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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 1/14/2026 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. The Chinese Office Action listed in the IDS lacks a copy. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 15-18 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “substantially” in lines 8 and 11 of claim 15; and in claim 25 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “substantially is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear to ascertain the degree of axially straight path in claim 15 and the degree of smoothness in claim 25.
For examination purposes, “a substantially axially-straight path” in line 8 and 11 of claim 15 are construed as –an axially-straight path--; and “is substantially smooth” is construed as -- is smooth--.
Claims 16-18 are also rejected due to their dependency of claim 15.
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) 1-6, 8, 10-12, 21 and 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doty (US PGPub No. 2008/0115527) in view of Wirsch (US PGPub No. 2015/0249379) and Chang (US PGPub No. 2012/0318479).
Regarding claim 1, Doty discloses a refrigerant compressor (36, Fig. 1), comprising:
a cooling jacket (tubing 209a of a stator cooling section 208 surrounding a stator sleeve 188, Fig. 20 and paragraph 0135) including a flow of refrigerant on a surface adjacent a stator (188).
Doty fails to disclose a cooling jacket including a plurality of perforations configured to cause refrigerant flowing through the perforations to form impingement jets and further configured to direct the impingement jets onto a surface adjacent a stator; and
a support arrangement holding the cooling jacket in place relative to the stator, wherein the support arrangement includes a plurality of first supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another adjacent a first axial end of the cooling jacket and a plurality of second supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another adjacent a second axial end of the cooling jacket opposite the first axial end,
wherein the first and second supports are circumferentially spaced-apart from others of the corresponding first and second supports such that refrigerant is able to flow axially downstream of the first axial end of the cooling jacket through a first set of circumferential gaps between adjacent first supports and is further able to flow axially downstream of the second axial end of the cooling jacket through a second set of circumferential gaps between adjacent second supports.
Wirsch discloses a cooling jacket (inner stator sleeve 30, Fig. 4, of convection reservoirs 34 around a stator 10 having a stator core 12, Figs. 4 and 5) including a plurality of perforations (38, Fig. 4) configured to cause refrigerant (coolant) flowing through the perforations to form impingement jets and further configured to direct the impingement jets onto a surface (42) adjacent a stator (10, Fig. 4, also see paragraph 0021).
Therefore, the coiled tubing 209a of Doty may be replaced with the structure of second stator sleeve 28 including the inner stator sleeve 30 around the stator 10.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a plurality of perforations configured to cause refrigerant flowing through the perforations to form impingement jets and further configured to direct the impingement jets onto a surface adjacent a stator in Doty as taught by Wirsch in order to enable the thin boundary layer that increases heat transfer via convection (paragraph 0021 of Wirsch).
Chang (Figs. 1-4) discloses a support arrangement (connecting sections 21) holding the cooling jacket (outer cylinder 10) in place relative to the stator (outer cylinder 10 is held in place relative to motor M, Fig. 6), wherein the support arrangement includes a plurality of first supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another (first four connecting sections 21 out of a total of 8 provided and each spaced 45 degrees apart, see Fig. 2, and they are adjacent to front side of the outer cylinder 10 in Fig. 1) adjacent a first axial end of the cooling jacket and a plurality of second supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another adjacent a second axial end of the cooling jacket opposite the first axial end (reminder four connecting sections 21 out of the total of 8 provided and each spaced 45 degrees apart, see Fig. 2, and they are adjacent to rear side of the outer cylinder 10 in Fig. 1), and
wherein the first and second supports are circumferentially spaced-apart from others of the corresponding first and second supports (the first four connecting sections 21 are spaced apart from the second four connecting sections 21 by 45 degrees) such that refrigerant is able to flow axially through a first set of circumferential gaps between adjacent first supports and is further able to flow axially through a second set of circumferential gaps between adjacent second supports (channels are defined between the both first and second four connecting sections 21 and a fluid flows axially through the channels).
It is noted that connecting sections 21 of Chang are radial supports to maintain the two cylinders concentric and to define channels. Therefore, the teaching of Wirsch replacing the coiled tubing 209a in Doty may be further provided with the axial supports circumferentially between each convection reservoir 34 in Fig. 5 of Wirsch. Each axial supports may also extend radially from inner stator sleeve 26 to outer stator sleeve 32 and axially between axial ends of the sleeves in order to define each convection reservoir 34 in Fig. 5 and to maintain the sleeves concentrically around the stator.
