Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/07/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-7, 9-10 and 12-20 are pending. Claims 1 and 10 are amended. Claims 8 and 11 are cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103:
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.
Claims 1-6, 8, 13, 15 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan (CN 111141053A, machine translation provided in previous Office Action) in view of Bo‘356 (CN 212720356U, machine translation provided in previous Office Action), in view of Bo (CN 110849008A, machine translation provided in previous Office Action) and Hullar et al. (US 5,230,223, herein “Hullar”)
Regarding claim 1, Yan discloses:
a temperature management device [par. 0002], used to perform temperature management on a battery pack (50) cooled by a refrigerant [par. 0005], wherein the temperature management device comprises:
a first port (at 220) configured to detachably connect to a refrigerant outlet of the battery pack (50) (fig. 1) (it is noted, the valve 220 is necessarily connected to the battery pack 50, as seen in figure 1, and the “connection” implies the possibility of being detachable);
a second port (at 230) configured to detachably connect to a refrigerant inlet of the battery pack (50) (fig. 1) (here again, the element 230 is necessarily connected to the battery pack 50, as seen in figure 1, and the “connection” implies the possibility of being detachable);
a compressor (110) (fig. 1);
a condenser (120), wherein an inlet of the condenser (120) is connected to an outlet of the compressor (110) (fig. 1) [par. 0028];
an expansion valve (210), wherein a first inlet of the expansion valve (210) is connected to an outlet of the condenser (120), and a first outlet of the expansion valve (210) is connected to the second port (at 230) (fig. 1) [par. 0028];
a pressure regulating valve (220), wherein a first end of the pressure regulating valve (220) is connected to the first port (at 220), a second end of the pressure regulating valve (220) is connected to an inlet of the compressor (110), and the pressure regulating valve (220) is configured to regulate pressure of gas discharged from the refrigerant outlet of the battery pack (50) so that a pressure value of gas discharged from the second end of the pressure regulating valve (220) to the inlet of the compressor (110) is within a preset range (fig. 1) [par. 0031]; and
a monitoring device (240 plus 250), wherein the monitoring device (250) is connected to the first port (at 220) and the second port (at 230) and configured to monitor a state of the refrigerant at the first port (at 230) and the second port (at 230) (fig. 1), and the monitoring device (240 plus 250) comprises and at least one pressure sensor (250) (fig. 1) [par. 0028].
Yan does not disclose:
the monitoring device comprising at least one sight glass and at least one temperature sensor.
a dry filter disposed between an outlet of the liquid storage tank and the first inlet of the expansion valve;
the at least one sight glass comprising a first sight glass and a second sight glass, the first sight glass being disposed between the inlet of the compressor and the pressure regulating valve, and the second sight glass disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve.
Bo‘356, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 1) comprising a compressor (10), a condenser (20) connected to the outlet of the compressor (10), an expansion valve (32) connected to an outlet of the condenser (20) and to an inlet of an evaporator (33), a pressure regulating valve (36) connected to an outlet of the evaporator (33) and to the inlet of the compressor (10), and a monitor device (110, 34, 35) [page 2, “description of the drawings”] configured to monitor a state of the refrigerant (known in the art) teaches that the use of a sight glass (160) arranged between a dry filter (150) and an inlet of the expansion valve (32) for the purpose of monitoring the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline [page 5, lines 23-24] to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture, and that the use of temperature sensors (34) connected to the outlet (first port) of the evaporator (33) (fig. 1) for the purpose of optimizing control of the expansion valve (32) by monitoring temperature of the refrigerant at the exit of the evaporator (33) [page 5, lines 25-29], are old and known in the art.
Bo, also directed to a temperature management device [par. 0002] (fig. 1) comprising a compressor (1), a condenser (3) connected to the outlet of the compressor (1), an expansion valve (8) connected to an outlet of the condenser (3) and to inlet of an evaporator (2), and a monitor device (5) configured to monitor a state of the refrigerant [par. 0046] teaches that dry filters (5) arranged between an outlet of a liquid storage tank (4) and an inlet of an expansion valve (8), for the purpose of filtering impurities or moisture of the refrigerant, are old and known in the art [par. 0046].
