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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/24/2026 has been entered.
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) 2-4, 6, 10-17 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mannewitz et al. (herein Mannewitz) (US 2020/0166250) as evidenced by Lee et al. (herein Lee) (US 2021/0239118) and as evidenced by Schaber et al. (herein Schaber) (DE 2250947, Applicant admitted prior art). Regarding Claim 2:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses a refrigerant compressor unit (10), comprising a piston compressor (compressor unit 16 with pistons 24), which is driven by a drive motor (56, see para. [0052]), and an overall housing (12) having a housing body (body depicted as 14, 52 in Figure 4) that forms a drive housing portion (14) with a drive compartment (34) for the piston compressor (see Figures 2 and 4) and forms a motor housing portion (52) with a motor compartment (54) for receiving the drive motor (see Figure 4), wherein refrigerant that is supplied to the piston compressor flows through the motor compartment (refrigerant enters the motor compartment 54 via intake connector 82 and intake duct 84, see paragraph [0055]) such that there is formed in the motor compartment (54), on the bottom side (104), a lubricant sump (sump occupied by an accumulation of lubricant, 102) out of which lubricant is drawn off by suction by a suction duct (duct formed by 106 which allows for transfer of lubricant) and is transferred to a lubricant bath (48) in the drive compartment (as mentioned in paragraphs [0057]-[0059], the nonreturn valve 106 is acted on by the pressure difference between the intake duct 84 and the drive compartment 34 to suction lubricant from 102 by a pumping effect into 34), wherein there is provided on the bottom side (104) of the motor compartment a receiving point (as seen in Figure 4, the bottom side 104 comprises a curved lower point closest to separating wall 72 that is further recessed to a point lower than the rest of 104 wherein this recess is considered a receiving point, henceforth referred to as RP as depicted in annotated Figure A below) that takes a form such that, in particular in the event of tilting within a tilting tolerance range (any non-zero tilt angle can be broadly viewed as a tilting angle within a tilting tolerance range, since this range is not specified herein. This includes even very small angles such as +0.1°) by the refrigerant compressor unit relative to a starting position, the receiving point receives lubricant from the lubricant sump and supplies it to the suction duct (in the event that the compressor is tilted by a non-zero angle, the receiving point RP is shaped such that at least some lubricant would pool at an inclined angle in this receiving point, thereby still allowing the suction duct to receive lubricant as evident from Figure 4), wherein the receiving point (RP) forms a well in relation to the area surrounding it on the bottom side (as seen in Figure 4, RP forms a well immediately adjacent to separating wall 72), wherein the suction duct (106) has an entrance orifice (depicted as EO in Figure A below) opening into the receiving point at a location below a bottom surface (B, see Figure a) of the drive motor (as seen in Figure A below, the entrance orifice of the suction duct is located below a bottom surface B of the drive motor).It is noted above that Mannewitz broadly anticipates a tilting tolerance range at small angles. However, it is extremely well known in the art that compressors can be constructed with a larger tilting tolerance range. For instance in paragraph [0064] Lee states: “Most rotary compressors commercially available and used are vertical compressors designed to operate with the axis of rotation of their mechanical pump and the motor in a gravitationally vertical orientation with tiltability of up to 30-degree solid angle off the vertical orientation. The dotted rectangle denoted by a-a-a-a in FIG. 1 shows the acceptable areas of tilted operation in terms of range of pitch angle of +/−30 degrees and roll angle of +/−30 degrees for vertical rotary compressors. Up to 30 degree of tilt (pitch and roll) off the nominally vertical axis of rotation for the vertical rotary compressors, the oil intake port at the bottom of the shaft is submerged in the oil sump and the oil gets pushed into the center cavity of the shaft provide adequate supply of oil to ensure good lubrication and sealing between moving parts, since aft. This means the rotary compressor can operate without any degradation of performance and longevity so long as the axis of the compressor is within 30 degrees of the vertical direction defined by gravity.” This clearly indicates that most commercially available compressors can be designed to tolerate a tilting range of +30 degrees with respect to a plane as defined by gravity. Based on this evidence and common knowledge in the art, it can be envisioned that modern compressors are constructure to allow for an acceptable tilting range such as within +30 degrees with respect to a horizontal or vertical direction (multiple such tilted orientations are shown in Lee’s Figure 14 for instance). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified Mannewitz’s compressor design to accommodate a tilting tolerance range of up to +30 degrees to ensure optimal operation in a tilted condition, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
