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 .
Response to Amendment
In response to the amendment received on 07/11/2026:
Claims 1-29, 31-35, 37-38, and 40-41 are pending in the current application. Claims 1, 11, 22, 23, 28, 29, 33, 37, and 41 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks Page 11, filed 07/11/2026, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered. The rejections have been withdrawn in light of the amendments to the claims.
Further search, consideration, and consultation of a Primary Examiner has been set forth towards independent Claim 37.
The Office has found that claim 37 is not allowable as previously set forth. A new rejection towards claims 37-38 has been set forth below.
The Office apologizes for any inconvenience.
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 37 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He (CN219717016U, given in the 08/22/2025 IDS, using the previously provided machine English translation from Espacenet) in view of Doak et al (US 20230344069 A1) and McNamara et al (US 20210202351 A1) in view of Hansen (US 20120125582 A1) and Hu et al (WO2024175318A1).
Regarding claim 37, He discloses a battery apparatus, comprising:
a case assembly having a first accommodating cavity inside (where battery cells 5 sit within lower box body 6 in Figs. 2 and 4-5; see entire disclosure and especially P38, 40);
a battery cell assembly disposed within the first accommodating cavity (battery cells 5 in Figs. 2 and 4-5; see entire disclosure and especially P40); and
a heat exchange assembly disposed within the case assembly (flexible heat exchange unit 7 in Figs. 2 and 6; see entire disclosure and especially P46);
wherein the heat exchange assembly comprises a heat exchange layer, the heat exchange layers comprises at least two flexible members and the at least two flexible members are stacked (as seen in Fig. 5, there is an upper part of water belt 22 constituting the top of flow channel 18 and a lower part of water belt 22 constituting the bottom of flow channel 18; the claim does not require the at least two flexible members to be non-integral, therefore, the at least two flexible members are drawn to the top part of water belt 22 and the bottom part of water belt 22; see entire disclosure and especially P46), and
at least one medium flow channel is formed between the flexible members (flow channel 18 in Fig. 5; see entire disclosure and especially P34, 46),
wherein the at least one medium flow channel is configured to circulate a heat exchange medium (see entire disclosure and especially P33), and
the heat exchange medium is configured to exchange heat with the battery cell assembly (see entire disclosure and especially P34).
However, He does not disclose the heat exchange assembly comprising a temperature equalization layer that is disposed on a side of the at least two flexible members closer to the battery cell assembly and is configured to exchange heat with the heat exchange medium within the at least one medium flow channel formed between the at least two flexible members and balance heat before exchanging heat with the battery cell assembly.
In a similar field of endeavor, Doak teaches there are some non-trivial issues with respect to lithium-ion battery packs (P25). Doak teaches one challenge of lithium-ion battery technology is thermal management, and an ongoing concern is the possibility of thermal runaway during use, handling, or transportation of lithium-ion batteries (P25). Doak teaches, for example, the materials and construction of individual battery cells or of the battery pack can result in a localized hot spot or heating that results in cell failure (P25). Doak teaches local hot spots can trigger thermal runaway in nearby battery cells (P25).
McNamara teaches integrated circuit product can also develop hot spots in different regions of the product (P16). McNamara teaches a heat exchanger can be in contact with a surface of the integrated circuit product via a thermal interface material (P16). McNamara teaches the thermal interface material fills gaps between the integrated circuit product and heat exchanger to increase thermal transfer efficiency (P17).
McNamara teaches one thermal management technique increases the thermal conductivity of a thermal interface material in localized regions of the thermal interface material by aligning thermally conductive particles in the thermal interface material to form a high thermal conductivity pathway between a surface of the integrated circuit product and a surface of the heat exchanger (P18).
McNamara teaches the thermal interface material is a compound including thermally conductive articles in a fluid (P18). McNamara teaches thermally conductive particles in the thermal interface material are aligned between a hot spot of the integrated circuit product and heat exchanger to form a high thermal conductivity path between an electrode proximate to the hot spot of the integrated circuit product and an electrode proximate to the heat exchanger (P19). McNamara teaches the high thermal conductivity path has a thermal resistance that is less than other portions of thermal interface material having randomly distributed thermally conductive particles (P19).
McNamara teaches this is a thermal management technique that cools hot spots without over cooling other portions of an integrated circuit product (P32).
