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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species A in the reply filed on 4/13/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-2, 11-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737).
Claim 1: Steele teaches a charging system (24) (Fig.2) for a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) (20) of a vehicle (truck) (Par.15), the charging system (24) comprising:
a low-voltage (LV) direct current (DC) battery (28) (Par.26); and
a thermoelectric generator (TEG) module (30) to generate electricity for charging the LV DC battery (28) (Par.22).
Steele does not explicitly teach the thermoelectric generator module thermally interposable between a hot condenser air zone and a cold return air zone of the TRU.
Akei teaches a thermoelectric generator module (20b) (Fig.8) thermally interposable between a hot condenser (65) air zone (Par.40) (Fig.8; Hot thermal conductor 30b coupled to condenser 65) and a cold return air zone of a refrigeration unit (64) (Par.40 and 48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Akei in the system of Steele to have had utilize wasted heat from the refrigeration unit to generate electric power (Par.51) thereby improving the efficiency of the system (Par.4).
Claim 2: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Steele teaches further comprising a controller (70) electrically interposed between the TEG module (30) and the LV DC battery (28) to control a voltage and a current of the electricity applied to the LV DC battery (28) (Par.22, 25 and 27; The distribution of electric power is under the command of controller 70.).
Claim 11: Steele teaches a charging system (24) (Fig.2) for a vehicle (truck) (Par.15), comprising:
a battery (28) (Par.26); and
a thermoelectric generator (TEG) module (30) to generate electricity for charging the battery (28) (Par.22).
Steele does not explicitly teach the thermoelectric generator module thermally interposable between hot and cold zones.
Akei teaches a thermoelectric generator module (20b) (Fig.8) thermally interposable between a hot air zone (Par.40) (Fig.8; Hot thermal conductor 30b coupled to condenser 65) and a cold return air zone (Par.40) of a refrigeration unit (64) (Par.48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Akei in the system of Steele to have had utilize wasted heat from the refrigeration unit to generate electric power (Par.51) thereby improving the efficiency of the system (Par.4).
Claim 12: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 11 as disclosed above. Steele teaches wherein the battery (28) comprises at least one of a low-voltage (LV) direct current (DC) battery (28) of a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) (20) (Par.15 and 26).
Claim 14: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 11 as disclosed above. Steele teaches further comprising a controller (70) electrically interposed between the TEG module (30) and the battery (28) to control a voltage and a current of the electricity applied to the battery (28) (Par.22, 25 and 27; The distribution of electric power is under the command of controller 70.).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mackey (US 2020/0309754).
Claim 3: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Steele teaches a cold return air zone (Par.18) comprises a flow of return air at about -20 to 0ºC (Par.15; The temperature-controlled cargo zone includes frozen perishables. Thereby, the cold air from the cargo area encompasses air at about -20 to 0ºC).
The combination of Steel in view of Akei does not explicitly teach wherein the hot condenser air zone comprises a flow of condenser air at about 40 to 50ºC.
Mackey teaches a hot air zone comprises a flow of air at about 40 to 50ºC (Par.100 and 104).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Mackey in the combination of Steele in view of Akei to have had kept the temperature from getting overly hot and damaging system electronics (Par.100).
Claims 4 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737) as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Doke et al. (US 5,315,830).
Claims 4 and 15: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claims 1 and 11 as disclosed above. Steele teaches a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) (20) comprising hot condenser air zone of the TRU (20) and cold return air zone into which cold return air flows from a cargo compartment (Par.18).
Steele does not explicitly teach the thermoelectric generator between the hot condenser air zone of a condenser section of the TRU and the cold return air zone.
Akei teaches a thermoelectric generator module (20b) (Fig.8) thermally interposable between a hot condenser (65) air zone (Par.40) (Fig.8; Hot thermal conductor 30b coupled to condenser 65) and a cold return air zone of a refrigeration unit (64) (Par.40 and 48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Akei in the system of Steele to have had utilize wasted heat from the refrigeration unit to generate electric power (Par.51) thereby improving the efficiency of the system (Par.4).
The combination of Steel in view of Akei does not explicitly teach comprising an insulating barrier between the hot condenser air zone and the cold return air zone, wherein the TEG module is disposed at the insulating barrier.
Doke teaches an insulating barrier (42) between a hot air zone and a cold return air zone (Col.4, Lines 15-19 and 35-44), wherein a TEG module (32) is disposed at the insulating barrier (42) (Col.4, Lines 39-41).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Doke in the combination of Steele in view of Akei to have had provided structural support for the generator while preventing undesired air flow (Col.5, Lines 10-16) thereby optimizing the configuration of the thermoelectric assembly to reduce costs of installation while enhancing efficiency (Col.4, Lines 60-62).
Claims 5 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737) as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Twohy (US 2014/0262178).
Claims 5 and 18-20: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claims 1 and 11 as disclosed above. The combination of Steele in view of Akei does not explicitly teach wherein the TEG module comprises one of a lattice of individual TEGs disposed in series, a lattice of individual TEGs disposed in parallel and a lattice of individual TEGs disposed in an adjustable electrical arrangement.
Twohy teaches a TEG module comprises one of a lattice of individual TEGs (140) disposed in series (Par.27), a lattice of individual TEGs (140) disposed in parallel (Par.27) and a lattice of individual TEGs (140) disposed in an adjustable electrical arrangement (Par.27).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Doke in the combination of Steele in view of Akei to have had electrically configurated multiple thermoelectric generators as necessary to meet system requirements (Par.27).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Hutchins (US 2019/0153977).
Claim 16: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. The combination of Steele in view of Akei does not explicitly teach further comprising a thermal barrier thermally interposed between the hot zone and the TEG module.
Hutchins teaches a thermal barrier (39) (Fig.5) interposed between a hot zone and a TEG module (40) (Par.21 and 80).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Hutchins in the combination of Steele in view of Akei to have had cooled the thermoelectric generator faster thereby more energy is utilized to generate electricity (Par.80).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steele (US 2015/0168032) in view of Akei et al. (US 2007/0101737) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Shimoji et al. (US 2005/0172993).
Claim 17: Steele in view of Akei teach the limitations of claim 11 as disclosed above. The combination of Steele in view of Akei does not explicitly teach wherein a position of the TEG module between the hot and cold zones is adjustable.
Shimoji teaches a position of a thermoelectric generator module (41) between hot (35) and cold (46) zones is adjustable (Par.38).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Shimoji in the combination of Steele in view of Akei to have had reduced stress on the thermoelectric generator and have had prevented damage (Par.39).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Ocampo Villegas et al. (US 11,745,612) discloses a condenser hot air including a temperature in a range of about 50 C (Col.7. Lines 52-55).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHALI ALEJANDRA TORRES RUIZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1262. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian D Huffman can be reached at 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHALI A TORRES RUIZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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