Hullar, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 5) comprising a compressor (12), a condenser (20) connected to the outlet of the compressor (12), a sight glass (32) disposed between a dry filter (28) and an inlet of an expansion valve (40), and an expansion valve (40) connected to an outlet of the condenser (20) and to an inlet of an evaporator (42) teaches that the use of a sight glass (510) arranged at the inlet of the compressor (12) for the purpose of detecting whether or not any liquid droplets exist in the low pressure vaporous refrigerant line to avoid damage of the compressor [col. 4, lines 37-46, and col. 12, lines 53-66], is old and known in the art.
It would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into Yan the teachings of Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar to have, upon modification:
the monitoring device comprising at least one sight glass (Bo’356, 160) in order to monitor the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture, and at least one temperature sensor (Bo’356, 34) in order to optimize control of the expansion valve (Yan, 210) by monitoring temperature of the refrigerant at the exit of the evaporator (Yan, evaporator of 50);
a dry filter (Bo, 5) disposed between an outlet of the liquid storage tank (Yan, 130) and the first inlet of the expansion valve (Yan, 210) in order to filter impurities or moisture of the refrigerant, optimizing protection of the compressor; and
the at least one sight glass comprising a first sight glass (Hullar, 510) and a second sight glass (Bo’356, 160), the first sight glass (Hullar, 510) being disposed between the inlet of the compressor (Yan, 110) and the pressure regulating valve (Yan, 220) in order to detecting whether or not any liquid droplets exist in the low pressure vaporous refrigerant line to avoid damage of the compressor, and the second sight glass (Bo’356, 160) disposed between the dry filter (Bo, 5) and the first inlet of the expansion valve (Yan, 210) in order to monitor the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture.
Regarding claim 2, Yan discloses:
the preset range being 300 ± 30 kPa [par. 0059].
Regarding claim 3, Yan discloses:
the temperature management device (100) further comprising:
an adjustment assembly (see annotated fig. 1-YAN, page 6), wherein the adjustment assembly is configured to connect the inlet of the compressor (110) and the outlet of the condenser (120).
MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 3 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “the adjustment assembly is configured to adjust a proportion of a refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve to a refrigerant discharged through the outlet of the condenser” limitation, the invention as taught by Yan is deemed fully capable of performing such function through valves 170 and 180 and control unit 30.
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Regarding claim 4, MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 4 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “the adjustment assembly being configured to increase the proportion of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve to the refrigerant discharged through the outlet of the condenser if pressure of gas at the first end of the pressure regulating valve is higher than the preset range” and the “the adjustment assembly being configured to decrease the proportion of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve to the refrigerant discharged through the outlet of the condenser if pressure of gas at the first end of the pressure regulating valve is lower than the present range” limitations, the invention as taught by the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar is deemed fully capable of performing such functions through valves 170 and 180 and control unit 30.
Regarding claim 5, MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 5 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “the adjustment assembly is configured to control at least some of the refrigerant discharged through the outlet of the condenser to flow to the inlet of the compressor if the pressure of the gas at the first end of the pressure regulating valve is lower than the preset range” limitation, the invention as taught by the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar is deemed fully capable of performing such function through valves 220, 170 and 180 and control unit 30.
Regarding claim 6, Yan discloses:
the temperature management device further comprising:
a control unit (30), wherein the control unit (30) is configured to control the adjustment assembly based on the pressure of the gas at the first end of the pressure regulating valve (220) [par. 0055-0056].
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar discloses:
the adjustment assembly comprising:
a capillary tube (Bo, 7); and
an electromagnetic valve (Bo, 10), wherein an inlet of the electromagnetic valve (Bo, 10) is connected to the outlet of the condenser (Bo, 3), and an outlet of the electromagnetic valve (Bo, 10) is connected to the inlet of the compressor (Bo, 1) via the capillary tube (Bo, 7).