While McNamara teaches their thermal management technique in regards to an integrated circuit product, Doak teaches local hot spots in battery packs can trigger thermal runaway or battery cell failure, therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the thermal interface material solution proposed by McNamara would be useful for a battery apparatus, such as He’s. If a technique has been used to improve one device (utilize a thermal interface material with thermally conductive particles aligned between hot spots of an integrated circuit product and a heat exchanger to provide localized cooling to hot spots without over cooling other portion of the integrated circuit product), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way (utilize a thermal interface material with thermally conductive particles aligned between hot spots of an battery cell assembly and a heat exchange layer to provide localized cooling to hot spots without over cooling other portion of the battery cell assembly), using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill. SEE MPEP § 2141 (III) Rationale C, KSR v. Teleflex (Supreme Court 2007).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized the teaching of Doak and McNamara and provided to He a temperature equalization layer that is disposed on a side of the at least two flexible members closer to the battery cell assembly, such as utilizing a thermal interface material with thermally conductive particles aligned between hot spots of the battery cell assembly and the heat exchange layer, given Doak teaches battery packs can have hot spots leading to thermal runaway or failure and McNamara teaches their thermal interface material can cool hot spots on a structure without over cooling other portions of a structure.
Since the temperature equalization layer of modified He is a thermal interface material with thermally conductive particles, it is configured to exchange heat with the heat exchange medium within the at least one medium flow channel formed between the at least two flexible members.
Since the temperature equalization layer of modified He is thermal interface material with thermally conductive particles specifically aligned between hot spots of the battery cell assembly and heat exchange layer, and McNamara teaches the aligned particles form a thermal conductivity path has a thermal resistance that is less than other portions of thermal interface material having randomly distributed thermally conductive particles, the temperature equalization layer would balance heat before exchanging heat with the battery cell assembly.
However, modified He does not meet the limitation wherein the heat exchange assembly further comprises a thermal insulation layer disposed on a peripheral side of the heat exchange layer.
In a similar field of endeavor, Hansen teaches a heat exchanger plate that includes a top plate (first plate 2 in Figs. 1-2) and a bottom plate (second plate 3 in Figs. 1-2; P27). Hansen teaches the bottom plate is thermally insulated in order to reduce heat loss if the heat exchanger is needed to increase the temperature of the through flowing liquid (P30).
Also in a similar field of endeavor, Hu teaches a battery thermal insulation pad including a fibrous support layer having a fibrous base material with gaps (Page 4). Hu teaches an elastic functional layer including an organic base material and a thermal insulation filler fills the gaps of the fibrous base material (Page 4). Hu teaches the organic base material provides mechanical support and thermal insulation filler forms a thermal insulation barrier (Page 4). Hu teaches the fibrous support layer itself also has good thermal insulation performance (Page 4).
While Hu teaches their thermal insulation pad between adjacent batteries and not on a peripheral side of a heat exchange layer, He teaches a battery pack can also be heated and Hansen teaches providing a bottom of a heat exchanger thermal insulation aids in reducing heat loss if a heat exchanger’s liquid is needed for temperature-increasing purposes. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the improved insulation provided by Hu and be led to utilize it to provide thermal insulation to the heat exchange assembly of modified He when the heat exchange assembly is used for heating the battery cells. Applying a known technique to a known device (method or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results is likely to be obvious. See KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007) (see MPEP § 2143, D.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized the teaching of Hansen and Hu and provided wherein the heat exchange assembly further comprises a thermal insulation layer disposed on a peripheral side of the heat exchange layer, such as providing the thermal insulation pad of Hu to the bottom peripheral side of the heat exchange layer of modified He, given this would provide thermal insulation to the bottom of the heat exchange assembly such that it can aid in temperature regulation when the heat exchange assembly is used for heating the battery cells.
Modified He would meet the limitation wherein the thermal insulation layer and the heat exchange layer are stacked (given the thermal insulation layer is provided to the bottom peripheral side of the heat exchange layer).
Modified He would meet the limitation wherein a flange is formed at an edge of the heat exchange assembly, the flange surrounds a peripheral side of the battery cell assembly or the case assembly (the claim only requires a flange to be formed at an edge of the heat exchange assembly and does not require that the flange is a structure/part of the heat exchange assembly; as seen in He Figs. 2 and 4-5, support member 9 includes a flange that is shown be formed at an edge of the flexible heat exchange unit 7, and the flange of support member 9 at least partially surrounds a peripheral side of the battery cells 5).
Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He (CN219717016U, given in the 08/22/2025 IDS, using the previously provided machine English translation from Espacenet) in view of Doak et al (US 20230344069 A1) and McNamara et al (US 20210202351 A1) in view of Hansen (US 20120125582 A1) and Hu et al (WO2024175318A1) as applied to claim 37, further in view of Lian et al (Effect of fumed silica properties on the thermal insulation performance of fibrous compact).
