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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 and 12-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0157636 to Miler (“Miler”).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, Miler discloses a battery pack (100) for a vehicles, the battery pack including a plurality of battery modules (104), each module comprised of a plurality of battery cell blocks (102, 150, 152, etc.). The cell blocks are considered to correspond to the recited battery modules. Each cell block is held within its own receiving portion of the pack tray, with each block resting on a lower support plate of the receiving portion, separated from adjacent block(s) by an internal side wall, and further surrounded by exterior side walls of the pack tray. The lower support plate of the receiving portion includes a vent hole (112/162) allowing hot gas/flames/etc., to exit from the battery receiving portion, where the hole is covered by a vent member which opens/closes the hole at an acute angle, and to rest upon the bottom plate of the pack tray the opposed bottom plate of the tray depending on whether a thermal runaway event is occurring.
Further regarding claims 2-9, 12, 13, and 15-19 the bottom most surface of the pack tray is opposed to and parallel with the lower support support plate on which the battery blocks rest, and thus opposed to the vent openings/vent opening-closing member. This forms a plenum into which the gases and material exiting the battery module during a thermal runaway event may expand. The gases eventually exit to the outside through port openings (236) formed in the bottom plate of the pack tray. Thus, the bottom surface of the pack tray including openings (236) corresponds to the recited side frame, the lower plate on which the battery modules rest to the recited partition, the plenum to the recited flow path, the vent (112, 162) to the recited circulation hole and the port opening (236) to the recited exit port. Various other members are provided separating the plenum into a plurality of winding chambers through which the gasses pass, with vents provided on all four side plates of the pack tray venting to the outside. Miler at paragraph [0074]. The various plenums include mesh members between the vent and the final exit designed to remove heat from the expanding gases.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 11, and 20, 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. Regarding claims 10 and 20, Miler is silent regarding the vent opening/closing members associated with any of the battery blocks having a different length. Regarding claim 11, Miler is silent regarding the recited interrupt member.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/ Examiner, Art Unit 1727
