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 .
Election/Restriction
This application contains claims directed to the following patentably distinct species:
Species A: Claims 1-10 - the method comprises:
inserting a battery stack formed of one or more battery cells into a container forming a battery submodule; and adding liquid phase change material into the container such that at least a portion of the battery stack is immersed in the liquid phase change material, wherein the liquid phase change material is configured to absorb heat released from the battery stack.
Species B: Claims 11-20 - the method comprises:
calculating, for a battery stack formed of a plurality of battery cells, an amount of
energy to be released from the battery stack in a case of a failure; and
determining an amount of a phase change material based on a latent heat of fusion of the phase change material and the amount of energy to be released from the battery stack in the case of the failure, wherein the phase change material is configured to absorb heat released from the battery stack.
The species (i.e. Species A or B) are independent or distinct as set forth above. In addition, these species are not obvious variants of each other based on the current record.
Applicant is required under 35 U.S.C. 121 to elect a single disclosed species (i.e. Species A or B), or a single grouping of patentably indistinct species, for prosecution on the merits to which the claims shall be restricted if no generic claim is finally held to be allowable. Currently, none of the claims appear to be generic.
There is a serious search and/or examination burden for the patentably distinct species as set forth above because at least the following reason(s) apply: each species would require a different search. Therefore, considering, searching, and prosecuting both groups would require additional time.
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of a species to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected species or grouping of patentably indistinct species, including any claims subsequently added. An argument that a claim is allowable or that all claims are generic is considered nonresponsive unless accompanied by an election.
The election may be made with or without traverse. To preserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the election of species requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable on the elected species or grouping of patentably indistinct species.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the species, or groupings of patentably indistinct species from which election is required, are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing them to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the species unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other species.
Upon the allowance of a generic claim, applicant will be entitled to consideration of claims to additional species which depend from or otherwise require all the limitations of an allowable generic claim as provided by 37 CFR 1.141.
During a telephone conversation with Mr. Patrick Miller on 2/17/2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group II, claims 11-20. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 1-10 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 11-13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 106684499 A (to Wang et al.) – translation attached and relied upon below.
With respect to claim 11, Wang teaches a method comprising: calculating, for a battery stack (Figure 1) formed of a plurality of battery cells (11), an amount of energy/(heat Q)) to be released from the battery stack in a case of a failure/(thermal runaway); and determining an amount/(quantity (h)) of a phase change material/(liquid refrigerant) based on a latent heat of fusion (R) of the phase change material/(liquid refrigerant) and the amount of energy (Q) to be released from the battery stack in the case of the failure/(thermal runaway), wherein the phase change material/(liquid refrigerant) is configured to absorb heat released from the battery stack (page 5, Example 2, lines 2-18).
With respect to claim 12, Wang teaches wherein the failure is a single battery cell failure (page 5, Example 2, lines 2-18).
With respect to claim 13, Wang teaches wherein calculating the amount of energy/heat to be released from the battery stack in the case of the failure/(thermal runaway) is based on an amount of stored energy/heat in one or more of the plurality of battery cells (page 5, Example 2, lines 2-18), or based on a maximum voltage output of one or more of the plurality of battery cells.
With respect to claim 15, Wang teaches inserting, into a container, the battery stack (11) and the amount of the phase change material/(liquid refrigerant) (as illustrated in Figure 1) (page 5, Example 2, lines 2-18).
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.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106684499 A (to Wang et al.), as applied to claim 11 above.
With respect to claim 14, Wang does not explicitly teach wherein calculating the amount of energy to be released from the battery stack in the case of the failure includes: executing a battery failure test for one or more battery cells; and
measuring a second amount of energy released from the one or more battery cells during the battery failure test (page 5, Example 2, lines 2-18); however, it would have been obvious to do so as part of routine scientific practices and experimentation.
Claims 16-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106684499 A (to Wang et al.), as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Longardner et. al (US 5449571 A).
With respect to claim 16, Wang discloses all claim limitations as set forth above but fails to teach wherein the phase change material includes one or more solid layers, and wherein the amount of the phase change material includes a thickness of the one or more solid layers. Longardner teaches a battery module (Figures 6-7) comprising a plurality of battery cells (414/512/513) (col. 7, lines 24-33), and a plurality of phase change material comprising one or more solid layers (426/528) inserted between the battery cells (414/515) (as illustrated), and teaches wherein the dimensions of the phase change material can be adjusted (col. 4, last 3 lines, and col. 5, lines 1-8).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing for the invention to have the phase change material comprise one or more solid layers, instead of liquid phase change material, in the method of Wang, as taught by Longardner, and it would have been obvious that the calculation of the amount/volume of the phase change material would include determining a thickness of the one or more solid layers, as part of figuring out the volume of the phase change material instead of the amount of liquid phase change material, in order to avoid the use of liquid material, and thereby avoid using the respective equipment needed to store and distribute the liquid material.
With respect to claim 17, Longardner further teaches wherein the one or more solid layers includes a first layer/(panel) provided on a top external surface (Figure 1, 16) of the battery stack and in contact with each of the plurality of battery cells (12) (as illustrated), a second layer provided on a bottom external surface of the battery stack and in contact with each of the plurality of battery cells (col. 4, lines 26-30).
With respect to claim 18, Longardner further teaches wherein the one or more solid layers further includes a third layer (Figure 7, 528) provided on a first external side/(right side) surface of the battery stack (512/513) (as illustrated) (col. 7, lines 24-33), and a fourth layer (528) provided on a second external side/(left side) surface of the battery stack (512/513), such that each of the plurality of battery cells (512 & 513) are positioned between the third layer (528) and the fourth layer (528) (as illustrated).
With respect to claim 20, Longardner further teaches wherein the one or more solid layers (426/528) are provided between the plurality of battery cells (512/513), and further comprising: inserting, into the container, one or more thermal insulation layers/(panels (Figure 1, 24) and (Figure 6, 424)) (the panels can comprise rubber or plastic which have insulation properties) (col. 5, lines 5-8), wherein the one or more thermal insulation layers are provided between the plurality of battery cells (512/513) (as illustrated).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106684499 A (to Wang et al.) in view of Longardner et. al (US 5449571 A), as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of KR 20170135476 A (to Jun et al.) – translation attached and relied upon below.
With respect to claim 19, modified Wang discloses all claim limitations as set forth above but fails to teach wherein the one or more solid layers are provided between the plurality of battery cells, and the container is configured to compress the battery stack and the phase change material. Jun et al. teaches a battery pack comprising a container/(case (100)) including a plurality of battery cells (200) stacked therein and a plurality of solid phase change material/(buffer pads (300)) arranged in-between the plurality of battery cells (200) (as illustrated), and the container (100) is configured to compress the battery stack (200) and the phase change material/(buffer pads (300)) in order to control battery cell swelling and to possibly prevent damage to the battery cells (200) and the container (100) due to the expansion of the cells (200) (page 4).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing for the invention to provide the one or more solid layers between the plurality of battery cells in modified Wang, and to configure the container to compress the battery stack and the phase change material, as taught by Jun et al., in order to control battery cell swelling and to possibly prevent damage to the battery cells and the container due to the expansion of the cells.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAITY V CHANDLER whose telephone number is (571)272-8520. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-6:00PM.
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, BASIA RIDLEY can be reached at 571-272-1453. 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.
/KAITY V CHANDLER/ 3/9/2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725