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 .
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.
Specification
The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (WO 2024087801 A1 with references made to the machine translation) in view of Zhang (US 2025/0391992) and Nagano (US 2015/0147612).
Regarding claim 1, Huang discloses a thermal runaway ducting system for a battery pack having one or more thermal runaway protection (TRP) trays (tray body 100, see Fig. 4), the thermal runaway ducting system comprising:
one or more hoses (see hose/tube/pipe 400 in Fig. 6) in fluid communication with the one or more TRP trays (hose 420 leads gas exhausted from the batteries 500 that travels through tray 100 and is therefore in fluid communication with the tray); and
Huang teaches a battery pack exit of the gases (out of hose 420), but does not teach a sensor manifold in fluid communication with the one or more flexible hoses and a battery pack exit vent.
Zhang also discloses a battery system that exhausts gases from battery cells (see abstract).
Zhang goes on to teach tubes/pipes/conduits that join together to form a single exhaust pipe manifold (see Fig. 25 where pipes exiting the battery packs 55 join together to form a single exhaust pipeline 57) which includes a sensor (522) that is situated downstream of the manifold forming a sensor manifold (see Fig. 25 which illustrates this configuration and see Fig. 21 which illustrates the sensor 522 downstream of the multiple exhaust pipelines being combined in a manifold structure). Zhang teaches such a configuration to allow for monitoring of the exhaust gas and allowing for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released (paragraph 176).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the sensor/sensor manifold of Zhang to the exhaust pipe/hose of Huang in order to allow for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released.
In addition, Huang is silent regarding the material utilized to construct hose/pipe 420. More specifically, Huang does not teach a hose that is flexible.
Nagano also discloses a gas relief system for a battery (see abstract).
Nagano, like Huang, teaches routing gas ejected from a battery cell through a pipe/hose (119a-d, see Fig. 5 and see paragraphs 82-87 which discloses released gases passing through these hoses/pipe to exit the battery pack). Nagano goes on to teach that the hoses are preferably made from a flexible material such that it can be bend and contracted and therefore allows for optimization of the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged (paragraph 90).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the flexible hoses of Nagano in the exhaust hoses of modified Huang in order to optimize the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged.
Regarding claim 9, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the sensor manifold further comprising:
one or more inlet ports in fluid communication with one of the one or more flexible hoses;
a sensor port configured to allow measurement of a fluid within the sensor manifold using a sensor (as taught by Zhang and discussed above); and
an outlet port in fluid communication with the battery pack exit vent (see annotated Fig. 25 of Zhang below which teaches these features).
Claim(s) 2-8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (WO 2024087801 A1 with references made to the machine translation) in view of Zhang (US 2025/0391992) and Nagano (US 2015/0147612) and further in view of DeKeuster (US 2015/0072175).
Regarding claim 2, Huang, as modified above, teaches a flexible hose that transmit exhausted gases out of the battery pack and comprises a flexible tube (the tube part of the hose 420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below) that provides fluid communication between a first and second fitting (as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below) , but is silent regarding the first and second fittings being quick connect.
DeKeuster also discloses a battery pack (see abstract).
DeKeuster, like Huang, teaches a system for exhausting gases that are released from a battery cell (see abstract) and teaches conduits that configured to lead exhaust gas away from the battery pack (see Figs. 46-47 and paragraphs 214-216 which discloses the process of gases being released from the battery pack). DeKeuster goes to teach that these conduits can include a quick release fitting to simplify the removal of the conduits from their respective connections (paragraph 216).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the quick connect fittings of DeKeuster to the fittings of modified Huang in order to simplify the removal of the conduits/tubes/hoses from their respective connections.
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Annotated Fig. 6
Regarding claims 3 and 5-8, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the one or more flexible hoses further comprising: a first flexible hose (420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 above), wherein the first quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose is in fluid communication with a first TRP tray, and wherein the second quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose is in fluid communication with the sensor manifold (both quick connect fittings are in fluid communication with both the TRP tray and the sensor manifold located within the conduit, as modified above by Zhang);
Huang, however, does not explicitly disclose a second flexible hose which also comprises a first and second fitting which is in fluid communication with a second TRP tray and the sensor manifold.
