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 .
Claims 1-18 are pending.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAXWELL (WO 2020150254 A1, see IDS) in view of SUGIKAWA (US 6500582 B1).
Re 1, MAXWELL teaches of an apparatus for manufacturing a dry electrode (see abstract), comprising:
a powder sheeting device (100; powder sheeting) configured to shape a dry material including an electrode active material into an electrode sheet (see electrode film, see [0029]);
a calendaring device (200; calendaring device) including at least one rolling unit, configured to roll the electrode sheet supplied from the powder sheeting device into a rolled electrode sheet (see 100); and
a lamination roll (300; the laminator) configured to laminate a current collector and the rolled electrode sheet with a target thickness through the calendaring device to form an electrode (see abstract, [0036, 0038, 0044], and Fig. 2 and 8A),
wherein the lamination roll is disposed facing toward one rolling role of the pair of rolling rolls of the at least one rolling unit, the one rolling roll is configured to be the last to rolls the electrode sheet lastly.
(see also opposing rolls, Fig. 2, 300)
Whereupon, the MAXWELL reference does not specifically state that in the calendaring unit that each rolling unit including a pair of rolling rolls.
In the same field of endeavor particular of forming layers/foil/sheet from powdered materials, see in SUGIKAWA of the paired rolls, see pressure roller 6, Fig. 1, see also later pressure rollers 30, 31, 32, 33 also along the path for forming for a thickness. The SUGIKAWA teaches of forming such sheets from dry materials, see Col. 1, lines 8-14, and see also the arrangement in Figs. 1, 4, and 6, with the feeding of the material and of the paired opposing rolling rolls.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the rolls arrangement in the system of MAXWELL with the paired rolling rolls as taught by SUGIKAWA for alternate known configurations for applying pressure upon the sheets, see KSR rationale, MPEP2143, as combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Re 2 (upon 1), wherein each rolling unit includes: an upper rolling roll; and a lower rolling roll located below the upper rolling roll, and wherein a thickness of the electrode sheet is adjusted as much as a gap between the upper rolling roll and the lower rolling roll.
See MAXWELL of nips that includes decreasing the thickness of the dry film closer, see [0036], Fig. 2, see teaching of compacting the density and decrease the thickness to desired thickness/density. Further, see also in SUGIKAWA of the arrangement of upper and lower rolling rolls, see Fig. 1 of pressure roller 6, 30, 31, 32, 33.
Re 3 (upon 2), wherein the lamination roll is disposed facing toward the lower rolling roll, and wherein the electrode sheet and the current collector are compressed together while passing between the lamination roll and the lower rolling roll.
See MAXWELL, Fig. 1, 300 of the opposing rolling rolls) see also teaching by SUGIKAWA in Fig. 1, of pressure rollers.
Re 4 (upon 2), further comprising: a slitting unit configured to cut an edge of the electrode sheet, wherein the slitting unit is disposed facing toward the lower rolling roll and is positioned above the lamination roll.
See MAXWELL, teaching of slitter [0033].
Re 5 (upon 4), wherein the slitting unit is configured to cut two end portions of the electrode sheet in a width direction extending between the upper rolling roll and the lower rolling roll.
See teaching by MAXWELL of slitter for width, see [0033].
Re 6 (upon 1), wherein the calendaring device includes a plurality of rolling units, each rolling unit spaced a distance apart from each other, and wherein the calendaring device includes a tension control unit configured to measure a tension applied to the electrode sheet transported between the plurality of rolling units and control a rotational speed of each rolling roll of the plurality of rolling units.
See MAXWELL, [0036].
Re 14 (upon 6), wherein the powder sheeting device includes a pair of feed rolls configured to roll the dry material into the electrode sheet.
See MAXWELL, see [0036], and in view of SUGIKAWA teaching of the paired rolls.
Re 15 (upon 1), wherein the at least one rolling unit is a single rolling unit.
See MAXWELL, see roll, [0037], Fig. 2.
Re 16 (upon 1), further comprising: a winding roll on which the electrode sheet is wound.
See rewinder in MAXWELL, [0037], Fig. 2.
Claim(s) 7-9, 11-13, and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAXWELL in view of SUGIKAWA as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of ZHONG (US 2023/411588 A1).
Re 7 (upon 6), wherein the tension control unit is configured to control the rotational speed of each rolling roll of the plurality of rolling units disposed either in front of the electrode sheet or behind the electrode sheet or both.
The MAXWELL reference fails to teach of the particular controls of the tension of the film.
