DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (CN 110138239 A) in view of Zheng (CN 111342672 A).
Re Claims 1 and 11: Liu discloses
a charging circuit or a charging apparatus, comprising;
at least two groups of direct current (DC/DC) converters that are mutually coupled (Liu: "a first transformer module, a second transformer module, a first primary input module disposed on the primary side of the first transformer module, a first secondary output module disposed on the secondary side of the first transformer module, a second primary input module disposed on the primary side of the second transformer module, a second secondary output module disposed on the secondary side of the second transformer module"),
at least one group of relay switches configured to connect the at least two groups of DC/DC converters in series when a first voltage is in a first threshold range, and configured to connect the at least two groups of DC/DC converters in parallel when the first voltage is in a second threshold range (Liu: a high-low voltage mode control module for controlling the first secondary output module and the second secondary output module to be connected in series in a high-voltage mode and in parallel in a low-voltage mode, constant-power charging covering 1000V~250V high and low voltage electric vehicles), wherein the first voltage is a charging voltage of an electric vehicle.
However, Liu does not disclose at least one diode configured to prevent a current of a storage battery in the electric vehicle from flowing back.
Zheng however discloses at least one diode configured to prevent a current of a storage battery in the electric vehicle from flowing back (The diodes comprise: a first diode, a second diode, and a third diode... overall constituting a charging output circuit with hybrid switch phase-shift control and anti-backflow protection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Zheng’s teaching in the circuit or the apparatus of Liu for the purpose of protecting the secondary output modules from catastrophic reverse current flowing from the electric vehicle's high-capacity storage battery back into the charging circuit during mechanical state transitions.
Re Claims 2 and 12: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claims 1 or 11,
wherein when the charging circuit comprises two groups of DC/DC converters and one group of relay switches, the charging circuit comprises:
a first DC/DC converter,
a second DC/DC converter,
a first relay switch,
a first diode,
a second diode, and
a third diode
(Zheng: a first DC module and a second DC module, a hybrid switch is formed by connecting said power switching tube and a relay in parallel, said diodes comprise: a first diode, a second diode, and a third diode), wherein
a cathode of the first diode is coupled to a first output end of the first DC/DC converter by using the first relay switch, a anode of the first diode is coupled to a first output end of the second DC/DC converter, a cathode of the second diode is coupled to the first output end of the first DC/DC converter, a anode of the second diode is coupled to a second output end of the second DC/DC converter, a cathode of the third diode is coupled to a second output end of the first DC/DC converter, a anode of the third diode is coupled to the first output end of the second DC/DC converter, the second output end of the first DC/DC converter is a first output end of the charging circuit, and the second output end of the second DC/DC converter is a second output end of the charging circuit (Zheng: the anode of said first diode is connected to the positive terminal of said second DC module, and the cathode is connected to the positive terminal of said first DC module, the anode of said second diode is connected to the negative terminal of said second DC module, and the cathode is connected to the negative terminal of said first DC module. the cathode of said third diode is connected to the negative terminal of said first DC module, and the anode is connected to said hybrid switch, and the other end of said hybrid switch is connected to the positive terminal of said second DC module, the positive terminal of said first DC module and the negative terminal of said second DC module serve as output terminals).
Re Claims 3 and 13: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 2 or 12, wherein the charging circuit further comprises a control circuit; configured to: when the first voltage is in the first threshold range, control the first relay switch to connect the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter in series (Liu: high-low voltage mode control module for controlling the first secondary output module and the second secondary output module to be connected in series in a high-voltage mode, Zheng: switching said first DC module and second DC module from parallel mode to series mode" via a control method), and
when the first voltage is in the second threshold range, control the first relay switch to connect the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter in parallel (Liu: in parallel in a low-voltage mode, Zheng: switching said first DC module and second DC module from series mode to parallel mode).