Zhang teaches a number of battery systems exhaust to a single manifold (as depicted in Fig. 25 where there are multiple battery packs/cells/systems 55 that combine exhaust gasses via a manifold that lead to a single exhaust line comprising the sensor).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to duplicate the battery packs of Huang such that there are multiple batteries feeding into a single exhaust line, as taught by Zhang, in order to increase the power available from any particular battery system while still utilizing the single exhaust safety sensor manifold system. In other words, attaching multiple TRP trays to vent to a single line amounts to little more than a duplication of parts that utilize a single exhaust line and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. Such a modification produces a system in which a second (or third or fourth) TRP tray is connected to a sensor manifold that exhausts vented gas out via safety sensor mechanism and fluidly connects all the fittings of each flexible hose to both the TRP trays and the sensor manifold.
Furthermore, this modification also reads on the limitations of claims 5 and 6. The first and second TRP trays, the first and second fittings of the first and second flexible hoses are all in fluid communication with each other. It is noted that stating that the fittings are “in fluid communication” with trays/manifolds does not define the structure by the direction of gas flow.
Likewise, this modification also reads on the limitations of claims 7 and 8. These claims define that the first and second trays are fluidly connected to the sensor manifold via a tee-joint (this T joint is illustrated in Fig. 25 of Zhang wand connects the exhaust gas from the two battery systems 55 to the sensor manifold via conduit 57). The flexible hoses of and quick-connect fittings of all these junctions is taught by modified Huang.
Regarding claim 4, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the sensor manifold further comprising:
a first inlet port in fluid communication with the second quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose; and a second inlet port in fluid communication with the second quick connect fitting of the second flexible hose (the sensor manifold, as illustrated below in annotated Fig. 25 of Zhang, comprises two inlet ports, each in fluid communication with the quick connect fittings of Huang which are utilized to assemble the vent lines and manifolds.
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Annotated Fig. 25 of Zhang
Regarding claim 12, Huang discloses a thermal runaway ducting system for a battery pack having one or more thermal runaway protection (TRP) trays (tray body 100, see Fig. 4), the thermal runaway ducting system comprising:
one or more hoses (see hose/tube/pipe 400 in Fig. 6) in fluid communication with the one or more TRP trays (hose 420 leads gas exhausted from the batteries 500 that travels through tray 100 and is therefore in fluid communication with the tray); and
Huang teaches a battery pack exit of the gases (out of hose 420), but does not teach a sensor manifold in fluid communication with the one or more flexible hoses and a battery pack exit vent.
Zhang also discloses a battery system that exhausts gases from battery cells (see abstract).
Zhang goes on to teach tubes/pipes/conduits that join together to form a single exhaust pipe manifold (see Fig. 25 where pipes exiting the battery packs 55 join together to form a single exhaust pipeline 57) which includes a sensor (522) that is situated downstream of the manifold forming a sensor manifold (see Fig. 25 which illustrates this configuration and see Fig. 21 which illustrates the sensor 522 downstream of the multiple exhaust pipelines being combined in a manifold structure). Zhang teaches such a configuration to allow for monitoring of the exhaust gas and allowing for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released (paragraph 176).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the sensor/sensor manifold of Zhang to the exhaust pipe/hose of Huang in order to allow for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released.
In addition, Huang is silent regarding the material utilized to construct hose/pipe 420. More specifically, Huang does not teach a hose that is flexible.
Nagano also discloses a gas relief system for a battery (see abstract).
Nagano, like Huang, teaches routing gas ejected from a battery cell through a pipe/hose (119a-d, see Fig. 5 and see paragraphs 82-87 which discloses released gases passing through these hoses/pipe to exit the battery pack). Nagano goes on to teach that the hoses are preferably made from a flexible material such that they can be bend and contracted and therefore allows for optimization of the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged (paragraph 90).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the flexible hoses of Nagano in the exhaust hoses of modified Huang in order to optimize the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged.
