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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 1, the claim recites “low-temperature region with relatively low temperature and a high-temperature region with relatively high temperature.” It is not sufficiently clear what the temperatures of these regions are relative to. However, Claim 2 uses language to describe the temperature of the middle-temperature region that explicitly indicates its temperature characterization is relative to the low-temperature and high-temperature regions.
Thus, the examiner will interpret Claim 1 as, “…a low-temperature region and a high-temperature region, where the low-temperature region is at a temperature lower than the temperature in the high-temperature region, exist in the power storage module when the plurality of power storage devices are charged and discharged...”. In addition, claims 2 – 6 are rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 2, and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuta et al. (US-20210083242-A1 in IDS) in view of Yamaguchi et al. (US-20030118896-A1), hereafter referred to as Matsuta and Yamaguchi, respectively.
Regarding Claim 1, Matsuta teaches a power storage module comprising a plurality of power storage devices, wherein each of the plurality of power storage devices includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator (“battery module disclosed herein includes a plurality of submodules,” Abstract; “Although not shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in each single cell 22 included in the battery module 1, the positive terminal 27 and the negative terminal 28 of each of the adjacent cells are electrically connected by a connecting member such as a bus bar,” paragraph 39), a low-temperature region with relatively low temperature and a high-temperature region with relatively high temperature exist in the power storage module when the plurality of power storage devices are charged and discharged (“there is a region where a temperature is likely to be relatively low when charging-discharging of the plurality of submodules is carried out,” paragraph 6; “the battery module disclosed herein, inside the housing, there is a region where the temperature is likely to be relatively high when charging-discharging of the plurality of submodules is performed,” paragraph 8; “the high-rate resistance of the submodule 10A disposed in the low-temperature region can be enhanced to a level substantially equal to that of the submodule 10C disposed in the high-temperature region,” paragraph 53; 10A and 10C in Fig. 1).
Matsuta does not teach that, in a first power storage device disposed in the low-temperature region among the plurality of power storage devices, a porosity of the separator is higher than that in a second power storage device disposed in the high-temperature region. However, Yamaguchi teaches a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell with two separators of different porosities. Therein, Yamaguchi teaches that the porosity of a separator in a low-temperature setting should be higher than the porosity of a separator in a high-temperature setting and the motivation for such an approach (“when the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell is overcharged such that the inner temperature of the cell is raised, this polyolefin micro-porous film exhibits a so-called shutdown effect in which the cell undergoes an endothermic reaction and is thereby melted, with the micro-sized pores being then closed to cause the current to cease to flow. However, when the value of the porosity of the separator, comprised of a polyolefin micro-porous film, is high, there is a certain time lag until separator pores are completely blocked since the separation reaches the shutdown temperature,” paragraphs 10-11; “the porosity of the separator is desirably set to a lower value. However, in this case, lithium ions are hardly movable across the cathode and the anode during charging/discharging of the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell, with the result that its low temperature characteristics are deteriorated,” paragraph 12). Additionally, though Matsuta does not disclose separator modifications, Matsuta does teach that the purpose of identifying a low-temperature and high-temperature region is to treat cells in those respective regions differently in order to achieve more uniform characteristics across the module (“lowering the constraining pressure in the submodule in the low-temperature region than those in the other submodules includes lowering the tightening pressure of the constraining band. According to the present aspect, the high-rate resistance of a plurality of single cells can be easily made uniform,” paragraph 19).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take the power storage module taught by Matsuta and modify the separators in the low-temperature region to have higher porosity than the separators in the high-temperature region in order to optimize the power storage device performances as a function of temperature across the module and make them more uniform, as taught by Yamaguchi. The goal of increased uniformity in battery performance is also consistent with Matsuta’s disclosed motivation. Please also see MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A).
Regarding Claim 2, Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi teaches the power storage module according to claim 1, wherein a middle-temperature region with temperature higher than the temperature in the low-temperature region and lower than the temperature in the high-temperature region exists between the low-temperature region and the high-temperature region inside the power storage module (“there may easily occur such a temperature distribution that the center in the arrangement direction X has a highest temperature, the downstream side in the arrangement direction X has a next highest temperature, and the upstream side in the arrangement direction X has a lowest temperature,” paragraph 47; Figs. 1 and 2).
It would be obvious to optimize the module taught by Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi such that the plurality of power storage devices are disposed so that the porosity of the separator gradually increases in order of the high-temperature region, the middle-temperature region, and the low-temperature region, based on the teachings Yamaguchi discussed above. Please see MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A).
Regarding Claim 5, Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi teaches the power storage module according to claim 1, wherein Yamaguchi teaches that the separator is formed by polyolefin resin in both the first power storage device and the second power storage device (“As the separator for the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell, such as lithium secondary cell, a polyolefin micro-porous film, as typified by high molecular polypropylene or high molecular polypropylene, is widely used,” paragraph 5). Please see MPEP § 2144.07.
Regarding Claim 6, Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi teaches the power storage module according to claim 1, wherein Yamaguchi teaches both the first power storage device and the second power storage device are nonaqueous electrolyte solution secondary batteries (“Non-aqueous Electrolyte Secondary Cell,” Title). Please see MPEP § 2144.07.
