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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on April 15, 2025. Claims 1-7 are pending. Claims 1 and 6 are independent.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ amendments and arguments have been fully considered. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made.
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) 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0171674 to Lee et al. (hereinafter “Lee”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0157944 to Carter.
With respect to independent claims 1 and 6, Lee discloses a tire-carrying rim supporting a tire (see paragraph [0105]: For direct drive (i.e. no speed-reducing gears) “in-wheel” or hub motor electric vehicle applications, maximizing peak torque production is important. Based on the scaling behaviors discussed above, particularly for high power/high torque operations, it can be appreciated that the motor core diameter may be made as large as possible (in some cases, almost as large as the wheel rim diameter) and the number of poles may also be high.);
an electric current generator comprising a rotor integrated in an inner surface of said tire-carrying rim and a circular-shaped stator rotationally fixed with respect to the tire- carrying rim and anchored to a fixed part of a wheel-carrying hub, in a volume between a brake mechanically connected to said wheel-carrying hub, and the inner surface of the tire-carrying rim (see paragraphs [0010], [0062] and [0063]: In electric or electric hybrid vehicles, regenerative braking generally provides only about a tenth of the full braking torque desired. Conventional friction brakes (mechanical brakes) are still typically needed to supplement regenerative braking. A plurality of magnetic flux circuits is formed upon excitation of the stator windings, exerting a torque on the rotor to commence spinning, accelerating, or stopping depending on the stator phased rotating magnetic fields. A software-controlled solid state power switching network controls the excitation of the stator windings. The stator windings can be excited selectively, either singly or in a pre-specified combination of windings. The attributes or characteristics may include, for example, torque, power efficiency, rotational speed, heat generation (a negative attribute which would limit the operation duration of the motor), regenerative braking, forward motoring, backward motoring, high torque braking (non-regenerative or partially regenerative, or simulating a mechanical brake), and/or the like.).
Lee does not explicitly disclose batteries electrically connected to the electric current generator, said batteries being suppliable by current produced by said electric current generator; and an electronic control device electrically connected to the batteries and suppliable by the current produced by the electric current generator; wherein said electronic control device allows passage of a flow of current exclusively from said electric current generator to the batteries.
Carter discloses a device for receiving the electrical current can comprise an electrical storage device associated with the wheel for storing electrical energy of the electrical current. Current generated in the coil represented at 22A and 22B is conducted to a storage device by electrical connections 21A and 21B. The electrical storage device can be a chargeable battery mounted in the wheel. The current generated can be used for any purpose including supplying electrical energy that can be stored in a battery for later use. The disclosed embodiment has the numerous advantages described above. The battery, if disposed within the wheel, is placed and shaped so as to maintain balance of the wheel when it rotates, and can be at the center of the wheel or can extend circumferentially about the wheel. (See paragraphs [0007], [0021], [0025] and [0026]).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the wheel hub generator system of Lee with the wheel mounted battery storage system of Carter that provides current to the storage battery in order to obtain a compact and efficient regenerative charging system, with no change in operating principal and only predictable results.
With respect to dependent claims 2 and 7, Lee discloses wherein the electronic control device adjusts voltage and intensity of said flow of current from said electric current generator to the batteries (See paragraph [0123]: It may be useful in some embodiments to have a digital controller which will not circumscribe the stator armature current strictly, but will allow the armature current to make small and short duration excursions beyond the predefined limit. For example, during the constructive interference phase when the vibration induced back EMF adds to the rotational EMF, the vibration energy is converted to rotational energy, which may be manifested in the form of a slight increase in armature current and torque. Such a control algorithm permits direction conversion of vibration energy to mechanical rotational energy without the need to store the converted electrical energy in a battery, a super-capacitor, a large DC-link capacitor, or other storage device. If the added mechanical energy is not needed, the controller can then lower the average armature voltage to reduce the draw from the battery.).
With respect to dependent claim 3, Lee discloses permanent magnets fixed to the inner surface of the tire-carrying rim by a polyurethane resin (see paragraph [0083]: a stator 400 that may be laminated similarly to rotor 300. In the illustrated embodiment, the lamination 455 of stator 400 is provided by stacking planar magnetic laminates 455A along axial direction 471 on both the radially inwardly facing peripheral surface 474 and radially outwardly facing peripheral surface 475 of stator 400.).
With respect to dependent claim 4, Lee discloses wherein the circular-shaped stator is made of a polyurethane resin having a solid end state and contains enameled copper wire (see paragraph [0062]: the motor includes a multi-slotted laminated stator with two sets of phased copper windings to generate phased rotating magnetic fields when the field windings are selectively energized.).
With respect to dependent claim 5, Lee discloses a wheel-carrying hub that rotatably supports the tire-carrying rim, and a brake mechanically connected to the wheel-carrying hub and imparts a brake torque on the tire-carrying rim (see paragraphs [0152] and [0178]: the possibility of using an off-wheel dump resistor and associated cooling system to dissipate the kinetic energy of the vehicle could make it possible to apply maximum braking torque for a much longer duration than could a mechanical brake, since a mechanical brake would dissipate all of the kinetic energy within the small confines of the wheel hub (or the braking disc). Since the synchronous reluctance mode is generally more suitable for regenerative braking than switched reluctance mode, for this particular embodiment of method 2000, regenerative braking capability is provided only by synchronous reluctance mode. Switched reluctance mode is used to apply high torque dissipative braking similar to a mechanical brake.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART whose telephone number is (571)270-3965. The examiner can normally be reached 10am - 6pm.
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/DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART/Examiner, Art Unit 3661
/PETER D NOLAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3661