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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/20/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of Group l, an apparatus for manufacturing a dry electrode sheet, claims 1-6, in the reply filed on 08/03/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 7-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakajima et al. (US 2019/0152210A1).
With respect to claim 1, Nakajima teaches an apparatus for manufacturing a dry electrode sheet (“A roll press system S”, Pa [0101]; “to obtain a high output characteristic, such as a positive electrode layer and a negative electrode layer used in a lithium-ion battery, a membrane electrode assembly (MEA)”, Pa [0002]; Fig. 8), the apparatus comprising:
a material feeder (“a conveyance mechanism”, Pa [0103]) configured to supply an electrode material;
a pair of sheet forming rollers (“the upper roll 1 and the lower roll 2”, Pa [0103]) facing each other and configured to form an electrode sheet by pressurizing the electrode material supplied from the material feeder (“pressurizing treatment is performed to W1 between the upper roll 1 and the lower roll 2”, Pa [0103]);
a first force sensor (“a load cell 7”) connected to each of the pair of sheet forming rollers and configured to measure a force applied to each of the pair of sheet forming rollers (“a load cell 7 is provided which detects a reaction force in pressurizing treatment from a roll to the lower movable frame 13.”, Pa [0060]);
a thickness sensor (“a first thickness measuring device 15 and a second thickness measuring device 16”) configured to measure a thickness of the electrode sheet (“The first thickness measuring device 15 is provided on an upstream side in a conveyance direction of a work in the roll pressure device 100. The second thickness measuring device 16 is provided on a downstream side in a conveyance direction of a work in the roll pressure device 100.”, Pa [0102]);
a gap adjuster connected to each of the pair of sheet forming rollers and configured to adjust a gap between the pair of sheet forming rollers (“the upper roll bearing case 3 can adjust a roll gap G. In other words, the electrically-operated servo actuator 5 and the upper movable frame 6 form an adjustment mechanism which independently adjusts a vertical position of a pair of the upper roll bearing cases 3 during rotation of the upper roll 1.”, Pa [0058]); and
a controller (“a control device 14”) configured to control the gap adjuster to adjust the gap between the pair of sheet forming rollers so that the thickness of the electrode sheet received from the thickness sensor matches a target value (“the first thickness measuring device 15 measures the thickness of W1, and sends the measured data to a control device 14. The control device 14 adds a necessary push-in amount to the measured thickness and calculates a target value of the roll gap G. By a conveyance mechanism using a servo motor (not illustrated), a distance from the roll pressure device 100 to W1 is measured, and at a timing when pressurizing treatment is performed to W1 between the upper roll 1 and the lower roll 2, the height of the upper roll 1 can be adjusted in accordance with the measured thickness.”, Pa [0103]; “the second thickness measuring device 16 measures the thickness of W2, and measurement data is sent to the control device 14. When a set thickness and a measured thickness differ, the control device 14 calculates a correction value considering the difference and controls by reflecting the re-correction value from the next treatment of W1. As a result, the work can be pressurized so that the thickness of the work after pressurizing treatment becomes a set thickness.”, Pa [0104]).
In this embodiment, Nakajima does not explicitly teach that the controller is configured to control the gap adjuster to adjust the gap between the pair of sheet forming rollers on the basis of a force value measured by the first force sensor. However, Nakajima further teaches that a load cell 7 is provided which detects a reaction force in pressurizing treatment from a roll to the lower movable frame 13 (Pa [0060]), and a thermal displacement of the roll and a deflection amount by a reaction force during pressurizing treatment is measured by measuring a roll surface shape while moving a displacement meter provided in vertical and horizontal directions of the roll, then a method is proposed in which, based on this deflection amount, a correction amount of the roll is determined by a calculator (Pa [0006] and Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Nakajima and calculate correction value to adjust the gap based on a reaction force measured by the load cell 7 such that the work can be pressurized so that the thickness of the work after pressurizing treatment becomes a set thickness.
With respect to claim 3, Nakajima as applied to claim 1 above further teaches that the first force sensor (“a load cell 7”) comprises a load cell connected to one or each of the pair of sheet forming rollers and configured to measure a force applied in a direction in which the pair of sheet forming rollers are moved farther away from or closer to each other (“a load cell 7 is provided which detects a reaction force in pressurizing treatment from a roll to the lower movable frame 13.”, Pa [0060]), and the thickness sensor comprises a spectral interference-type thickness sensor (“a reflection type displacement gauge using a laser light as a light source”, Pa [0102]).
