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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114de
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/30/2024 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed 1/14/2026, with respect to 17 and 20-32 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 102 and 103 rejections of claims 17 and 20-32 have been withdrawn.
With respect to 18 the arguments are not convincing for at least the following. Specifically, Applicant argues that Tokunaga fails to teach or suggest "the front and rear plates comprising supply channels have radial branches that aligned with the radial channels of the shaft and open onto the radial channels of the shaft" and points toward Tokunaga figure 15-16 as only showing "the through holes 24 referred to by the Examiner are not radial channels of the shaft but radial channels of the rotor sheet stack. As can be seen in Fig. 16 of Tokunaga reproduced above, in no way the passages 43A are aligned with any radial channels (41A) of the shaft in Tokunaga." From at least figure 12, the passages 43a in the shaft aligned with the through hole 24 in the plate. Therefore, the claim remains rejected under Tokunaga.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 19 and 33, have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tokunaga et al (US 20130334912 A1).
With respect to claim 18, Tokunaga discloses a rotary electric machine with liquid cooling, comprising a rotor (fig. 3, rotor core 20) with magnets (fig. 12 and throughout, magnets 23) and a wound stator (fig. 3, stator 6), the rotor comprising:(i) at least one rotor sheet stack (fig. 5, and throughout steel plate 21), (ii) magnets housed in said sheet stack,(iii) front and rear plates adjacent to said sheet stack (paragraph 79 “The magnet holding hole 22 passes through toward the axial direction of the shaft 10 (the stacking direction of the stacked steel plates), and holds a magnet (permanent magnet) 23.”), the machine being configured to enable a cross-flow of the cooling liquid within the rotor sheet stack (one discharge channel in said front to allow flow of cooling liquid from said rear plate to said front plate (fig. 16 lower part of page cooling medium passage 40B); whereby, the machine is configured to enable a cross-flow of the cooling liquid within the rotor sheet stack (see at least figures 16-19, Examiner is interpreting the flow circulating from the front to back plates mirrored on each side of the core as cross-flow), the machine comprising a supply of cooling liquid to the front and rear plates (paragraph 71 “the cooling medium outlet 31A is connected to the ejection hole 40BH where the cooling medium passage 40B is opened to the surface of the rotor core 20. The connection portion 32A is a concave portion that is concaved toward the thickness direction of the balance plate 30A”), the liquid supplying the front plate circulating from the front plate through the sheet stack via at least one cooling channel toward the rear plate before leaving the rotor via at least one discharge channel delimited at least partially by the rear plate (fig. 16, top of page cooling medium passages 40A and paragraph 85 “Thereafter, the cooling medium changes the flow direction by 180 degrees at the third cooling medium passages 43A and 43B disposed at the end portion of the rotor core 20, and flows into the fourth cooling medium passages 44A and 44B”), and the liquid supplying the rear plate circulating from the rear plate toward the front plate via at least one cooling channel before leaving the rotor via at least one discharge channel delimited at least partially by the front plate (fig. 16 lower part of page cooling medium passage 40B), the plates being supplied by a shaft of the rotor, the shaft comprising a central channel (paragraph 57 “A plurality of cooling medium passages 40A and 40B are branched from the cooling medium supply passage 11.”), this central channel communicating with the front plate by radial channels and with the rear plate by other radial channels (see at least figure 16 and paragraph 57 quoted above, noting the cooling medium passages 40A/B feed into the front and rear plate) the front and rear plates comprising supply channels having radial branches that are aligned with the radial channels of the shaft and open onto the radial channels of the shaft (see figure 12, passages 43a are aligned with the through hole 24 which are radially aligned).
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 19 and 33 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tokunaga in view of Samie et al (US 20220399770 A1).
With respect to claim 19, Tokunaga teaches rotary electric machine with liquid cooling, comprising a rotor (fig. 3, rotor core 20) with magnets (fig. 12 and throughout, magnets 23) and a wound stator (fig. 3, stator 6), the rotor comprising:(i) at least one rotor sheet stack (fig. 5, and throughout steel plate 21),(ii) magnets housed in said sheet stack (paragraph 79 “The magnet holding hole 22 passes through toward the axial direction of the shaft 10 (the stacking direction of the stacked steel plates), and holds a magnet (permanent magnet) 23.”),(iii) front and rear plates adjacent to said stack of sheets (fig. 5 balance plates 30), the machine being configured to enable a cross-flow of the cooling liquid within the rotor sheet stack the machine comprising a supply of cooling liquid to the front and rear plates (see at least figures 16-19, Examiner is interpreting the flow circulating from the front to back plates mirrored on each side of the core as cross-flow), the liquid supplying the front plate circulating from the front plate through the sheet stack via at least one cooling channel toward the rear plate before leaving the rotor via at least one discharge channel delimited at least partially by the rear plate (fig. 16, top of page cooling medium passages 40A and paragraph 85 “Thereafter, the cooling medium changes the flow direction by 180 degrees at the third cooling medium passages 43A and 43B disposed at the end portion of the rotor core 20, and flows into the fourth cooling medium passages 44A and 44B”), and the liquid supplying the rear plate circulating from the rear plate toward the front plate via at least one cooling channel before leaving the rotor via at least one discharge channel delimited at least partially by the front plate (fig. 16, top of page cooling medium passages 40B and paragraph 85 “Thereafter, the cooling medium changes the flow direction by 180 degrees at the third cooling medium passages 43A and 43B disposed at the end portion of the rotor core 20, and flows into the fourth cooling medium passages 44A and 44B”), the plates being supplied with cooling liquid via an axial distribution channel of the cooling liquid formed in the rotor mass along a shaft (paragraph 57 “A plurality of cooling medium passages 40A and 40B are branched from the cooling medium supply passage 11.”)
Tokunaga does not teach “the shaft being devoid of non-axial channels situated axially within the length of the sheet stack measured in the axial direction.”
Samie teaches the shaft being devoid of non-axial channels situated axially within the length of the sheet stack measured in the axial direction (fig. 5, coolant passage 48 is outside of the axial length of the stack. The Examiner notes 48A is an alternative embodiment for the location of the passage.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill, in the art at the time the invention was filed, to combine the rotor and coolant channels of Tokunaga with the axial passage of Samie in order to circulate within the rotor, improving cooling and thereby reducing heat related damages to the magnetic circuit.
With respect to claim 33, Tokunaga teaches the above-mentioned limitations but does not teach “the central channel being branched to the radial channels only at positions situated outside the length of the rotor sheet stack in the axial direction”
Samie teaches the central channel being branched to the radial channels only at positions situated outside the length of the rotor sheet stack in the axial direction (fig. 5, coolant passage 48 is outside of the axial length of the stack then branches radially. The Examiner notes 48A is an alternative embodiment for the location of the passage).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill, in the art at the time the invention was filed, to combine the rotor and coolant channels of Tokunaga with the axial passage of Samie in order to circulate within the rotor, improving cooling and thereby reducing heat related damages to the magnetic circuit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 and 20-32 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
With respect to claim 17, the limitation “the discharge channels being formed hollow on the face of the plate turned toward said rotor sheet stack, the discharge channels being formed by recesses whose depth, measured in an axial direction, increases toward the outer periphery of the front and rear plates, wherein the cooling liquid is configured to leave the rotor via the discharge channels” in combination disclosed are neither anticipated nor obvious over the prior art.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/R.O.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/CHRISTOPHER M KOEHLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834