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) 1-7, 11, 12 and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (US 2013/0183552) in view of Mastrandrea (US 2018/0219205).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 12 and 17, Yang discloses a battery which can be used in an electric vehicle (paragraph 2), comprising:
a box (Fig. 2) having a top (31) and a bottom (32) opposite in a first direction (see first direction as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 below);
a plurality of battery cells (1) disposed upside down in the box (in one interpretation of the term “upside down”, the side of the battery cells that contains the terminals will be called the top and the opposite side will be the bottom, and in Yang, the terminals of the cells are facing the bottom as depicted in Fig. 5), wherein the battery cells comprise electrode terminals (see terminals that are connected to busbar plate 11 in Fig. 4), the electrode terminals being disposed back away from the top in the first direction (terminals are pointed downward/away from the top, as depicted in Fig. 5);
a busbar (see busbar 11, in Fig. 4) component for electrically connecting to the electrode terminals of at least two of the plurality of battery cells (see busbar 11 in Fig. 4 which connects terminals of adjacent cells); and
a protective assembly (10) disposed between the bottom and the busbar component (see Fig. 5 where the protective layer 10 comprises extended portions at different locates around the battery that are located in between the bottom and the busbar), wherein the protective assembly is used to support the battery cells and insulating the battery cells from the bottom (see Fig. 5 where the battery cells are separated from the bottom due to the support plate 10).
Yang, however, does not teach the plurality of battery cells are connected/bonded to the top and to the bottom/protective assembly.
Mastrandrea also discloses a battery system (see abstract).
Mastrandrea teaches cells (510) between an upper and lower plates (540 and 530 respectively) and teaches that in order to fix the cells within the battery pack, the upper plate 540 may be fixed to the cells via an adhesive (paragraph 71) and the lower plate may be fixed to the lower tray (paragraph 70). Mastrandrea teaches such embodiments as known and effective configurations for securing battery cells within a housing (see paragraph 70 which discloses holding the cells in place as a result of such a configuration).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to provide the securing configuration of Mastrandrea where the cells are fixed to a top plate and the bottom plate/protective assembly to the configuration of Yang in order to assist in holding the cells in place, particularly where cells are exposed to various vibrations and forces such as in a vehicle.
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Annotated Fig. 4
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Yang, as modified by Mastrandrea above, further discloses the top comprises a top plate and a frame (the top plate and frame are taught by the top plate 540 of Mastrandrea which provides a frame for the cells) , the frame being disposed surrounding the plurality of battery cells (the frame of Mastrandrea wraps around the cells), and the frame being used to connect the top plate and the bottom (when combined with the structure of Yang, the frame integrates with the top plate 31 of Yang which is connected to the bottom, as depicted in Fig. 2 of Yang which illustrates bolt holds connecting the two).
Regarding claim 5, Yang further discloses the protective assembly comprises a plurality of protective members extending in a second direction (as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 above), the plurality of the protective members being disposed at intervals in a third direction (see third direction in annotated Fig. 4 above where there are 3 spaced apart at intervals) and the battery cells abutting against the protective members (as depicted in Fig. 4 where the battery cells are up against the protective members), with the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction being arranged to intersect with each other (as depicted in Fig. 4 above).
Regarding claim 6, Yang further discloses orthographic projections of the electrode terminals to the bottom are located between orthographic projections of the protective members adjacent thereto to the bottom (as depicted in annotated Fig. 4 above).
Regarding claim 7, Yang further discloses the plurality of protective members comprise edge protective members (protective members on the outside edge of the battery, see Figs. 3 and 4), first protective members, and second protective members (first and second protective members are the protective members that are not on the edges of the battery and when multiple batteries are placed in a row, like in Fig. 3, there are multiple “central” protective members that are not on the edges of the battery), wherein along the third direction, the edge protective members are disposed at edges on the two sides of an assembly of battery cells arranged in an array (as depicted in Fig. 4), and the first protective members and the second protective members are distributed alternately between two of the edge protective members (first and second protective members are placed in between the edge protective members).
Regarding claim 11, Yang further discloses the protective assembly further comprises a connecting plate (plate that is the bottom of can 32), the plurality of protective members being separately disposed on a surface of the connecting plate towards the top (the protective members extend between the bottom of can 32 toward the top and are separately disposed in the portions which extend to the surface of the connecting/bottom of can plate).
Regarding claim 15, Yang further discloses the protective assembly is of an insulating material, or the protective assembly is coated with an insulating coating (see paragraph 46 which discloses an insulating liquid that at least coats the protective member 10).
Regarding claim 16, Yang further discloses an adapter plate (flange around the outside of box 32) and an adapter (gasket depicted in Fig. 2 between the box bottom 32 and the box top 31), wherein the adapter plate is disposed on one side of the box (the top side of the box) and is disposed to protrude from the box (flange protrudes outward from the box), and the adapter plate is connected to the bottom to form an accommodating part (the accommodated part is formed between the flange and the top plate), and the adapter is disposed in the accommodating part and is disposed to be connected to the adapter plate (the adapter/gasket is placed in between the top plate and the bottom plate).
Claim(s) 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (US 2013/0183552) in view of Mastrandrea (US 2018/0219205).
Regarding claim 13, Yang is silent regarding the claimed pressure relief mechanism on the same side as the electrode terminals.
Fuhr also discloses a battery structure (see abstract).
Fuhr, like Yang, teaches a cell (40) that comprises both terminals on the same side (as depicted in Fig. 13). Fuhr goes on to teach a vent (52) located on the same face of the cell as the terminals (as depicted in 3). Fuhr teaches such a vent in order to relieve pressure in the cell should the pressure exceed a predetermined threshold (see abstract).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the vent of Fuhr to the cell of modified Yang in order to relieve pressure in the cell should the pressure exceed a predetermined threshold.
Regarding claim 14, Yang, as modified above, further discloses an orthographic projection of the pressure relief mechanism to the bottom is located between orthographic projections of the protective members adjacent thereto to the bottom (the vent on the same face as the terminals will produce similar orthographic projections as the terminals and will be between the protective members).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 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, Yang, teaches protective members but teaches the protective members to be all the same length. The prior art neither teaches nor suggests the claimed first protective members to be greater in extension length than the second protective members and does not suggest a motivation to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the protective members of Yang to arrive at such a configuration.
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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