Huang, as modified above, teaches a flexible hose that transmits exhausted gases out of the battery pack and comprises a flexible tube (the tube part of the hose 420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below) that provides fluid communication between a first and second fitting (as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 above) , but is silent regarding the first and second fittings being quick connect.
DeKeuster also discloses a battery pack (see abstract).
DeKeuster, like Huang, teaches a system for exhausting gases that are released from a battery cell (see abstract) and teaches conduits that configured to lead exhaust gas away from the battery pack (see Figs. 46-47 and paragraphs 214-216 which discloses the process of gases being released from the battery pack). DeKeuster goes to teach that these conduits can include a quick release fitting to simplify the removal of the conduits from their respective connections (paragraph 216).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the quick connect fittings of DeKeuster to the fittings of modified Huang in order to simplify the removal of the conduits/tubes/hoses from their respective connections.
Regarding claim 13, Huang, as modified above, further discloses each of the one or more TRP trays further comprising: an outlet spigot, wherein the outlet spigot has a first portion disposed within one of the one or more TRP trays and a second portion disposed outside of one of the one or more TRP trays (as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 below), and wherein the second portion is in fluid communication with the one or more flexible hoses (the spigot is connected to hose 420, as depicted in Fig. 5).
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Annotated Fig. 4
Regarding claim 15, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the second portion of the outlet spigot further comprising:
a quick connect fitting configured to engage with one of the one or more flexible hoses (as modified above, the quick connect fittings are utilized to connect the flexible hoses to the tray/spigot).
Regarding claim 16, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the quick connect fitting is substantially perpendicular to one of the one or more TRP trays (see Fig. 1 of Huang where the longitudinal axis of the tray is perpendicular to the axial axis of the quick connect fitting).
Regarding claim 18, Huang discloses a thermal runaway ducting system for a battery pack having one or more thermal runaway protection (TRP) trays (tray body 100, see Fig. 4), the thermal runaway ducting system comprising:
one or more hoses (see hose/tube/pipe 400 in Fig. 6) in fluid communication with the one or more TRP trays (hose 420 leads gas exhausted from the batteries 500 that travels through tray 100 and is therefore in fluid communication with the tray); and
Huang teaches a battery pack exit of the gases (out of hose 420), but does not teach a sensor manifold in fluid communication with the one or more flexible hoses and a battery pack exit vent.
Zhang also discloses a battery system that exhausts gases from battery cells (see abstract).
Zhang goes on to teach tubes/pipes/conduits that join together to form a single exhaust pipe manifold (see Fig. 25 where pipes exiting the battery packs 55 join together to form a single exhaust pipeline 57) which includes a sensor (522) that is situated downstream of the manifold forming a sensor manifold (see Fig. 25 which illustrates this configuration and see Fig. 21 which illustrates the sensor 522 downstream of the multiple exhaust pipelines being combined in a manifold structure). Zhang teaches such a configuration to allow for monitoring of the exhaust gas and allowing for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released (paragraph 176).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the sensor/sensor manifold of Zhang to the exhaust pipe/hose of Huang in order to allow for ignition of the flammable exhaust gas upon venting from the batteries to prevent flammable gases from being released.
In addition, Huang is silent regarding the material utilized to construct hose/pipe 420. More specifically, Huang does not teach a hose that is flexible.
Nagano also discloses a gas relief system for a battery (see abstract).
Nagano, like Huang, teaches routing gas ejected from a battery cell through a pipe/hose (119a-d, see Fig. 5 and see paragraphs 82-87 which discloses released gases passing through these hoses/pipe to exit the battery pack). Nagano goes on to teach that the hoses are preferably made from a flexible material such that they can be bend and contracted and therefore allows for optimization of the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged (paragraph 90).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the flexible hoses of Nagano in the exhaust hoses of modified Huang in order to optimize the arrangement of the battery modules so as to adapt to the shape of a place to which the battery modules are arranged.