(See annotated fig. 1-BO, below).
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Regarding claim 10, the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar discloses:
the temperature management device further comprising:
a fan (Bo’356, fan of condenser 20) configured to cool the condenser (Bo’356, 20, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 13, Yan discloses:
the temperature management device further comprising:
a first valve (170) and a second valve (180), wherein the first valve (170) is disposed between the outlet of the condenser (120) and the first inlet of the expansion valve (210), and the second valve (180) is disposed between the first port (at 220) and the inlet of the compressor (110) (fig. 1).
MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 13 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “when the first valve and the second valve are closed, the battery pack is used to replace another battery pack and connected to the temperature management device, so that when the first valve and the second valve are opened again, the temperature management device performs temperature management on the battery pack” limitation, the invention as taught by Yan is deemed fully capable of performing such function when the first valve and the second valves are closed.
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar discloses:
a test system, comprising:
the temperature management device according to claim 1 (please refer to the rejection of claim 1, above) and a battery pack (50) (fig. 1), but does not disclose multiple battery packs.
However, as it applies to claim 1, above, Yan’s temperature management device is capable of being configured to detachably connect to the battery pack (50) and similarly, configured to be connected to other battery packs, at different times, if required according to the user’s needs to separately perform, at different times, temperature management for the other battery packs. Further, the mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced. MPEP 2144.04, section VI, part B. In this case, duplicating one or more of the battery packs and having them detachably connect to the temperature management device will simply provide thermal management to more battery packs, at different times, and would be obvious to one of skill in the art.
Regarding claim 18, the Examiner takes Official Notice of manual ball valves or needle valves for the use as parts of flow control hardwares of temperature management devices, and the selection of any of these known devices would be within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 19, MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 18 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “after the first manual ball valve and the second manual ball valve are closed and before the battery pack is dismounted and replaced with another battery pack, the first needle valve or the second needle valve is configured to connect a refrigerant recycling machine to recycle remaining refrigerant inside the battery pack” limitation, the invention as taught by the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar is deemed fully capable of performing such function after the first manual ball valve and the second manual ball valve are closed and before the battery pack is dismounted and replaced with another battery pack.
Claims 1 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagano et al. (US 2015/0030902, herein “Nagano”) in view of Hong (CN 110234944A, machine translation provided in previous Office Action) and Bo ‘356.
Regarding claim 1, Nagano discloses:
a temperature management device (figs. 1 and 6-7) [par. 0002], used to perform temperature management on a battery pack (2) [par. 0002] cooled by a refrigerant [par. 0032, lines 1-2], wherein the temperature management device comprises:
a first port (at 506a/c) configured to detachably connect to a refrigerant outlet of the battery pack (2) (best seen in figs. 6-7) (it is noted, the first port at 506a/c is necessarily connected to the battery pack 2, and the “connection” implies the possibility of being detachable);
a second port (at 505a/c) configured to detachably connect to a refrigerant inlet of the battery pack (2) (best seen in figs. 6-7) (here again, the second port at 505a/c is necessarily connected to the battery pack 2, and the “connection” implies the possibility of being detachable);
a compressor (52) (fig. 1);
a condenser (53), wherein an inlet of the condenser (53) is connected to an outlet of the compressor (52) (fig. 1);
an expansion valve (39), wherein a first inlet of the expansion valve (39) is connected to an outlet of the condenser (53) (fig. 1), and a first outlet of the expansion valve (39) is connected to the second port (at 505a/c) (see annotated fig. 6-NAGANO, below); and
a liquid storage tank (54), wherein an inlet of the liquid storage tank 954) is connected to the outlet of the condenser (53), and the liquid storage tank (53) is configured to store a refrigerant discharge from the outlet of the condenser (53) (fig. 1).