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Alternate interpretation: Using an alternate narrower interpretation, it can be assumed that the bottom surface (shown alternately in Figure A as B1) of the drive motor refers specifically to a bottommost surface of the drive motor that is located closest to the axial bottom inner wall of the housing. Using this interpretation, in Figure A it can be seen that the entrance orifice (EO) opens into the receiving point (RP) at a location slightly above the bottom surface (B1) of the drive motor. However, Schaber discloses a similar compressor wherein an entrance orifice (orifice 36, see Figure 1) of a suction conduit (conduit with check valve 37) opens into a receiving point at a location below a bottommost surface of the drive motor (16). Hence, based on Schaber’s evidence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to alternately relocate the entrance orifice (EO) of the suction conduit (106) such that it would be located below the alternate bottom surface (B1) of the drive motor, for instance by tilting the suction conduit (as evidenced by Schaber), since doing so would be obvious to try and would yield predictable results such as allowing for smaller volumes of lubricant to be drained more quickly from the receiving point into the lubricant bath. Regarding Claim 3:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) is arranged in the motor compartment (54) such that, in the event of tilting of the refrigerant compressor unit (10) such that an axis of rotation (36) of a compressor shaft is within the tilting tolerance range of ±15° relative to a horizontal orientation (horizontal orientation shown in Figure 4) in the starting position, the lubricant sump (102) extends as far as the receiving point (RP) and lubricant from the lubricant sump enters the receiving point (as seen in Figure 4, the lubricant is depicted as extending from 102 to the receiving point RP. Tilting the compressor unit 10 by a non-zero angle such as +0.1° to + 15° would still permit flow of lubricant towards the separating wall 72 which would then pool within the receiving point RP. This would also potentially occur for angles greater than 15° as discussed above in the rejection of claim 2).Regarding Claim 4:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) is arranged in a bottom region (104) of the motor compartment (54) that runs from an intermediate wall (72), which separates the motor compartment (54) from the drive compartment (see para. [0053]), to below a region of the stator facing the intermediate wall (as seen in Figure 4), and in particular runs for at most half of the extent of the stator in the longitudinal direction (as seen in Figure A below, RP extends to well less than half the extent of the stator in the longitudinal direction extending parallel to the axis 36).Regarding Claim 6:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) is arranged on the bottom side (104) of the motor compartment (54), as seen in the direction of gravity below winding heads (winding heads of stator 62 shown in Figure 4) of the stator (62) that face the intermediate wall (as seen clearly in Figure 4).Regarding Claim 10:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein, for the purpose of forming the receiving point (RP), the bottom body (bottom of 52) is provided with a shape that runs in the direction of a support surface (surface of 72) of the housing body (the recess forming RP is shaped towards the support surface 72 as seen in Figure 4).Regarding Claim 11:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) lies in a central region of the motor compartment (54) on the bottom side (104), as seen in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the overall housing (as seen in Figure 4).Regarding Claim 12:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein, in the direction of a housing cover (HC, see annotated Figure A below) that closes off the motor compartment (54), the lubricant sump (102) is delimited by a closing-off wall (CW, see Figure A) arranged between the stator and the housing cover (as seen in Figure A).Regarding Claim 13:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein an extent of the lubricant sump (102) in the direction of a housing cover that closes off the motor compartment is delimited by a lubricant displacement body (LD, see Figure A above) arranged between the stator and the housing cover (as seen in Figure A above, any lubricant that flows past the stator towards the housing cover HC would be at least temporarily delimited by LD).
Regarding Claim 14:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the lubricant displacement body (LD) is held against the housing cover (formed integrally with the cover as seen in Figure A).Regarding Claim 15:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the lubricant displacement body (LD) is integrally formed on the housing cover formed integrally with the cover as seen in Figure A).Regarding Claim 16:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the lubricant displacement body forms the closing-off wall (as seen in Figure A above).Regarding Claim 17:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the motor housing portion (52) has a face (face joined to wall 72 carrying bearing unit 76 which supports the motor) supporting the drive motor, and wherein a recess (recess depicted at 102 in Figure 4) is formed into the face (as seen in Figure 4), the recess providing the well and the receiving point (as seen in Figure A).Regarding Claim 19:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) is formed on a bottom body (bottom portion of 52) of the motor housing portion (as seen in Figure A).Regarding Claim 20:In Figures 1-5, Mannewitz discloses the refrigerant compressor unit (10), wherein the receiving point (RP) is shaped into the bottom body (as seen in Figure A, RP is shaped into the bottom of 52 forming the bottom body).
Claim(s) 5 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mannewitz et al. (herein Mannewitz) (US 2020/0166250) as evidenced by Lee et al. (herein Lee) (US 2021/0239118) and as evidenced by Schaber et al. (herein Schaber) (DE 2250947, Applicant admitted prior art) in view of Dunfield et al. (herein Dunfield) (US 6,080,352). Regarding Claims 5 and 18:Mannewitz substantially discloses all the claimed limitations including that the receiving point (RP) lies between an intermediate wall (72) and a stator body (62).However, Mannewitz is silent regarding whether the stator body (62) comprises laminations forming pole shoes of the stator. However, in Figure 19 and column 13, lines 28-30, Dunfield, discloses that a stator with laminations can include pole shoes (152) in order to reduce eddy current losses owing to flux variations. Hence, based on Dunfield’s teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified Mannewitz’s stator (62) to be formed from laminations that form pole shoes (as taught by Dunfield), since doing so would reduce eddy current losses generated by flux variations.
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new grounds of rejection being used in the current office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 12 pm -8 pm ET.
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/DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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