Regarding claim 38, modified He meets the limitation wherein a thermal insulation cavity is disposed within the thermal insulation layer, the thermal insulation cavity is filled with an insulating medium (thermal insulation filler, see the rejection of claim 36 above).
Hu teaches the fibrous support layer has a thermal conductivity of 0.02 W/mK to 0.08 W/mK (Page 2 and 6). Hu teaches thermal insulation filler can include fumed silica (Page 6).
However, Hu is silent to the thermal conductivity of the fumed silica.
Lian teaches creating hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibrous fumed silica (Page 9968, Left Column, Results). Lian teaches the hydrophobic fibrous fumed silica has a thermal conductivity of about 0.018 W/mK, below 300 °C (Page 9968, Left Column, Results).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized the teaching of Hu and Lian and selected the insulating medium to be the fumed silica described by Lian, given Hu teaches fumed silica is used inside their thermal insulation pad and the selection of a known material, which is based upon its suitability for the intended use, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960) (see MPEP § 2144.07).
Since the fibrous support layer, drawn to the claimed thermal insulation layer, has a thermal conductivity of 0.02 W/mK to 0.08 W/mK, and the fumed silica, drawn to the claimed insulting medium, has a thermal conductivity of 0.018 W/mK, modified He meets the limitation “a thermal conductivity of the insulating medium is lower than a thermal conductivity of the thermal insulation layer”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-29, 31-35, and 40-41 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: none of the prior art of record, alone or in combination, teaches, suggests, or renders obvious the invention of claims 1-29, 31-35, and 40-41.
Independent claim 1, the claim recites “wherein the temperature equalization layer comprises a plurality of temperature equalization members, and a thermal resistance of at least one temperature equalization member is different from a thermal resistance of any other temperature equalization member”.
Modified He (see Non-Final Rejection dated 01/30/2026 Pages 5-8 and 42-43) would meet the limitation wherein the temperature equalization layer comprises a plurality of temperature equalization members as each line of thermally conductive particles in the thermal interface material aligned between a hot spot of the integrated circuit product and heat exchanger could be drawn to a temperature equalization member.
However, in the temperature equalization layer (thermal interface material of Hu, see Non-Final Rejection dated 01/30/2026 Page 42), all of the thermally conductive particles are made of the same material and are randomly dispersed before being organized into sections aligned with the hot spots (P17-19).
There is nothing in He to suggest that one section of aligned thermally conductive particles would have a thermal resistance different from a thermal resistance of any other section of aligned thermally conductive particles.
No other art has been found to teach or suggest the requirements of claim 1.
Independent claim 41, the claim recites “an interior of at least one of the plurality of heat exchange units has a buffer cavity spaced apart from the medium flow channel, and the medium flow channel is provided with the buffer cavity on at least one side in a width direction of the heat exchange unit, the buffer cavity is spaced apart and independent from the medium flow channel, the buffer cavity is not in communication with the medium flow channel, the buffer cavity is filled with gas and configured to buffer impact on the heat exchange assembly”.
There is nothing in previously cited He or the previously cited references modifying He that teaches or suggests the limitation of claim 41.
Previously cited Yao teaches an energy storage module including batteries (202 in Fig. 1) and cooling plates (210 in Fig. 1) stored in a casing (P42). Yao teaches a flexible inflatable element (206 in Fig. 1) arranged between the casing and the energy storage cells and cooling plate (see Figs. 1 and also 4; P9, 42). Yao teaches the casing further includes an inflating unit (208 in Fig. 1) that is connected to a compressed air supply in order to inflate the inflatable element (P42). Yao teaches the inflating unit is in communication with a detection unit which is arranged to determine a crash severity in the event of an accident for the vehicle using the energy storage module (P42). Yao teaches if the determined crash severity exceeds a predetermined threshold, the inflating unit inflates the inflatable element (P42). Yao teaches the inflating of the inflatable element helps to prevent damage to an energy storage cell in the event of a crash for a vehicle using the energy storage cell (P12). Yao further teaches the inflatable element can extend to more than one side of the module or even be provided in plurality (P44-45).
However, while Yao uses compressed gas (air) to buffer the sides of battery cells and cooling plates from an external impact, there is no suggestion in Yao to add the inflatable member into the cooling plate itself.
No other art has been found to teach or suggest the requirements of claim 41.
Therefore, the references fail to teach or suggest the particulars of independent claims 1 and 41, and it’s not obvious to modify these teachings to give the instant claimed invention. Thus none of the prior art of the record teaches, suggests, or renders obvious the invention of independent claims 1 and 41. Since claims 2-29, 31-35, and 40 depend on claim 1, they are allowable for the same reason.
Conclusion
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/MARY GRACE HARRIS/Examiner, Art Unit 1729
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