See teaching by ZHONG concerning the controlling the tension of the film via the operation speed of the conveyor, see also teaching of roller speeds, and of the use of tensions sensors 128a, 128b of the film 10a, 10b, see also load cells or proximity sensors to maintain optimum tension control via adjustment of the conveyor or roll rotation speeds, see [0045], see also variable speed and/or speed ratios that can controlled based upon the measured tensions.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have further modify the apparatus of the modified MAXWELL with the tension control as taught by ZHONG whereupon the control of the tension would be “to prevent film breakage”, see [0007], see also KSR rationale, MPEP2143, as combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Re 8 (upon 6), wherein at a high tension in the electrode sheet, the tension control unit decelerates a rotational speed of the a rolling roll disposed behind the tension control unit for accelerates a rotational speed of the a rolling roll disposed in front of the tension control unit), and wherein at a low tension in the electrode sheet, the tension control unit accelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll disposed behind the tension control unit or decelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll disposed in front of the tension control unit.
The teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 7, and it would been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art of including decelerating/accelerating of rotational speed of the rolls, as there is aa teaching of adjusting rotation speeds to maintain the desired tension, see [0045].
Re 9 (upon 6), wherein the tension control unit includes: a tension maintaining roll that is located on the electrode sheet and is configured to rotates; and a displacement detector configured to measure a displacement of the tension maintaining roll, and wherein the tension control unit measures the tension of the electrode sheet according to the displacement measured by the displacement detector, and is configured to controls the rotational speed of each rolling roll based on the measured tension.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 7, [0045].
Re 11 (upon 9), wherein the tension control unit decelerates the a rotational speed of a rolling roll located behind the tension maintaining roll or accelerates a rotational speed of a rolling roll disposed in front of the tension maintaining roll based on a displacement when the tension maintaining roll changes up the position, and wherein the tension control unit accelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll located behind the tension maintaining roll or decelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll disposed in front of the tension maintaining roll based on a displacement when the tension maintaining roll changes down the position.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 8, [0045].
Re 12 (upon 6), wherein the tension control unit includes: a tension sensing roll that is located on the electrode sheet and is configured to rotates; and a sensor configured to measure a load change of the tension sensing roll, and wherein the rotational speed of each rolling roll is controlled according to the load change measured by the sensor.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 7, [0045].
Re 13 (upon 12), wherein the tension control unit decelerates the a rotational speed of a rolling roll disposed behind the tension sensing roll or accelerates a rotational speed of a rolling roll disposed in front of the tension sensing roll based on the a load change when a load of the tension sensing roll increases, and accelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll located behind the tension sensing roll for decelerates the rotational speed of the rolling roll disposed in front of the tension sensing roll) based on a load change when the load of the tension sensing roll decreases.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 8, [0045].
Re 17 (upon 6), wherein the tension control unit is configured to control a rotational speed ratio of each pair of rolling rolls of the plurality of rolling units.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 7, [0045].
Re 18 (upon 14), further comprising a preliminary tension control unit configured to measure a tension applied to the electrode sheet transported between the powder sheeting device and a rolling unit of the plurality of rolling units and control the rotational speed of each feed roll of the pair of feed rolls or each rolling roll of the rolling unit.
See teaching by ZHONG as shown above for claim 7, [0045].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAXWELL in view of SUGIKAWA and ZHONG as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of the KR’720 reference (KR 10-2012-0122720 A, see IDS).
Re 10 (upon 9), wherein the tension control unit further includes: a guide member including a guide slit coupled to a rotation axis of the tension maintaining roll, the guide slit configured to guide the tension maintaining roll to move up and down; and a loading member connected to the tension maintaining roll and configured to apply a constant load to the tension maintaining roll.
The MAXWELL reference does not specifically teach of the claimed tension control unit.
KR’720 teaches in which a tension means (30) that applies tension to a coil by using gravity so that the tension is uniformly applied to the coil includes: a guide bar (33) which includes a vertical guide groove (33-1) for guiding the coil (C) to be movable upward and downward; and a tension adjustment device (34) which can control the intensity of the tension applied to the coil (C) (see abstract, paragraphs [0028]-[0033], and fig. 5-6).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have further modify the roll arrangement of the modified MAXWELL with the tension control unit as taught by KR’720 as a known configuration for tension control, see KSR rationale, MPEP2143, as combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892 form, most of the listed references teach of opposing rolls that press together to form a sheet from powder materials in the electrode forming arts.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMMANUEL S LUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1134. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 to 5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xiao S Zhao can be reached at 571-270-5343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EMMANUEL S LUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1744
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