (11, “contacting portions”) of the bipolar plates (10) has a lock groove (11a, “recess”) for partially receiving the device (100) (paragraphs [0046, 0047] and figure 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LILIA V NEDIALKOVA whose telephone number is (571)270-1538. The examiner can normally be reached 8.30 - 5.00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Miriam Stagg can be reached at 571-270-5256. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILIA NEDIALKOVA/Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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