Huang, as modified above, teaches a flexible hose that transmits exhausted gases out of the battery pack and comprises a flexible tube (the tube part of the hose 420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below) that provides fluid communication between a first and second fitting (as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 above) , but is silent regarding the first and second fittings being quick connect.
DeKeuster also discloses a battery pack (see abstract).
DeKeuster, like Huang, teaches a system for exhausting gases that are released from a battery cell (see abstract) and teaches conduits that configured to lead exhaust gas away from the battery pack (see Figs. 46-47 and paragraphs 214-216 which discloses the process of gases being released from the battery pack). DeKeuster goes to teach that these conduits can include a quick release fitting to simplify the removal of the conduits from their respective connections (paragraph 216).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the quick connect fittings of DeKeuster to the fittings of modified Huang in order to simplify the removal of the conduits/tubes/hoses from their respective connections.
Huang, as modified above, teaches a flexible hose that transmits exhausted gases out of the battery pack and comprises a flexible tube (the tube part of the hose 420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 below) that provides fluid communication between a first and second fitting (as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 above) , but is silent regarding the first and second fittings being quick connect.
Huang, as modified above, further discloses each of the one or more TRP trays further comprising: an outlet spigot, wherein the outlet spigot has a first portion disposed within one of the one or more TRP trays and a second portion disposed outside of one of the one or more TRP trays (as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 above), and wherein the second portion is in fluid communication with the one or more flexible hoses (the spigot is connected to hose 420, as depicted in Fig. 5).
Huang, as modified above, further discloses the sensor manifold further comprising:
one or more inlet ports in fluid communication with one of the one or more flexible hoses;
a sensor port configured to allow measurement of a fluid within the sensor manifold using a sensor (as taught by Zhang and discussed above); and
an outlet port in fluid communication with the battery pack exit vent (see annotated Fig. 25 of Zhang below which teaches these features).
Regarding claim 19, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the one or more flexible hoses further comprising: a first flexible hose (420, as depicted in annotated Fig. 6 above), wherein the first quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose is in fluid communication with a first TRP tray, and wherein the second quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose is in fluid communication with the sensor manifold (both quick connect fittings are in fluid communication with both the TRP tray and the sensor manifold located within the conduit, as modified above by Zhang);
Huang, however, does not explicitly disclose a second flexible hose which also comprises a first and second fitting which is in fluid communication with a second TRP tray and the sensor manifold.
Zhang teaches a number of battery systems exhaust to a single manifold (as depicted in Fig. 25 where there are multiple battery packs/cells/systems 55 that combine exhaust gasses via a manifold that lead to a single exhaust line comprising the sensor).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to duplicate the battery packs of Huang such that there are multiple batteries feeding into a single exhaust line, as taught by Zhang, in order to increase the power available from any particular battery system while still utilizing the single exhaust safety sensor manifold system. In other words, attaching multiple TRP trays to vent to a single line amounts to little more than a duplication of parts that utilize a single exhaust line and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. Such a modification produces a system in which a second (or third or fourth) TRP tray is connected to a sensor manifold that exhausts vented gas out via safety sensor mechanism and fluidly connects all the fittings of each flexible hose to both the TRP trays and the sensor manifold.
Regarding claim 20, Huang, as modified above, further discloses the sensor manifold further comprising:
a first inlet port in fluid communication with the second quick connect fitting of the first flexible hose; and a second inlet port in fluid communication with the second quick connect fitting of the second flexible hose (the sensor manifold, as illustrated above in annotated Fig. 25 of Zhang, comprises two inlet ports, each in fluid communication with the quick connect fittings of Huang which are utilized to assemble the vent lines and manifolds.
Claim(s) 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (WO 2024087801 A1 with references made to the machine translation) in view of Zhang (US 2025/0391992) and Nagano (US 2015/0147612) and further in view of DeKeuster (US 2015/0072175) and Rink (US 2024/0047815).
