DETAILED ACTION
Application 18/613445, “POWER STORAGE CELL”, was filed with the USPTO on 3/22/24 and claims priority from a foreign application filed on 8/29/23.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action on the merits is in response to communication filed on 12/24/25.
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.
Claims 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Urushihara (US 2018/0205044) and Chai (US 2023/0012207).
Regarding claim 1, Urushihara teaches a power storage cell (Fig. 1,2) comprising:
a wound electrode body that includes a first electrode and a second electrode (paragraph [0025]; items 3 and 4);
a case that houses (items 2, 20) the wound electrode body;
a seal member (item 50) housed in the case and having a first through hole (see Fig. 2);
an external terminal (item 31); and
a connecting member (item 8, 32,40) that electrically connects the external terminal (item 31) and the first electrode (item 4 or 3), wherein:
the case includes
a peripheral wall portion (item 2) disposed on an outer peripheral side of the wound electrode body and extending in a cylindrical shape along an axial direction of the wound electrode body (see Fig. 2),
a first lid portion (unnumbered, lower portion of item 2) that closes one end of the peripheral wall portion in the axial direction, and
a second lid portion (item 30) that closes the other end of the peripheral wall portion in the axial direction;
the second lid portion has a second through hole through which an inside of the case communicates with an outside of the case (see Figs. 1 and 2 where lid 20 includes a central through hole);
the connecting member includes a columnar portion (item 32) that extends in the axial direction so as to penetrate the second through hole of the second lid portion and the first through hole of the seal member (see Fig. 2); and
the seal member (item 50) is disposed so as to cover the second through hole from the inside of the case (see Fig. 2).
Ushihara does not appear to teach wherein the first lid portion includes an exhaust valve for discharging a gas in the case.
In the battery art, Chai teaches (Figs. 3,4) a power storage cell (item 10) comprising a first lid portion (item 13) which includes an exhaust valve for discharging a gas in the case (paragraph [0109]) for the benefit of improving the safety of the cell (paragraph [0109]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the power storage cell of Ushihara by providing on the lower side of the case a first lid portion which includes an exhaust valve for discharging a gas in the case for the benefit of improving the safety of the cell as taught by Chai.
Regarding claim 2, the cited art remains as applied to claim 1. Ushihara further teaches wherein: the connecting member further includes a plate-shaped portion (item 8 and/or 40) connected to the columnar portion inside the case (see Fig. 2); and the plate-shaped portion is disposed so as to extend across the axial direction on a side opposite of the external terminal (item 31) from the seal member (see Fig. 2 where item 31 is on the opposite side of item 50 from item 8,40).
Regarding claim 3, the cited art remains as applied to claim 2. Ushihara further teaches wherein the seal member (item 50) is sandwiched between the second lid portion (item 20) and the plate-shaped portion (item 40,8) in the axial direction.
Regarding claim 4, the cited art remains as applied to claim 1. Ushihara further teaches the cell comprising an insulating member (item 50a) disposed so as to cover the second through hole of the second lid portion (item 20) from the outside of the case (see Fig. 2), wherein: the second lid portion is electrically connected to the second electrode (paragraphs [0004, 0025]); and the insulating member is configured to have a third through hole through which the columnar portion penetrates (See Fig. 2 where a through hole is disposed within item 50a), and be disposed so as to insulate the second lid portion and the external terminal (see Fig. 2 where portion 50a separates lid 20 from external terminal 31).
Regarding claim 5, the cited art remains as applied to claim 1. Ushihara further teaches wherein a thickness of the seal member in the axial direction is greater than a thickness of the insulating member in the axial direction (the seal member [i.e. including item 50b] is thicker than the insulating member [i.e. including item 50a] because the seal member includes a downwardly protruding portion labeled as 50b).
Relevant or Related Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, though not necessarily pertinent to applicant’s invention as claimed.
Zhou (US 2019/0237743) discloses an exhaust valve disposed on a lower lid portion;
Shen (US 2009/0148766) battery comprising lid with insulator and through hole for electrode and lower lid with venting structure;
Makino (US 2025/0079655) battery casing comprising lid with vent for relieving pressure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEREMIAH R SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-7005. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9 AM-5 PM (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tiffany Legette-Thompson can be reached on (571)270-7078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEREMIAH R SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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