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Nagano does not disclose:
a pressure regulating device connected to the first port and to the inlet of the compressor, and
a monitoring device connected to the first port and the second port, and comprising at least one sight glass, at least one temperature sensor, and at least one pressure sensor.
a dry filter disposed between an outlet of the liquid storage tank and the first inlet of the expansion valve;
at least one sight glass comprising a first sight glass and a second sight glass, the first sight glass being disposed between the inlet of the compressor and the pressure regulating valve, and the second sight glass disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve.
Hong, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 4) comprising a compressor (10), a condenser (20) connected to the outlet of the compressor (10), and an expansion valve (40) connected to an outlet of the condenser (20) and to an inlet of an evaporator (50) teaches that the use of pressure regulating valves (61) connected between an outlet of an evaporator heat exchanger (50) and an inlet of a compressor (10), for the purpose of maintaining the suction pressure within a predetermined range to optimize performance of the temperature management device [par. 0058-0059], is old and known in the art of temperature management devices.
Bo‘356, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 1) comprising a compressor (10), a condenser (20) connected to the outlet of the compressor (10), an expansion valve (32) connected to an outlet of the condenser (20) and to an inlet of an evaporator (33), a pressure regulating valve (36) connected to an outlet of the evaporator (33) and to the inlet of the compressor (10), and a monitor device (110, 34, 35) [page 2, “description of the drawings”] configured to monitor a state of the refrigerant (known in the art) teaches that the use of a sight glass (160) arranged between a dry filter (150) and an inlet of the expansion valve (32) for the purpose of monitoring the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline [page 5, lines 23-24] to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture, and that the use of pressure sensors (35) and temperature sensors (34) connected to the outlet (first port) of the evaporator (33) (fig. 1) for the purpose of optimizing the control of the expansion valve (32) by monitoring pressure and temperature of the refrigerant at the exit of the evaporator (33) [page 5, lines 25-29], are old and known in the art.
Bo, also directed to a temperature management device [par. 0002] (fig. 1) comprising a compressor (1), a condenser (3) connected to the outlet of the compressor (1), an expansion valve (8) connected to an outlet of the condenser (3) and to inlet of an evaporator (2), and a monitor device (5) configured to monitor a state of the refrigerant [par. 0046] teaches that the use of dry filters (5) arranged between an outlet of a liquid storage tank (4) and an inlet of an expansion valve (8), for the purpose of filtering impurities or moisture of the refrigerant, is old and known in the art [par. 0046].
Hullar, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 5) comprising a compressor (12), a condenser (20) connected to the outlet of the compressor (12), a sight glass (32) disposed between a dry filter (28) and an inlet of an expansion valve (40), and an expansion valve (40) connected to an outlet of the condenser (20) and to an inlet of an evaporator (42) teaches that the use of a sight glass (510) arranged at the inlet of the compressor (12) for the purpose of detecting whether or not any liquid droplets exist in the low pressure vaporous refrigerant line to avoid damage of the compressor [col. 4, lines 37-46, and col. 12, lines 53-66], is old and known in the art.
It would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into Nagano the teachings of Hong, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar to have, upon modification:
a pressure regulating device (Hong, 61) connected to the first port and to the inlet of the compressor (Nagano, 52) in order to maintain the suction pressure within a predetermined range to optimize performance of the temperature management device;
a monitoring device connected to the first port and the second port, and comprising at least one sight glass (Bo’356, 160) in order to monitor the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture, at least one temperature sensor (Bo’356, 34) and at least one pressure sensor (Bo’356, 35) in order to optimize control of the expansion valve (Nagano, 39) by monitoring temperature of the refrigerant at the exit of the evaporator (Nagano, the evaporator of battery pack 2);
a dry filter (Bo, 5) disposed between an outlet of the liquid storage tank (Nagano, 54) and the first inlet of the expansion valve (Nagano, 39); and
at least one sight glass comprising a first sight glass (Hullar, 510) and a second sight glass (Bo’356, 160), the first sight glass (Hullar, 510) being disposed between the inlet of the compressor (Nagano, 52) and the pressure regulating valve (Hong, 61), in order to detecting whether or not any liquid droplets exist in the low pressure vaporous refrigerant line to avoid damage of the compressor, and the second sight glass (Bo’356, 160) disposed between the dry filter (Bo’356, 150; Bo, 5) and the first inlet of the expansion valve (Nagano, 39) in order to monitor the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline to ensure proper refrigerant charge and detect moisture.
