DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This Office Action is responsive to the Applicant's communication filed 02 February 2024. In view of this communication, claims 8-24 are now pending in the application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (f), 365(a) or (b), or 386(a), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 02 February 2024 was/were filed before mailing of the first action on the merits. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Disclosure
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested:
Rotary Machine Coil with Mica Tape and Nano Filler Insulation Layer.
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL. — The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 9 recites a rotary machine coil, wherein “a relative permittivity of the nano filler is not less than 7”. The specification describes this feature only using the exact language of the claim, without any apparent description of how this material property is achieved. Since relative permittivity, or the dielectric constant, of various materials can include ranges both above and below the recited value, it is unclear whether specific materials are being claimed, or what those materials might be. Thus, the subject matter of claim 9 has not been sufficiently described so as to show possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22 and 24 are rejected due to being dependent on claim 9.
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.
Claim(s) 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22 and 24 is/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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites a rotary machine coil, wherein “a relative permittivity of the nano filler is not less than 7”. The specification describes this feature only using the exact language of the claim, without any apparent description of how this material property is achieved. Since relative permittivity, or the dielectric constant, of various materials can include ranges both above and below the recited value, it is unclear whether specific materials are being claimed, or what those materials might be. Thus, the subject matter of claim 9 is indefinite as there is no way of knowing the intended scope of the claim.
Claims 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22 and 24 are rejected due to being dependent on claim 9.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8, 10, 12, 14, 16-17, 19, 21, and 23 is/are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 8, and all claims dependent thereon, the prior art does not disclose, inter alia, a rotary machine coil comprising:
a coil conductor;
an insulation layer including a mica tape which is wrapped around an outer periphery of the coil conductor and in which scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in a thickness direction and a film layer are laminated in this order from the coil conductor side, and a cured material of a thermosetting resin composition with which the scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in the thickness direction are impregnated; and
a nano filler included in the cured material and having a higher permittivity than the cured material,
wherein a permittivity on an inner-layer side of a mica layer in which the scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in the thickness direction are impregnated with the cured material is higher than a permittivity on an outer-layer side of the mica layer,
the mica grains on the inner-layer side of the mica layer and the mica grains on the outer-layer side of the mica layer are made of the same material, and
the nano filler is present biasedly on the inner-layer side and the outer-layer side of the mica layer, the nano filler has a higher density on the inner-layer side than on the outer- layer side, the nano filler includes a first nano filler having a great particle size and a second nano filler having a smaller particle size than the first nano filler, and the second nano filler has a lower density on the outer-layer side than on the inner-layer side.
Regarding claim 16, and all claims dependent thereon, the prior art does not disclose, inter alia, a method for manufacturing a rotary machine coil, comprising the steps of:
wrapping a fiber layer around an outer periphery of a coil conductor;
wrapping, around an outer periphery of the fiber layer, a mica tape in which scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in a thickness direction and a film layer are laminated in this order from the coil conductor side;
impregnating the scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in the thickness direction with a thermosetting resin composition in a liquid state including a nano filler having a higher permittivity than the thermosetting resin composition, from an end of the fiber layer through the fiber layer; and
heating and curing the thermosetting resin composition,
wherein the mica grains on an inner-layer side of a mica layer in which the scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in the thickness direction are impregnated with the thermosetting resin composition, and the mica grains on an outer-layer side of the mica layer, are made of the same material, and
the nano filler includes a first nano filler having a great particle size and a second nano filler having a smaller particle size than the first nano filler, and the second nano filler has a lower density on the outer-layer side than on the inner-layer side.
While the prior art discloses coil insulators comprising mica tapes impregnated with resin and nano fillers, it does not disclose the specific nano fillers comprising the relative particle sizes in combination with the relative densities, as recited in the above claims. As demonstrated by the references cited below, many components of the claimed invention, such as the mica tape formed of scale-shaped mica grains, thermosetting resin, and nano filler having different particle sizes, were known at the time the invention was made, but their combination with the relative densities of the nano filler, at least, were not known. Thus, this combination of features is neither anticipated nor rendered obvious by 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.”
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Prior art:
Mabuchi et al. (US 2019/0165632 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated, and a nano filler included in the cured material, the nano filler having various particle sizes.
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Mura et al. (US 2019/0149008 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, the mica tape having scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in a thickness direction, a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated, and a nano filler included in the cured material, the nano filler having various particle sizes.
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Song et al. (US 2016/0247595 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, the mica tape having scale-shaped mica grains overlaid in a thickness direction, and a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated.
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Stevens et al. (US 2007/0114704 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated, and a nano filler included in the cured material, the nano filler having various particle sizes.
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Stevens et al. (US 2007/0026221 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated, and a nano filler included in the cured material, the nano filler having various particle sizes.
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Younsi et al. (US 2002/0029897 A1) discloses a rotary machine coil comprising an insulation layer including a mica tape wrapped around the coil conductor, a thermosetting resin with which the mica grains are impregnated, and a nano filler included in the cured material.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Andrews whose telephone number is (571)270-7554. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-3:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oluseye Iwarere can be reached at 571-270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Andrews/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834