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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ranwell et al. (GB2565886) hereinafter Ranwell
Regarding Claim 1 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) A ducted fan engine (100) for providing thrust to an aircraft, in particular an aircraft having vertical take-off and landing capability, the ducted fan engine (100) comprising: a shroud (104) having a substantially circular cross-section (Fig 1-3); a stator (S1-S3) having at least one substantially radially-extending stator (S1-S3) vane; and a rotor (R1-R3) rotatably supported by the shroud (104), wherein the rotor comprises at least 19 rotor blades, in particular at least 25 rotor blades (see Fig 1 it shows 24 rotor blades).
Regarding Claim 2 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein the rotor (R1-R3) comprises 72 rotor blades for the three rotors (R1-R3) (Fig 1-3).
Regarding Claim 3 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein: (i) the rotor includes a hub (102) coaxial with regard to a rotary axis of the ducted fan engine (Fig 1-3).
Regarding Claim 4 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein the rotor blades have a rear edge extending essentially straight (see Fig below).
Regarding Claim 5 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein the stator (S1) comprises at least 2 stator vanes (S1c-S3c) (Fig 3).
Regarding Claim 6 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) the airfoil of the at least one stator vane (s1c-s3c) extends at an inclination of approximately at least about -5°with respect to the rotary axis (Fig 3).
Regarding Claim 7 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein a ratio of stator vanes to rotor blades is at least about 1/20 (see Fig 3).
Regarding Claim 10 Ranwell teaches (Fig 1) wherein the ducted fan engine (100) comprises at least one electromotor configured for driving the rotor (page 2. 13-21).
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sikora et al. (WO2021108714)) hereinafter Sikora
Regarding Claim 1 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) A ducted fan engine (Fig 1-8) for providing thrust to an aircraft, in particular an aircraft having vertical take-off and landing capability, the ducted fan engine (Fig 1) comprising: a shroud (102) having a substantially circular cross-section (Fig 1-8); a stator (800) having at least one substantially radially-extending stator vane (802); and a rotor (700) rotatably supported by the shroud (102), wherein the rotor comprises at least 19 rotor blades (it has 24 blades) (704).
Regarding Claim 2 Sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein the rotor (700, 700A, 700B) comprises 48 rotor blades in total (Fig 1-3).
Regarding Claim 4 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein the rotor blades have a rear edge extending essentially straight in a radial direction, in particular perpendicular to the rotary axis, and/or wherein the rotor blades have a concave leading edge (Fig 7, par.0081).
Regarding Claim 5 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein the stator (of stator D2) comprises at least 6 stator vanes (802) (Fig 8).
Regarding Claim 7 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein a ratio of stator vanes to rotor blades is at least about 1/4 (see Fig. 1-8).
Regarding Claim 8 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein an axial length of the at least one stator vane is larger than the axial length of the rotor blades (Fig 3)
Regarding Claim 10 Sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) wherein the ducted fan engine comprises at least one electromotor configured for driving the rotor (Fig 2, par.0056).
Regarding Claim 11 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) An array of more than one, in particular two, three or five of the ducted fan engine of claim 1, wherein the ducted fan engines are rigidly coupled to one another, in particular in an axis-parallel manner (Fig 16-18 par.00143-144).
Regarding Claim 12 sikora teaches (Fig 1-8) an aircraft, in particular a passenger aircraft, having vertical take-off and landing capability including a fuselage and an array according to claim wherein the array is pivotably connected to the fuselage around a pitch axis of the aircraft (Par.0143-0144).
Regarding Claim 13 Sikora teaches (Fig 1) the wing (1815) can support cruise flight with the engine turned off therefore meeting the noise level requirements of claim 13.
Regarding Claims 14-15 Sikora teaches (Fig 1) the engine is capable of being tilted b/n longitudinal axis and yaw axis and depending on the operation of the engine the aircraft is capable of achieving noise levels for instance when it is turned off during cruise flight operation.
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Allowable subject matter
Claim 9 is objected to but would be allowable if rewritten including all the limitations of the base claims and all the intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/ABIY TEKA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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