Regarding Claim 7, Matsuta teaches a manufacturing method for a power storage module including a plurality of power storage devices, in which each of the plurality of power storage devices includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator (“battery module disclosed herein includes a plurality of submodules,” Abstract; “Although not shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in each single cell 22 included in the battery module 1, the positive terminal 27 and the negative terminal 28 of each of the adjacent cells are electrically connected by a connecting member such as a bus bar,” paragraph 39), the manufacturing method comprising:
a temperature distribution predicting step of predicting a temperature distribution inside the power storage module when the plurality of power storage devices are charged and discharged (“The distribution information to be recorded in the control unit can be obtained in advance through a preliminary experiment or the like. For example, in this preliminary experiment, a temperature sensor may be attached to each of the plurality of single cells housed in the housing so as to acquire a detailed temperature distribution at the time of the charging-discharging,” paragraph 57);
and a constructing step of constructing the power storage module by disposing the first power storage device in a low-temperature region with relatively low temperature and disposing the second power storage device in a high-temperature region with relatively high temperature, based on the temperature distribution (Figs. 1 and 2).
Matsuta does not teach a preparing step of preparing, as the plurality of power storage devices, a first power storage device in which a porosity of the separator is relatively high and a second power storage device in which the porosity of the separator is relatively low. However, Yamaguchi teaches a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell with a porous separator. Therein, Yamaguchi teaches that the porosity of a separator in a low-temperature setting should be higher than the porosity of a separator in a high-temperature setting and the motivation for such an approach (“when the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell is overcharged such that the inner temperature of the cell is raised, this polyolefin micro-porous film exhibits a so-called shutdown effect in which the cell undergoes an endothermic reaction and is thereby melted, with the micro-sized pores being then closed to cause the current to cease to flow. However, when the value of the porosity of the separator, comprised of a polyolefin micro-porous film, is high, there is a certain time lag until separator pores are completely blocked since the separation reaches the shutdown temperature,” paragraphs 10-11; “the porosity of the separator is desirably set to a lower value. However, in this case, lithium ions are hardly movable across the cathode and the anode during charging/discharging of the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell, with the result that its low temperature characteristics are deteriorated,” paragraph 12). Additionally, though Matsuta does not disclose separator modifications, Matsuta does teach that the purpose of constructing a module based centered around the location of a low-temperature and high-temperature region is to treat cells in those respective regions differently in order to achieve more uniform characteristics across the module (“lowering the constraining pressure in the submodule in the low-temperature region than those in the other submodules includes lowering the tightening pressure of the constraining band. According to the present aspect, the high-rate resistance of a plurality of single cells can be easily made uniform,” paragraph 19).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take the manufacturing method taught by Matsuta and modify the separators in the first power storage device, placed in the low-temperature region, to have higher porosity than the separators in the second power storage device, placed in the high-temperature region, in order to optimize the power storage device performances as a function of temperature across the module and make them more uniform, as taught by Yamaguchi. The goal of increased uniformity in battery performance is also consistent with Matsuta’s disclosed motivation. Please also see MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A).
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuta in view of Yamaguchi and in further view of Hitoshi et al. (JP-2006261093-A in IDS, see machine translation for citation purposes), hereafter referred to as Hitoshi.
Regarding Claim 3, Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi teaches the power storage module according to claim 1, but not wherein the porosity of the separator is in a range of 45% or more and 60% or less in both the first power storage device and the second power storage device. However, Hitoshi teaches a non-aqueous secondary battery comprising two separators of different porosities, where the more porous separator is located in the lower-temperature region of the cell (“it is desirable to position the separator so that the porosity on the positive electrode side is higher than that on the negative electrode side,” paragraph 23; “by reducing the liquid retention capacity of the negative electrode, it is possible to suppress the heat generated by the decomposition of the electrolyte at the negative electrode,” paragraph 24). Therein, Hitoshi teaches that the porosity of both separators be in a range of 45% or more and 60% or less (“the porosity is more preferably 45% to 70%, with at least one layer being within this range,” paragraph 21). Hitoshi teaches that porosity outside this range may begin to have detrimental effects, exacerbated by certain temperature conditions (“if the porosity is made too low, the cycle performance, low-temperature performance, and load performance will be significantly reduced due to insufficient electrolyte volume,” paragraph 23; “On the other hand, by reducing the liquid retention capacity of the negative electrode, it is possible to suppress the heat generated by the decomposition of the electrolyte at the negative electrode,” paragraph 24).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take the power storage module taught by Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi and further modify such that the porosities of both separators are within the claimed range in order to optimize the performance of the cells in the module, as taught by Hitoshi. Please see MPEP § 2144.05(I) and MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A).
Regarding Claim 4, Matsuta modified by Yamaguchi teaches the power storage module according to claim 1, but not wherein the separator has equal thickness in the first power storage device and the second power storage device. However, Hitoshi teaches that thickness of both separators of different porosities may be of the same thickness (“the thickness of one separator layer is 30 μm or less,” paragraph 21; “if the materials or shapes of the separator differ on both sides, the effectiveness may vary depending on how they are arranged,” paragraph 23). Since Hitoshi explicitly teaches different porosities for each separator but not different thicknesses for each, in addition to Hitoshi noting that making their shapes different could impact their effectiveness, it is assumed that Hitoshi envisions separators of the same thickness by default. Furthermore, the plurality of power storage devices within a module traditionally have the same characteristics unless differences are explicitly noted, such as the different constraining forces taught in Matsuta and the different separator porosities taught in Yamaguchi and Hitoshi.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORDAN P WILKERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-1891. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm.
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/JORDAN P WILKERSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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