The resultant structure in modified Doty in view of both Wirsch and Chang has a first set of circumferential gaps (a first set of convection reservoirs 34 and delivery reservoirs 36 in Fig. 5 of Wirsch circumferentially separated by the first four connecting sections 21); and a second set of circumferential gaps (a second set of convection reservoirs 34 and delivery reservoirs 36 in Fig. 5 of Wirsch circumferentially separated by the reminder four connecting sections 21). Since each convection reservoir 34, 36 in Fig. 5 of Wirsch has a cross-section structure in Fig. 4, the first set of circumferential gaps have a refrigerant that is able to flow axially downstream of the first axial end of the cooling jacket (e.g., from the location of inlet 52 to delivery reservoir 36); and second set of circumferential gaps have a refrigerant that is able to flow axially downstream of the second axial end of the cooling jacket (e.g., from the location of convection reservoirs 34 to outlet 56).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a support arrangement holding the cooling jacket in place relative to the stator, wherein the support arrangement includes a plurality of first supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another adjacent a first axial end of the cooling jacket and a plurality of second supports circumferentially spaced-apart from one another adjacent a second axial end of the cooling jacket opposite the first axial end,
wherein the first and second supports are circumferentially spaced-apart from others of the corresponding first and second supports such that refrigerant is able to flow axially downstream of the first axial end of the cooling jacket through a first set of circumferential gaps between adjacent first supports and is further able to flow axially downstream of the second axial end of the cooling jacket through a second set of circumferential gaps between adjacent second supports in Doty as taught by Wirsch and Chang in order to support and maintain the sleeves concentrically around the stator.
Regarding claim 2, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the surface adjacent the stator is a cooling plate covering the stator (sleeve 26 of Wirsch or 188 in Doty that covers the stator).
Regarding claim 3, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the cooling plate is formed integrally with the stator (the sleeve forms an integral assembly with the stator).
Regarding claim 4, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the cooling jacket is arranged radially between the cooling plate and a radially outer housing of the refrigerant compressor (inner stator sleeve 30 is radially between the sleeve 26 and an outer stator sleeve 32).
Regarding claim 5, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the cooling jacket is arranged such that a radial gap (36 of Wirsch) is provided between a radially outer surface (46 of Wirsch) of the cooling jacket and a radially inner surface (48 of Wirsch) of the radially outer housing (32), and such that a radial gap (34 of Wirsch) is also provided between a radially inner surface (44 of Wirsch) of the cooling jacket and a radially outer surface (42 of Wirsch) of the cooling plate (26).
Regarding claim 6, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the first and second supports hold the cooling jacket in place relative to the cooling plate and the radially outer housing (the radial supports in view of Chang hold and define the placement of the cooling jacket 30 between the sleeve 26 and outer sleeve 32).
Regarding claim 8, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the first and supports are attached to the cooling jacket and extend to the cooling plate and the radially outer housing (the radial supports in view of Chang attached to the cooling jacket 30 and extend to the sleeve 26 and the outer stator sleeve 32).
Regarding claim 10, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the first plurality of supports includes four supports; wherein the second plurality of supports includes four supports (the radial supports in view of Chang includes four supports in each of the first four connecting sections 21 and second four connecting sections 21).
Regarding claim 11, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the perforations (38 of Wirsch) permit refrigerant to flow from the radially outer surface of the cooling jacket to the radially inner surface of the cooling jacket (the coolant impinges radially from the outer surface 46 to the inner surface 44 of the cooling jacket).
Regarding claim 12, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the perforations are substantially equally-sized and evenly-distributed on the cooling jacket (the ports 38 are equally-sized and evenly-distributed on the sleeve 26 as shown in Figs. 4-6 of Wirsch).
Regarding claim 21, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the refrigerant compressor is configured such that, downstream of the stator (exit from the tubing 209a around the stator 154 in Fig. 20, or line 38 flowing towards evaporator 34 in Fig. 1 of Doty), the refrigerant is directed to a rotor of the refrigerant compressor to absorb heat from the rotor (the refrigerant is directed to line 40 towards the rotor in the motor of compressor 36, see Fig. 19 and paragraph 0127, via a loop of the compressor 36, condenser 30 and expansion valve 32).
Regarding claim 23, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the first set of circumferential gaps are axially unobstructed such that refrigerant can flow through the first set of circumferential gaps from a location axially aligned with the cooling jacket to a location axially spaced-apart from the cooling jacket (the convection reservoirs 34 between the first four connecting sections 21 as taught by Chang are axially aligned unobstructed and through channels to direct the coolant, from interior of the reservoir 34, through immediate turns, to a location of outlet 56 axially spaced-apart from the cooling jacket 30).