Regarding claim 9, Nagano discloses:
the expansion valve (39) being an H-type thermal expansion valve (39), and the expansion valve (39) further comprising a second inlet and a second outlet (see annotated fig. 6-NAGANO, page 10); and
the second inlet of the expansion valve (39) is connected to the first port (at 506a/c), allowing gas discharged from the refrigerant outlet of the battery pack (2) to be discharged through the second outlet of the expansion valve (39), and the expansion valve (39) is configured to adjust, based on the gas discharged from the refrigerant outlet of the battery pack (2), a refrigerant discharged from the first outlet of the expansion valve (39) (known in the art).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar, as it applies to claims 1-7, 10, 13, 15 and 18-19, above, and further in view of Takata et al. (US 2022/0278387, herein “Takata”).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar does not disclose:
a third temperature sensor connected to the battery pack, wherein the third temperature sensor is configured to monitor internal temperature of the battery pack.
Takata, also directed to a temperature management device (68) (fig. 8) for a battery pack (10) (seen in fig. 2) [abstract] comprising
a compressor (62), a condenser (63) connected to the outlet of the compressor (62), an expansion valve (65A) connected to an outlet of the condenser (63) and to an inlet of an evaporator (60), and a control (67) that control the cooling of the battery pack (10), teaches that the use of temperature sensors (not shown) to detect the temperature of the battery pack (10) so that the temperature management device (68) supplies a refrigerant to the evaporator (60) to cool it when the temperature of the battery pack (10) becomes higher than the preset cooling start temperature, and when the temperature of the battery pack (10) becomes lower than the cooling stop temperature, the supply of the refrigerant to the evaporator (60) is stopped, and the battery pack (10) is controlled to a preset temperature range [par. 0075], is old and known in the art.
It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar the teachings of Takata to have a third temperature sensor connected to the battery pack, wherein the third temperature sensor is configured to monitor internal temperature of the battery pack in order to optimize performance of the management temperature device.
Claims 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar, as it applies to claims 1-7, 10, 13, 15 and 18-19, above, and further in view of Yijia (CN 211653087U, machine translation provided in previous Office Action).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar does not disclose:
the temperature management device further comprising:
a vacuum assembly, wherein the vacuum assembly is configured to evacuate the battery pack after the battery pack is connected to the temperature management device and before the first valve and the second valve are opened again.
Yijia, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 1) [abstract] comprising a compressor (1), a condenser (21) connected to the outlet of the compressor (1), an expansion valve (16) connected to an outlet of the condenser (21) and to an inlet of an evaporator of a battery pack module (9), a pressure regulating valve (3) connected to an outlet of the evaporator (9) and to the inlet of the compressor (1) (fig. 1), teaches that the use of a vacuum pump (10) connected to first (12) and second (8) valves (first and second valves of Yan) as part of the temperature management device and for the purpose of being able to replace the battery pack module (9) with a new one by removing refrigerant from the existing battery pack module (9) and vacuum a new battery pack module after the new battery pack module is connected to the first (12) and second (8) valves and the valves (12, 8) are opened again, is old and known in the art [page 5, lines 7-18].
