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 .
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) 20-32, 34, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trainer et al. (2016/0072407) and Costabeber et al. (WO 2019/141686 A1).
Regarding independent claim 20, Trainer teaches a power supporting arrangement (Fig. 2) for connection to a power grid (46), the power supporting arrangement comprising:
a DC network (44 and 58) comprising a first DC line (32) with a first DC potential, a second DC line (34) with a second DC potential, and an energy storage system (58) comprising a first energy storage unit (top 58) connected in a branch between the first and the second DC lines;
a first group of phase arms (36) connected in a wye-configuration, between the power grid and the first DC line, wherein each phase arm in the first group of phase arms is connected at a first end to a corresponding phase of the power grid and at a second end to the first DC line;
a second group of phase arms (40) connected in a wye-configuration, between the power grid and the second DC line, wherein each phase arm in the second group of phase arms is connected at a first end to a corresponding phase of the power grid and at a second end to the second DC line, and wherein the first and second groups of phase arms are jointly controllable (via control unit) as a voltage source converter for supporting the power grid with reactive power and active power from the energy storage system (Abstract; [0008]-[0009], [0013], first part of [0030]; the first and second groups of phase arms convert the DC voltage to an AC voltage to transfer AC power to the grid, which includes both active and reactive power); and
a third group of phase arms (50) connected in a wye-configuration, the third group of phase arms having a neutral point (56) and being controllable to support the power grid with reactive power, wherein each phase arm in the third group of phase arms is connected at a first end to a corresponding phase of the power grid and each second end is interconnected to form the neutral point, and wherein the third group of phase arms is jointly controllable with the first and second group of phase arms to supply active and reactive power to the power grid ([0020]-[0028]).
Trainer fails to explicitly teach when one of the phase arms is faulty, the other two phase arms function together to supply active and reactive power to the power grid. Costabeber teaches a similar power supporting arrangement (Figs. 1 and 4-7) to that of Trainer. Costabeber teaches the idea of when any one of the phase arms becomes faulty, the other two phase arms are jointly controlled to supply active and reactive power to the power grid (pages 18-23 of provided WO document). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Costabeber’s method of continuing to supply active and reactive power to the power grid into Trainer’s invention when one of the phase arms becomes faulty, since it would allow for Trainer’s groups of phase arms to continue to function and support the power grid by supplying the necessary active and reactive power to the power grid instead of simply shutting down and not assisting the power grid.
Regarding claim 21, Trainer teaches the neutral point of the third group of phase arms is connected to the DC network (at 56).
Regarding claim 22, Trainer teaches the energy storage system further comprises a second energy storage unit (bottom 58).
Regarding claim 23, Trainer teaches the second energy storage unit being connected in series with the first energy storage unit in the branch between the first and second DC lines. (Fig. 2)
Regarding claim 24, Trainer teaches the neutral point of the third group of phase arms being connected to a junction between the first and second energy storage units (Fig. 2; at 56).
Regarding claim 25, Trainer teaches a fourth group of phase arms connected in a wye-configuration between the power grid and a connection point of the DC network (Trainer teaches embodiments including multiphase systems, [0058]).
Regarding claim 26, Trainer teaches the neutral point of the third group of phase arms is connected to the connection point/ground of the DC network (Fig. 2; [0038]).
Regarding claim 27, Trainer teaches the neutral point of the third group of phase arms is connected to ground ([0038]).
Regarding claim 28, Trainer teaches the first and second groups of phase arms comprise half-bridge cells (48), while the third group of phase arms comprises full-bridge cells (60).
Regarding claim 29, Trainer teaches a fourth group of phase arms connected in a wye-configuration between the power grid and a connection point of the DC network, wherein the fourth group of phase arms comprises full-bridge cells (Trainer teaches the idea of multiphase systems at [0058], and full-bridge cells at [0042])).
Regarding claim 30, Trainer teaches the neutral point of the third group of phase arms is connected to a third DC line (56) having a third DC potential (neutral/ground).
Regarding claim 31, Trainer teaches a second energy storage unit (bottom 58) connected in a branch between the second (34) and third (56) DC lines.
Regarding claim 32, Trainer teaches the first, second, and third groups of phase arms each comprise full-bridge cells ([0042]).
Regarding claim 34, Trainer teaches the energy storage system further comprises a second energy storage unit (bottom 58), wherein the second energy storage unit is connected in series with the first energy storage unit in the branch between the first and second DC line (Fig. 2), wherein the neutral point (56) of the third group of phase arms is connected to a junction between the first and second energy storage units.
Regarding independent claim 38, Trainer and Costabeber teach the power supporting arrangement as described above with respect to claims 20, 22, 23, and 30. Trainer teaches first and second energy storage units (58), but fails to explicitly teach a third energy storage unit connected between the first and second energy storage units. However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that one capacitor (say the top 58) is equivalent to two capacitors being connected in series (vertically in Fig. 2) having capacitances that can be equal to the one capacitor. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute two capacitors vertically in series into Trainer’s invention for their capacitor, which would equate to the second energy storage unit being below a third energy storage unit, since the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is known in the art to replace one capacitor for two capacitors and still have an equivalent structure and still function as desired.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 39 and 40 are allowed.
Claims 35-37 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 4, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Examiner believes that Trainer teaches a system where the first and second groups of phase arms work together to convert DC power from the energy storage system and supply AC power (which includes active and reactive power) to the AC grid. Additionally, the third group of phase arms assist in compensating for a deviation in the reactive power that is supplied by the first and second groups of phase arms from the desired reactive power to be supplied to the AC grid. The Examiner argues that there would be no need for reactive power compensation via the third group of phase arms if the first and second phase arms didn’t provide any reactive power to the AC grid to begin with.
Also, the Examiner argues that Trainer’s entire invention (i.e. all of its elements) is “jointly controlled” to supply the desired power to/from the AC grid. Trainer teaches a control unit that controls all of the groups of phase arms to support the power grid with reactive and active power, and the third phase arm performs reactive power compensation with respect to the power provided by the first and second phase arms, which are also controlled by the control unit. The Examiner believes that this is an example of elements being “jointly controlled”.
Regarding the Trainer/Costabeber combination and the faulty phase arm claim language, the Examiner believes that the combination teaches the claimed limitations. Costabeber teaches a fault response where the healthy limbs continue to operate in a coordinated manner to maintain AC power exchange with the power grid. The fact that the faulty limb does not cease functioning is moot, since the claim language doesn’t explicitly state that this has to be the case. The claim simply states that the healthy phase arms are jointly controlled to supply power to the power grid when there is a faulty phase arm, which is what is taught by Costabeber.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DRU M PARRIES whose telephone number is (571)272-8542. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday -Thursday from 9:00am to 6:00pm. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Rexford Barnie, can be reached on 571-272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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DMP
4/7/2026
/DANIEL KESSIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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