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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-19 are currently pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: “rare” should read “are”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 10-14 & 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zbiral (US 2021/0320376 A1) in view of Chen (US 2022/0140432 A1).
Regarding claims 1 & 17-18, Zbiral teaches a housing of a battery, the housing comprising: a housing wall comprising a housing opening ([0014]); and a venting and separating device arranged partially outside of the housing ([0014]) and comprising a base body (10) comprising: a circumferentially extending rim (1+7) configured to couple to the housing (fig. 1; [0071]); an inlet opening (15) configured to be in fluid communication to an interior of the housing ([0071]); an outlet opening (32) configured to be in fluid communication with an environment (fig. 1; [0075]); a first separation screen (6) comprising first screen openings engaging across the inlet opening (fig. 1; [0072]); and a pressure relief valve (2) configured to open, when a predetermined excess pressure in the housing is surpassed, a bypass fluid flow path from the interior of the housing to the environment the bypass fluid flow path bypassing the first separation screen (fig. 3; [0074]). Zbiral is silent as to a second separation screen in a venting flow direction fluidically downstream of the first separation screen, the second separation screen comprising second separation screen openings engaging across the outlet opening and the bypass fluid flow path bypassing both the first and second separation screens. Chen teaches a venting and separating device of a battery, the device comprising a first separation screen (3) comprising first screen openings engaging across an inlet opening and a second separation screen (4) in a venting flow direction fluidically downstream of the first separation screen, the second separation screen comprising second separation screen openings engaging across an outlet opening (fig. 5; [0067]-[0068]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to include a second separation screen in a venting flow direction fluidically downstream of the first separation screen, the second separation screen comprising second separation screen openings engaging across the outlet opening in order to further filter thermal runaway products thereby filtering out solid particles or melts missed by the first separation screen as taught by Chen ([0068]-[0069]).
Regarding claim 2, Zbiral teaches the pressure relief valve comprising a pre-tensioned spring element (4) configured to press the base body, in a mounted state, seal-tightly against the housing, and the base body is configured to, when the predetermined excess pressure in the housing is surpassed, lift off the housing, opposite to the pre-tensioned spring element, with opening of the bypass fluid flow path (fig. 3; [0074]-[0075] & [0080]).
Regarding claim 3, Zbiral teaches the base body further comprising a force action region (61) where the pre-tensioned spring element is configured to engage to transmit a pretension force ([0074]).
Regarding claim 4, Zbiral teaches the pressure relief valve comprising a rated break site or rated deformation site in a sidewall of the base body (fig. 3; [0074]).
Regarding claim 5, Zbiral teaches the rated break site or rated deformation site comprising a flap pivotable toward the environment ([0024]).
Regarding claim 7, Chen teaches the first separation screen configured to separate coarse particles and the second separation screen configured to separate fine particles ([0068]-[0069]).
Regarding claim 10, Zbiral teaches the outlet opening being arranged in an end face of the base body and facing the environment (fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Zbiral teaches the first separation screen comprising a heat-resistant material such as PTFE ([0032]).
Regarding claim 12, Zbiral teaches the first separation screen being arranged across a cross section of the base body (fig. 1). Furthermore, when Zbiral is modified to include the second separation screen of Chen, the holes in the second separation screen can be equated to the outlet opening from which gas within the housing of the battery is expelled to the environment.
Regarding claim 13, Zbiral teaches the venting flow direction being deflected from the inlet opening to the outlet opening (fig. 1; [0075] & [0078]).
Regarding claim 14, Chen teaches the second separation screen being arranged inside of a base body (1) along with the first separation screen (figs. 4-5). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to incorporate the second separation screen of Chen within Zbiral’s base body.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zbiral (US 2021/0320376 A1) and Chen (US 2022/0140432 A1), as applied to claims 1-5, 7, 10-14 & 17-18 above, and further in view of Maguire (US 20170288187 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Zbiral as modified by Chen teaches the device of claim 1 but is silent as to the flap comprising parallel slits in the base body and a hinge extending between the parallel slits. However, the use of a flap comprising parallel slits (105) and a hinge (109) extending between the parallel slits for expelling a gas from an interior of a battery housing to the environment is known as taught by Maguire (figs. 7A-B; [0062] & [0064]).
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zbiral (US 2021/0320376 A1) and Chen (US 2022/0140432 A1), as applied to claims 1-5, 7, 10-14 & 17-18 above, and further in view of Brilmyer (US 2013/0146603 A1).
Regarding claims 8-9, Zbiral as modified by Chen teaches the device of claim 1 but is silent as to the base body further comprising a medium for depth filtration of particles and arranged between the first separation screen and the second separation screen. Brilmyer teaches a venting and separating device comprising a medium (24) for depth filtration comprising a density gradient so that, in the venting flow direction, increasingly smaller particles are separated by first passing through an initial particle filer (24A), then through a gas fume filter (24B) wherein smaller particles suspended in the fume are filtered before passing through a chemical filter (24C) ([0020]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to include the claimed medium for depth filtration between the first and second separation screens of modified Zbiral in order to sequentially filter increasingly smaller particles that are expelled from the interior of the battery housing to ensure that dangerous gasses can be appropriately treated before being expelled to the environment as taught by Brilmyer ([0020]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record, Zbiral (as cited in the above rejection), does not fairly teach or suggest the second separation screen comprising a swirl-reducing or swirl-avoiding configuring, in which a surface of the second separation screen comprises a downward slope toward the outlet opening.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BARBARA GILLIAM can be reached at (571)272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