It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo and Hullar the teachings of Yijia to have a vacuum assembly connected to the first and second valves, wherein the vacuum assembly is configured to evacuate the battery pack after the battery pack is connected to the temperature management device and before the first valve and the second valve are opened again, for the purpose of using the temperature management device in different battery pack modules, according to the user’s needs.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar discloses:
the at least one temperature sensor (Bo ‘356, 34) comprising a first temperature sensor (Bo ‘356, 34) disposed between the pressure regulating valve (Bo ‘356, 36) and the first port (Bo ‘356, outlet of evaporator 33) and configured to monitor temperature of a refrigerant entering the pressure regulating valve (Bo ‘356, 34) [page 5, lines 25-29]; and
the at least one pressure sensor (Yan, 250) comprising a first pressure sensor (Yan, 250) configured to monitor pressure of the refrigerant entering the pressure regulating valve (220).
The combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar does not disclose the first pressure sensor (Yan, 250) disposed between the pressure regulating valve (Yan, 220) and the first port (at 220). However, re-arranging the first pressure sensor (Yan, 250) between the pressure regulating valve (Yan, 220) and the first port (at 220) constitutes a simple rearrangement of existing parts, not affecting the fundamental functioning of the system. Such rearrangement of parts, wherein the rearrangement does not fundamentally alter the operation of the device, has been found in case law to be unpatentable (see MPEP, section 2144.04.VI.C.).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar, as it applies to claims 1-7, 10, 13, 15 and 18-19, above, and further in view of Nakayama (US 2006/0162355).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar does not disclose:
the at least one temperature sensor (Bo ‘356, 34) comprising a second temperature sensor disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve and configured to monitor temperature of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve; and
the at least one pressure sensor (Yan, 250) comprising a second pressure sensor disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve and configured to monitor pressure of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve.
Nakayama, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 1) teaches that the use of temperature (24) and pressure (28) sensors arranged between a dry filter (4) and an inlet of an expansion valve (19), for the purpose of optimizing control of the refrigerant entering the expansion valve (19) [par. 0044], is old and known in the art.
It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate into the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar the teachings of Nakayama to have a second temperature sensor disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve and configured to monitor temperature of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve, and a second pressure sensor disposed between the dry filter and the first inlet of the expansion valve and configured to monitor pressure of the refrigerant entering the first inlet of the expansion valve, for the purpose of optimizing control of the refrigerant entering the expansion valve. Further, the mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced. MPEP 2144.04, section VI, part B. In this case, duplicating one or more of temperature sensor and pressure sensor will simply provide further monitoring of the condition of the refrigerant in the pipeline optimizing performance of the system.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar, as it applies to claims 1-7, 10, 13, 15 and 18-19, above, and further in view of Yijia.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Yan, Bo‘356, Bo and Hullar does not disclose the compressor (Yan, 110) being a direct current variable frequency compressor. However, the use of variable frequency compressors in temperature management devices is old and known in the art since they enhance operational efficiency and reduce energy consumption by adjusting the compressor output according to actual demand. Further, Yijia, also directed to a temperature management device (fig. 1) [abstract] comprising a compressor (1), a condenser (21) connected to the outlet of the compressor (1), an expansion valve (16) connected to an outlet of the condenser (21) and to an inlet of an evaporator of a battery pack module (9), a pressure regulating valve (3) connected to an outlet of the evaporator (9) and to the inlet of the compressor (1) (fig. 1), teaches that the use of variable frequency compressors 91) is old and known in the art [page 4, lines 12 and 21-22] is old and known in the art.
MPEP 2114 II clearly states “Apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does" and “A claim containing a ‘recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus’ if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.” Because Claim 20 fails to further limit the apparatus in terms of structure, but rather only recite further functional limitations, regarding the “the…compressor configured to be powered in a manner of alternating current to direct current, and a working frequency of the compressor is adjustable based on a temperature change of the battery pack” limitation, the invention as taught by the combination of Yan, Bo’356, Bo, Hullar and Yijia is deemed fully capable of performing such function.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/07/2026 have been fully considered but they do not apply to the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA whose telephone number is (571)272-6018. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/LEN TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763