Regarding claim 24, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the second set of circumferential gaps are axially unobstructed such that refrigerant can flow through the second set of circumferential gaps from a location axially aligned with the cooling jacket to a location axially spaced-apart from the cooling jacket (the convection reservoirs 34 between the reminder four connecting sections 21 as taught by Chang are also axially aligned unobstructed and through channels to direct the coolant, from interior of the reservoir 34, through immediate turns, to a location of outlet 56 axially spaced-apart from the cooling jacket 30).
Regarding claim 25, Doty as modified further discloses wherein the surface adjacent the stator is substantially smooth (the surface 42 in Fig. 4 is smooth) such that, following contact with the surface adjacent the stator, refrigerant is able to flow in opposing axial directions (considering the perforation 38 closet to the left side of Fig. 4, the coolant impinged through the perforation 38 following contact with the surface 42 flows in a left direction to fill the space on left side of the perforation 38, and also in a right direction towards an outlet 56).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doty (US PGPub No. 2008/0115527) in view of Wirsch (US PGPub No. 2015/0249379) and Chang (US PGPub No. 2012/0318479) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Joshi (US PGPub No. 2014/0284787).
Regarding claim 13, Doty as modified fails to disclose wherein the perforations each exhibit a diameter within a range of 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm and wherein the perforations are spaced-apart by distance between 2 mm and 4 mm.
The diameter of the perforations and space between the perforations are recognized in the art to be result effective. Joshi discloses that the number, size, and spacing of the jet orifices may depend on many factors, such as the size of the heated area, the number of heated areas, the heat flux present at the heated area, and the distance from the jet orifice surface 26 to the target surface 50 (paragraph 0041). Joshi further discloses that the fluid velocity increases when decreasing the size (paragraph 0037). It is also understood that the spacing of the orifices define a flow rate of the fluid through an area of the perforated plate. Joshi discloses exemplary diameter of the orifices is 0.6-1.35mm (paragraph 0041). Therefore, the claimed range of diameter and spacing between the perforations is not novel. One of ordinary skill in the art would perform routine experimentation to the diameter and spacing of the perforations including the claimed range in order to obtain an optimum parameter dependent on thermodynamic and fluidic performance of the perforated plate.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein the perforations each exhibit a diameter within a range of 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm and the perforations are spaced-apart by distance between 2 mm and 4 mm in Doty as taught by Joshi through routine experimentation.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/15/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that the amendment to claim 1 that Chang fails to teach “such that refrigerant is able to flow axially downstream of the first axial end of the cooling jacket through a first set of circumferential gaps between adjacent first supports and is further able to flow axially downstream of the second axial end of the cooling jacket through a second set of circumferential gaps between adjacent second supports, it is noted that Chang is only relied upon the connecting sections 21 or supports between the concentric structures provided between inner stator sleeve 26 and outer stator sleeve 32 in Wirsch and that replaces the coolant jacket of Doty.
The resultant structure has a first set of delivery reservoirs 36 in Fig. 5 of Wirsch circumferentially separated by the first four connecting sections 21 of Chang having a coolant that flows downstream from the location of inlet 52 to delivery reservoir 36; and a second set of convection reservoirs 34 circumferentially separated by the reminder four connecting sections 21 of Chang having a coolant that flows downstream from the location of convection reservoirs 34 to outlet 56.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Parent claim 15 as construed in 112(b) rejection above requires “directing some of the refrigerant downstream of a first axial end of the stator by causing some of the refrigerant to flow, following impingement, along an axially-straight path in a first axial direction past the first axial end of the stator, and directing other refrigerant downstream of a second axial end of the stator opposite the first axial end by causing the other refrigerant to flow, following impingement, along an axially-straight path in a second axial direction opposite the first axial direction past the second axial end of the stator”.
Doty in view of Wirsch (see the Non-Final rejection dated 10/2/2025) discloses a coolant path (convection reservoirs 34 in Fig. 4 of Wirsch) following the impingement from perforations 38. Although the coolant flow in the convection reservoirs 34 itself is axially straight, the coolant must turn twice in order to flow past the outlet 56 which is also past the stator sleeve 26 (or first axial end of the stator as claimed). Doty in view of Wirsch fails to meet “along an axially-straight path in a first axial direction” as currently understood.
The coolant path in Doty in view of Wirsch (see the Non-Final rejection dated 10/2/2025) following the impingement from perforations 38 may be further modified to include an additional outlet formed at a second axial end (at left side of the sleeve 28 in Fig. 4 of Wirsch) as taught by Nakahama so that the coolant discharges at the second axial end to increase the flow rate. The modification is silent to the location of the additional outlet at the second axial end. Therefore, Doty in view of Wirsch and Nakahama also fails to meet “along an axially-straight path in a second axial direction” as currently understood.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JOEL M ATTEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763