Regarding claims 10 and 11, Huang teaches a battery pack that exits vent gas from the battery pack via a battery pack exit, as described above, but is silent regarding the structure of the battery pack in relation to the battery pack exit. More specifically, Huang does not teach:
a battery pack casting, wherein the battery pack exit vent is integral with the battery pack casting, and wherein the outlet port of the sensor manifold is in fluid communication with the battery pack exit vent using a press-in-place seal, nor does Huang teach a configuration where the exit vent is integral with the pack casting and where the sensor manifold is integral with the pack casting.
DeKeuster also discloses a venting system for a battery (see abstract).
DeKeuster teaches a battery pack which vents gas exhausted from batteries (via vent gas outlet 352 that is integral with the battery pack casting/lid). DeKeuster teaches such a structure to provide an enclosure for the battery to protect it from the environment while also providing a gas release for the vented gas (see paragraph 82 which discloses the preferred enclosure of the battery and see paragraph 356 which discloses the integrated port 356 to release gases vented from the battery).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the enclosure and integrated vent structure of DeKeuster to the system of modified Huang in order to provide a protective enclosure for the battery while also allowing for vented gases to be released.
Furthermore, as modified above, Huang does not teach that the sensor manifold is in fluid communication with the battery pack exit vent using a press in place seal. More generally, modified Huang does not teach a means to seal the exit vent to the battery pack.
Rink also discloses a gas venting system to release vented gas from a battery pack (see abstract).
Rink teaches a port/vent (36) that is located on the casing of a battery pack (see Fig. 3 which illustrates this). Rink teaches that these ports/vents include a press-in-seal structure (54) that sits between the battery case and the vent to seal the junction between the two structures (see paragraph 49 which discloses seal 54 can be a press-in-place seal).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the press in place seal of Rink in the gas exit vent of modified Huang in order to seal the junction between the battery pack exit vent line and the battery casing which would prevent the undesired leak of vented gas to unwanted locations. Furthermore, such a modification would integrate the pack casting with the sensor manifold and the exit vent as they would all be structurally bound to each other.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (WO 2024087801 A1 with references made to the machine translation) in view of Zhang (US 2025/0391992) and Nagano (US 2015/0147612) and further in view of DeKeuster (US 2015/0072175) and further in view of Eftekhari (US 2024/0297404).
Regarding claim 14, Huang, as modified above, further discloses an outlet spigot with a first portion within the tray, but is silent regarding a particulate filter to prevent particles from entering the outlet spigot.
Eftekhari also disclose a battery exhaust venting system (see abstract).
Eftekhari teaches a venting system in which gas generated by the batteries is vented through a filter (40) that removes particulates from the exhaust gas and places this port prior to the exhaust gas entering a manifold (as depicted in Fig. 7 where multiple exhaust streams are filtered prior to entering a manifold). Eftekhari teaches such a configuration in order to prevent solid particles from being a potential ignition source in the flammable vented gas when it exits outside (paragraph 52).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the filters of Eftekhari upstream of the sensor manifold of modified Huang, as suggested by Eftekhari, such as within the TRP tray spigot in order to prevent solid particles from being a potential ignition source in the flammable vented gas when it exits outside.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 is 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: In claim 17, the closest prior art, Huang, fails to teach convex/concave configuration of the tray in addition to a filter fin member located on the interior lid surface. One of ordinary skill in the art would not be motivated to place the filter on a lid of Huang as such a configuration does not provide a structure in which the gas will flow through the filter removing the particles but rather along a filter which will allow the particles to bypass the filter and exit the tray.
Relevant Prior Art
US 2011/0311848 – Discloses a two-part structure forming a tray that collects cell vent gases and discharges it through a hose or tube, similar to the instant invention.
US 2012/0171533 – Discloses a flexible hose in a battery discharge passage leading to an external outlet, similar to claim 1’s flexible hose and exit-vent connection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is (571)272-9813. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/MATTHEW J MERKLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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