Re Claims 4 and 14: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 1 or 11, wherein when the charging circuit comprises two groups of DC/DC converters and two groups of relay switches, the charging circuit comprises: a first DC/DC converter, a second DC/DC converter, a first relay switch, a second relay switch, a first diode, a second diode, and a third diode, wherein
a cathode of the first diode is coupled to a first output end of the first DC/DC converter, a anode of the first diode is coupled to a first output end of the second DC/DC converter, a cathode of the second diode is coupled to the first output end of the first DC/DC converter by using the first relay switch, a anode of the second diode is coupled to a second output end of the second DC/DC converter, a cathode of the third diode is coupled to a second output end of the first DC/DC converter by using the second relay switch, a anode of the third diode is coupled to the first output end of the second DC/DC converter, the second output end of the first DC/DC converter is a first output end of the charging circuit, and the second output end of the second DC/DC converter is a second output end of the charging circuit (Liu: said high-low voltage mode control module comprises a first changeover switch, a second changeover switch, and a third changeover switch, Zheng: The diodes comprise: a first diode, a second diode, and a third diode);
the first relay switch and the second relay switch are open, so that the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter are connected in series; and
the first relay switch and the second relay switch are closed, so that the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter are connected in parallel (Liu: “the changeover switch K1 is opened, and changeover switches K2 and K3 are closed, thereby realizing a low-voltage mode” and “changeover switch K1 is closed, and K2 and K3 are opened, thereby realizing a high-voltage mode”).
Re Claims 5 and 15: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 4 or 14,
wherein the charging circuit further comprises a control circuit configured to:
when the first voltage is in the first threshold range, control the first relay switch and the second relay switch to connect the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter in series, and
when the first voltage is in the second threshold range, control the first relay switch and the second relay switch to connect the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter in parallel (Liu: a high-low voltage mode control module for controlling the first secondary output module and the second secondary output module to be connected in series in a high-voltage mode and in parallel in a low-voltage mode).
Re Claims 6 or 16: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claims 2 or 12, wherein when the first relay switch is an alternating current relay switch, the charging circuit further comprises a first semiconductor device configured to protect the first relay switch coupled to the first semiconductor device in parallel (Zheng: a hybrid switch is formed by connecting said power switching tube and a relay in parallel, Zheng: the main contacts of the relay work in a zero-voltage state when closing and opening).
Re Claims 7 and 17: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 4 or 14, wherein when the first relay switch is an alternating current relay switch and the second relay switch is an alternating current relay switch, the charging circuit further comprises a first semiconductor device and a second semiconductor device, wherein
the first relay switch and the second relay switch are respectively coupled to the first semiconductor device and the second semiconductor device in parallel (Zheng: power switching tube and a relay in parallel, Examiner: Liu discloses multiple relays/changeover switches in the circuit.);
the first semiconductor device is configured to protect the first relay switch; and the second semiconductor device is configured to protect the second relay switch (Examiner: Zheng specifies the parallel semiconductor device ensures "zero-voltage closing" and "zero-voltage opening of said relay".).
Re Claims 8 and 18: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 6 or 16, wherein the first semiconductor device is any one of an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), a metal-oxide- semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistor, and a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) (Zheng: said power switching tube is a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), Zheng: said power switching tube is an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)).
Re Claims 9 and 19: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claims 7 or 17, wherein the second semiconductor device is any one of an IGBT, MOS field-effect transistor, and a SCR (Zheng: said power switching tube is a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)).
Re Claims 10 and 20: Liu modified by Zheng discloses the charging circuit or the charging apparatus according to claim 1 or 11,
wherein a circuit structure of each of the first DC/DC converter and the second DC/DC converter is any one of:
a full-bridge inductor-inductor-capacitor (LLC) resonant circuit, a half-bridge LLC resonant circuit, a three-level LLC resonant circuit, a three-level full-bridge circuit, a phase-shift full-bridge circuit, an asymmetric half-bridge circuit, and a three-phase interleaved LLC resonant circuit (Zheng: LLC resonant input circuit, LLC resonant output circuit).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE W KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-5971. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM.
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/TAE W KIM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2876
/THIEN M LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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