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, 2, 5, 8, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki (US 2012/0028099) in view of Okada (US 2009/0142650) and further in view of Payne (US 2010/0279152).
Regarding claims 1, 5, 9-10, Aoki discloses a battery module, comprising:
a plurality of secondary batteries (10, see Fig. 6), the plurality of secondary batteries arranged in a front and rear direction in two rows (see Fig. 6 which discloses two rows of batteries side by side); and
a cooling member (15) including a body portion extending in the front and rear direction interposed between the two rows of the plurality of secondary batteries and having a front end, a rear end, a top end and a bottom end, and two sides having a size corresponding to left and right sides of the plurality of secondary batteries (see annotated Fig. 6 which illustrates two rows of batteries with a cooling member 15 in between these rows where the cooling member is sized to the plurality of batteries) and a coolant channel in the body portion (as depicted in Fig. 24),
wherein a first end of the coolant channel is at the front end of the cooling member and a second end of the coolant channel is at the rear end of the cooling member (see annotated Fig. 24 below which points out these limitations)
wherein a coolant injection port is provided at one of the front end or the top end of the cooling member and a first coolant discharge port is provided at the rear end of the cooling member (see Fig. 24 which illustrates an inlet and outlet on the front and rear end of the cooling member, respectively).
Aoki, however, does not teach the claimed venting portions on each of the secondary batteries.
Okada also discloses a battery system (see abstract).
Okada goes on to teach a gas venting portion for discharging a gas generated therein to the outside at a predetermined pressure and the plurality of secondary batteries arranged in a front and rear direction in two rows (see Fig. 2 and paragraph 54 which illustrates and discloses a plurality of secondary batteries 1 arranged in a row/front/rear with a gas discharging hole 1A/safety valve that releases vented gas from the secondary battery when a pressure exceeds a predetermined value).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the valves of Okada to each secondary battery of Aoki in order to release pressure in the battery when the pressure exceeds a predetermined value.
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Aoki, as modified above, teaches a first port and a second port that are located at either ends of the cooling member (as described above in annotated Fig. 24) but is silent regarding a configuration where the first and second ports being situated such that the coolant channel does not extend out of the cooling member. As can be seen in Fig. 24 of Aoki, the coolant channels (15b) extend out of the cooling member (15).
Payne also discloses a battery cooling system (see abstract).
Payne, like Aoki, teaches a cooling member/manifold (140) that is situated in order to cool adjacent battery cells (paragraph 32). Payne goes on to teach that this cooling member/manifold is fed with an inlet port (250 which is an inlet to the serpentine path of cooling member 140, see paragraph 39) and an exit port (257 which is an outlet to the serpentine path of cooling member 140) and teaches that these surface positioned ports lead to a cooling channel (serpentine paths 180, 182, 184, etc. see paragraph 32) that is within the cooling member/manifold. Payne teaches that these ports are fixed with inlet nozzles 170 and 172 in order to inject and exhaust cooling fluid into and out of the cooling member/manifold (paragraph 35). In other words, Payne teaches a known method of configuring a heat exchange structure to inject fluid into and exhaust it out of the cooling member.
As such, modifying the ports of Aoki such that they end at the surface of the cooling member, as taught by Payne, would have been an obvious modification to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention as such a modification is nothing more than one simple substitution of one known cooling plate inlet/outlet for another to yield entirely predictable results. It is also noted that there is nothing in the instant disclosure that would suggest that these ports, as claimed, produce any unexpected or beneficial results.
Regarding claim 8, Aoki further discloses beading portions raised in a left and right direction are provided to outer sides of the cooling member in the left and right direction (see annotated Fig. 21 below).
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Regarding claim 2, Aoki further discloses:
a tray (such as lower casing 21, see Fig. 2) including a support portion extending in a horizontal direction so that the plurality of secondary batteries is mounted to an upper surface of the support portion (the support portion is the tray 21 surface that the battery assembly is placed on), and side portions (25) extending upward from a left end and a right end of the support portion (as depicted in Fig. 2);
an upper plate and configured to cover an upper portion of the plurality of secondary batteries (upper plate 21 as depicted in Fig. 2);
a busbar assembly (busbars 26).
Aoki, however, does not explicitly teach the claimed front and rear cover.
Okada teaches a battery configuration with a front and rear plate (50, see paragraph 59) with associated connections for ducts.
Placing the front and rear plates of Okada to the battery system of modified Aoki would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for the purposes of providing further protection for the battery cells contained within while also allowing for connections to the fluids that move in and out of the battery system.
Claim(s) 3, 4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okada (US 2009/0142650) in view of Okada (US 2009/0142650) and Payne (US 2010/0279152) as applied to claim 2 above and further in view of Tong (US 2019/0198951).
Regarding claims 3, 4 and 6, Aoki, as modified above, teaches a plate that makes up the cooling member 6 (as discussed above), and teaches a front and rear cover have indented inlets/outlets that are inserted into the cooling channel (see 33 of Okada) but Aoki stops short of disclosing that the cooling member and the tray are connected to each other via a groove/protrusion configuration from the front to rear portion.
Tong also discloses a battery with a cooling system built in (see abstract).
Tong teaches cooling members (5) that are attached to a lower tray via protrusion/groove configuration that facilitates installation by allowing the cooling members to be slid into place (paragraph 18).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the protrusion/groove configuration of Tong to the cooling any and all cooling members of Okada in order to facilitate installation of the cooling members and provide additional structure support for the cooling member.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aoki (US 2012/0028099) in view of Okada (US 2009/0142650) and Payne (US 2010/0279152) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Lee (US 2011/0189521).
Regarding claim 7, Aoki discloses a configuration which shows entrance and exit of the cooling gas only at the ends of the cooling unit. Aoki does not teach a configuration where the coolant injection port is located in the central area of the cooling member and discharges at the front and rear of the body portion.
Lee also discloses a battery cooling system (see abstract).
Lee teaches two configurations where cooling fluid is injection from an end portion (similar to that of Aoki, see Fig. 7 of Lee), but also discloses another configuration where a coolant port is located into a central portion of the cooling unit and another port that is located at both ends (see Fig. 4 of Lee). Lee teaches that these two flow configurations are known and practiced in the art.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the flow configuration of Aoki to that of Lee in order to effectively cooling the battery with a different, known configuration. Such a modification is nothing more than a simple substitution of one known coolant flow configuration for another to yield entirely predictable results.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki (US 2012/0028099) in view of Okada (US 2009/0142650) and Payne (US 2010/0279152) as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Xian (CN 107528103 A with reference made to the machine translation).
Regarding claim 13, Aoki, as modified above, teaches a pathway that goes through the cooling plate (as depicted in Fig. 24), but is silent regarding the claimed parallel branches diverge at the inlet and rejoin each other at the exit.
Xian also discloses a cooling plate for a battery system (see abstract).
Xian teaches the cooling plate (see Fig. 4) comprises a single inlet and a single outlet (as depicted in Fig. 4) and teaches that the inlet is branched off into multiple parallel cooling paths and then recombined at the end to exit the single outlet (see flow path of fluid in Fig. 4 which illustrates this). Xian teaches such a branching configuration in order to make better cooling plate surface temperature uniformity and reduce hot/cold spots (lines 216-226).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to add the branched, parallel paths of Xian to the cooling plate of modified Aoki in order to make better cooling plate surface temperature uniformity and reduce hot/cold spots.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 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, Aoki, discloses the claimed cooling member, but Aoki does not teach, nor does the prior art suggests, a front and rear cover that expose the front and rear end of the cooling member.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 1/29/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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