With respect to claim 4, Nakajima as applied to claim 1 above further teaches that the gap adjuster comprises a linear-type gap adjuster configured to move one or each of the pair of sheet forming rollers and linearly move the pair of sheet forming rollers in a direction in which the pair of sheet forming rollers are moved closer to or farther away from each other (“The upper roll bearing case 3 can vertically move along the tie rod 12 via the upper movable frame 6. The upper roll bearing case 3 applies a load to the upper roll 1, generates a press load with respect to a work (belt-like material) between the upper roll 1 and the lower roll 2, and controls a position and an attitude of the upper roll 1. Consequently, the upper roll bearing case 3 can adjust a roll gap G.”, Pa [0058]).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakajima et al. (US 2019/0152210A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Nitta et al. (US 5,928,580A).
With respect to claim 2, Nakajima as applied to claim 1 above teaches a material feeder (“a conveyance mechanism”, Pa [0103]) configured to supply an electrode material, but does not explicitly teach that the controller controls an opening ratio of the material feeder or a discharge pressure of the material feeder so that the thickness of the electrode sheet received from the thickness sensor matches the target value.
In the same field of endeavor, a method of controlling a thickness of a film, Nitta teaches that a sheet of a plastic material as an original is extruded from an extrusion port of an automatic T-die 10 having a plurality of die bolts not illustrated and being capable of adjusting a gap of the extrusion port, the extruded sheet is cooled to be solidified by a cast roll unit 12, the solidified sheet is then transferred to a first scanning thickness gauge 18a for measuring the thickness of the sheet before entering into the drawing process, the sheet is subsequently fed into the vertical and side drawing machines 14a and 14b, the film biaxially oriented is then fed to a second scanning thickness gauge 18b for measuring the thickness of the film at positions corresponding to the die bolts, the positions corresponding to the die bolts are set on the film so that the thickness of the film at the positions having been set to find the deviation of the thickness from the reference thickness predetermined before a feed-back control in the adjustment of the die bolt is carried out by an automatic T-die controller system 16 with reference to the deviation found (co 3 li 48-co 4 li 4).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Nakajima with the teachings of Nitta and provide an automatic T-die 10 and a cast roll unit 12 before the conveyance mechanism in order to form the sheet and configure the control device to adjust the die bolt of the die so as to set the appropriate lip gap in order to improve accuracy of control in the thickness of the film.
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakajima et al. (US 2019/0152210A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Teramoto et al. (US 2009/0092742A1).
With respect to claims 5 and 6, Nakajima as applied to claim 1 above does not explicitly teach a blade disposed on each of the pair of sheet forming rollers and positioned so as to be in contact with each of the pair of sheet forming rollers in a direction in which the pair of sheet forming rollers are moved farther away from each other; a second force sensor configured to measure a force applied to the blade in a direction in which the pair of sheet forming rollers are moved farther away from each other; and a pressurizer connected to the blade and configured to pressurize the blade toward the sheet forming roller, wherein the controller controls the pressurizer on the basis of a force value received from the second force sensor.
In the same field of endeavor, a method for intermittently applying thin-film coatings, Teramoto teaches that the application roller 19 is disposed to rotate to carry the coating agent 18, and an excess of the coating agent 18 has been scrubbed off with a doctor blade 24, and the doctor blade 24 is pivotally forced by an air cylinder 28 to allow the distal end portion to come into contact with the application roller 19 while the proximal end portion is supported like a cantilever rotatably about a support shaft 27, this causes the distal end portion of the doctor blade 24 to be pushed by the air cylinder 28 against the flat surface portion 19 c of the application roller 19 all the time under a constant pressure, accordingly, the application roller 19 is allowed to carry only a predefined amount of coating of the coating agent 18 that is defined by the cross-sectional area of the coating agent retaining grooves 19 b (Pa [0039]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Nakajima with the teachings of Teramoto and provide the doctor blade and the air cylinder with each of the rollers in order to scrub off an excess of the material from the rollers so as to allow the rollers to carry only a predefined amount of the material. One would have found it obvious to provide a force sensor configured to measure a force applied to the blade in order to cause the distal end portion of the doctor blade 24 to be pushed by the air cylinder 28 against the flat surface portion of the application roller all the time under a constant pressure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUNJU KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-1146. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00-4:00 EST M-Th; Flexing Fri.
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, Christina Johnson can be reached on 571-272-1176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YUNJU KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
Prosecution Insights