DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/28/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 1-2, 5 and 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “normalizing the vibration signal into components parallel and perpendicular to the plane of the airfoil in response to an input from the one or more inertial sensors,” but said limitation is not supported in the original disclosure. (Note: This limitation had been rejected under 112 previously as shown in Office Action dated 09/10/2024, then subsequently amended back to normalizing with respect to the rotation of the rotor on 03/30/2026). Specifically, the Paragraph [0052] (shown below for convenience) of the original disclosure discloses that the controller normalizes the inputs from the one or more inertial sensors into acceleration components parallel to and perpendicular to the plane of the rotation of the rotor (and not airfoil as claimed).
PNG
media_image1.png
432
1140
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2, 5 and 8-13 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 16-22, 24, 27-28 are allowed. Specifically, the independent claims 20 and 27-28 are allowed over the prior arts. The dependent claims 16-19, 21-22 and 24 are allowed due to their dependencies to said independent claim 20.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 1. Prior arts do not teach or suggest a combination, including
an airfoil performance monitor comprising:
a housing mounted on a low-pressure face of an airfoil, and including at least one pitot
pressure orifice used to determine a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and at least one static pressure orifice used to determine a static pressure at the airfoil performance monitor; at least one airspeed-dependent sensor that measures a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and determines a dynamic pressure as the difference between the total and static pressures and generates a dynamic pressure signal indicative of a dynamic pressure at the airfoil performance monitor, said dynamic pressure signal including a steady state airflow signal indicative of steady state airflow and a turbulent signal indicative of a turbulent value of the airflow; and one or more inertial sensors that measure and identify vibration frequency and amplitude data due to mechanical motion on the housing and that generate a vibration signal; and a controller that derives a turbulence intensity ratio by normalizing turbulence values of the dynamic pressure signal using the steady-state airflow signal and by normalizing the vibration
signal into components parallel and perpendicular to the plane of the airfoil in response to an input from the one or more inertial sensors and filtering the turbulence value from the dynamic pressure signal with frequency and amplitude data from the one or more inertial sensors to determine the actual turbulent airflow by distinguishing between actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil and apparent turbulence induced by structural vibration of the airfoil to eliminate structural vibration effects on the turbulence intensity calculations, said controller using the determination of actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil to generate a signal used to adjust the pitch angle of the airfoil to optimize aerodynamic efficiencies
Regarding Claim 20. Prior arts do not teach or suggest a combination, including an airfoil performance monitor system for a wind turbine comprising:
a housing mounted on a low-pressure face of an airfoil, the housing defining at least one pitot pressure orifice used to measure a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and at least one static pressure orifice used to measure a static pressure at the airfoil performance monitor; at least one airspeed-dependent sensor in fluid communication with the at least one pitot pressure orifices that converts airflow measured via the pitot orifice and generates a dynamic pressure signal indicative of turbulence of the airflow, said dynamic pressure signal including a steady state airflow signal indicative of steady state airflow and a turbulent signal indicative of a turbulent value of the airflow; one or more inertial sensors that measure a pitch angle of the airfoil, and motion in up to three orientations from their mounting location based on mechanical motion of the airfoil transmitted mechanically to the housing, a rotor control system that controls the pitch angle of the airfoil; and a controller that derives a turbulence intensity ratio by filtering turbulence values with the acceleration measured by the inertial sensors in response to the pitch angle of the airfoil and a frequency of the acceleration of the motion of the airfoil measured from the one or more inertial
sensors to determine the actual turbulent airflow by distinguishing between actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil and apparent turbulence induced by structural vibration of the airfoil to eliminate structural vibration effects on the turbulent intensity ratio and relating the filtered turbulence values to a steady state airflow signal, said controller using the determination of actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil to generate a signal to said rotor control system and using the pitch angle of the airfoil measured by the one or more inertial sensors to adjust a threshold turbulence intensity ratio indicative of a stall condition as a function of the pitch angle of the airfoil, said rotor control system
acting in response to said signal from said controller to adjust the pitch angle of the airfoil to optimize aerodynamic efficiencies.
Regarding Claim 27. Prior arts do not teach or suggest a combination, including
an airfoil performance monitor comprising:
a housing mounted on a low-pressure face of an airfoil, and including at least one pitot
pressure orifice used to determine a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and at least one static pressure orifice used to determine a static pressure at the airfoil performance monitor, at least one airspeed-dependent sensor that measures a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and determines a dynamic pressure as the difference between the total and static pressures and generates a dynamic pressure signal indicative of a dynamic pressure at the airfoil performance monitor, said dynamic pressure signal including a steady state airflow signal indicative of steady state airflow and a turbulent signal indicative of a turbulent value of the airflow, and one or more inertial sensors that measure and identify vibration frequency and amplitude data due to mechanical motion on the housing; and a controller that derives a turbulence intensity ratio by normalizing turbulence values of the dynamic pressure signal using the steady-state airflow signal and filtering the turbulence value from the dynamic pressure signal with frequency and amplitude data from the one or more inertial sensors to determine the actual turbulent airflow by distinguishing between actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil and apparent turbulence induced by structural vibration of the airfoil to eliminate
structural vibration effects on the turbulence intensity calculations, wherein the controller uses a threshold turbulence intensity ratio to give an indication of a blade stall and uses a pitch angle of the airfoil measured by the one or more inertial sensors to adjust the threshold turbulent intensity ratio as a function of pitch angle; said controller using the determination of actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil to generate a signal used to adjust the pitch angle of the airfoil to optimize aerodynamic efficiencies.
Regarding Claim 28. Prior arts do not teach or suggest a combination, including an airfoil performance monitor system for a wind turbine comprising:
a housing mounted on a low-pressure face of an airfoil, the housing defining at least one pitot pressure orifice used to measure a total pressure at the airfoil performance monitor and at least one static pressure orifice used to measure a static pressure at the airfoil performance monitor, at least one airspeed-dependent sensor in fluid communication with the at least one pitot pressure orifices that converts airflow measured via the pitot orifice and generates a dynamic pressure signal indicative of turbulence of the airflow, said dynamic pressure signal including a steady state airflow signal indicative of steady state airflow and a turbulent signal indicative of a
turbulent value of the airflow, one or more inertial sensors that measure a pitch angle of the airfoil, and motion in up to three orientations from their mounting location based on mechanical motion of the airfoil transmitted mechanically to the housing; a rotor control system that controls the pitch angle of the airfoil; and a controller that derives a turbulence intensity ratio by filtering turbulence values with the acceleration measured by the inertial sensors in response to the pitch angle of the airfoil and a frequency of the acceleration of the motion of the airfoil measured from the one or more inertial
sensors to determine the actual turbulent airflow by distinguishing between actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil and apparent turbulence induced by structural vibration of the airfoil to eliminate structural vibration effects on the turbulent intensity ratio and relating the filtered turbulence values to a steady state airflow signal, said controller normalizing the acceleration signals into components parallel and perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the wind turbine rotor in response to the pitch angle input measured by the one or more inertial sensors, said controller using the determination of actual turbulent airflow over the airfoil to generate a signal to said rotor control system, said rotor control system acting in response to said signal from said controller to adjust
the pitch angle of the airfoil to optimize aerodynamic efficiencies.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HYUN D PARK whose telephone number is (571)270-7922. The examiner can normally be reached 11-4.
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, Arleen Vazquez can be reached at 571-272-2619. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HYUN D PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
