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 .
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5-11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang (US 2013/0221921 A1) in view of Wambsganss (US 2017/0366093 A1, cited on IDS).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Ang teaches (see Figs. 1 & 3) a system and a method for controlling a system comprising: an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) converter (AC-DC converter) (AC/DC 202) including: a capacitor (capacitor C1), and an AC-DC converter switch (see bridge circuit 112, see para. 0056) connectable to a line voltage (ACL1 & ACL2); a DC to DC converter (DC-DC converter) (DC/DC 204) connected to the AC-DC converter (see Figs. 1 & 3), the DC-DC converter including: one or more transformers (transformer 117, Fig. 3 having a secondary side (bridge circuit 116) connectable to a battery (the secondary side of DC/DC 204 is connectable to auxiliary battery 180 via outputs PL2 & NL2 and DC/DC 230), and a bridge driver (bridge circuit 114) connected to a primary side of the one or more transformers (transformer 117, see Fig. 3), the bridge driver including a bridge driver switch (a power semiconductor switching element, see para. 0058); and one or more controllers (ECU 300, see para. 0029, 0031, 0051, 0069) configured to control an operation of the bridge driver switch to control a discharge of the capacitor to the battery at an end of a grid-to-battery operation (the ECU 300 controls DC/DC 204 and DC/DC 230 to discharge C1 to auxiliary battery 180, see paras. 0071-0084), the grid-to-battery operation to supply electric power from the line voltage to the battery (see the abstract and paras. 0061-0068).
Ang states that the capacitor C1 is a smoothing capacitor (see para. 0056). Ang does not specifically state that the capacitor is a bulk capacitor.
Wambsganss teaches that the use of a bulk capacitor in a power supply system can help to reduce ripple currents from entering the next stage and stabilize a DC bus (see para. 0024).
In view of the teachings of Wambsganss, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date, to utilize a bulk capacitor as the capacitor C1 in the system of Ang, since this would help to reduce ripple currents from entering the next stage and stabilize a DC bus (see para. 0024).
Regarding claims 3 and 17, Ang as modified by Wambsganss teaches the system of claim 1 and the method of claim 15, wherein the one or more controllers (ECU 300) are further configured to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the battery (auxiliary battery 180) at the end of a grid-to-battery operation based on: the battery being connected to the DC-DC converter (the secondary side of DC/DC 204 is connectable to auxiliary battery 180 via outputs PL2 & NL2 and DC/DC 230), and no hardware-related faults in the AC-DC converter or the DC-DC converter (for example, hardware-related faults in the AC-DC converter or the DC-DC converter would necessarily prevent the discharge operation from being performed. If the hardware fails, it is inoperable).
Regarding claims 5 and 6, the teachings of Ang as modified by Wambsganss as applied to the system of claim 1 have been discussed above. Ang as modified by Wambsganss also teaches wherein the one or more controllers (ECU 300) are further configured to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the battery (auxiliary battery 180), when the line voltage is disconnected from the AC-DC converter (discharging of the capacitor is started (step S140) after the line voltage is disconnected and Vo (Vdin) is less than voltage VI, see Fig. 4 and paras. 0080-0083).
Ang as modified by Wambsganss does not specifically teach, (claim 5) control the discharge of the bulk capacitor while a voltage of the bulk capacitor is above a threshold, and (claim 6) wherein the threshold is 60V.
However, Ang states that it is necessary to discharge the capacitor from the standpoint of safety, when charging is ended (see para. 0073). Furthermore, the use of threshold voltages was old and well known to those of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date, to include with the system of Ang as modified by Wambsganss, (claim 5) control the discharge of the bulk capacitor while a voltage of the bulk capacitor is above a threshold, and (claim 6) wherein the threshold is 60V, since the use of a threshold would provide a determination of safe or unsafe voltage levels and 60V DC is generally considered a hazardous DC voltage that would need to be discharged.
Regarding claim 7, Ang as modified by Wambsganss teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more controllers (ECU 300) are further configured to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the battery based on a current threshold (in discharge mode of the capacitor, the output current Tax of the DC/DC converter 230 is set at the rated maximum, see paras. 0081-0083).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Ang as modified by Wambsganss teaches the system of claim 7 and the method of claim 15, wherein the one or more controllers (ECU 300) are further configured to modify the current threshold based on a change in a connection to one or more of the line voltage or the battery (the output current Tax of the DC/DC converter 230 is set at the rated maximum, instead of the target value for stabilizing charging, after the line voltage is disconnected and Vo (Vdin) is less than voltage VI, Fig. 4 and paras. 0080-0083).
Regarding claim 9, the teachings of Ang as modified by Wambsganss as applied to the system of claim 1 have been discussed above.
Ang as modified by Wambsganss, as applied to claim 1, does not specifically teach wherein the line voltage is a three phase line voltage.
However, Wambsganss also teaches the use of a three-phase line voltage (see Fig. 1 and paras. 0021-0022).
In view of the teachings of Wambsganss, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date, to further modify the system of Ang as modified by Wambsganss to include, wherein the line voltage is a three phase line voltage, since three phase line voltages are able to deliver more power than single phase line voltages, thereby resulting in faster charging times.
Regarding claim 10, Ang as modified by Wambsganss teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the DC-DC converter (DC/DC 204) further includes: a bridge rectifier (bridge circuit 116) connected to a secondary side (see Fig. 3) of the one or more transformers (transformer 117), the bridge rectifier including a bridge rectifier switch (see the semiconductor switching elements shown in Fig. 3, also see para. 0059).
Regarding claim 11, Ang as modified by Wambsgtanss teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the one or more controllers (ECU 300) are configured to control an operation of the bridge driver switch (a power semiconductor switching element, see para. 0058) to control a discharge of the bulk capacitor without using a discharge resistor in the AC-DC converter or the DC-DC converter (no discharge resistor is used in the AC-DC converter or DC-DC converter of Ang).
Regarding claim 13, Ang as modified by Wambsganss teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising: an electric vehicle (electric powered vehicle 100, see Fig. 1 and para. 0028) including the battery (auxiliary battery 180) connected to the DC-DC converter (the secondary side of DC/DC 204 is connectable to auxiliary battery 180 via outputs PL2 & NL2 and DC/DC 230).
Regarding claim 20, Ang teaches a system (see Figs. 1 & 3) comprising: one or more controllers (ECU 300) configured to control an operation of a bridge driver switch (a power semiconductor switching element of bridge circuit 114 of DC/DC 204, see Fig. 3 and para. 0058) to control a discharge of a capacitor (capacitor C1) to a battery (auxiliary battery 180) at an end of a grid-to-battery operation (the ECU 300 controls DC/DC 204 and DC/DC 230 to discharge C1 to auxiliary battery 180, see paras. 0071-0084), the grid-to-battery operation to supply electric power from a line voltage (ACL1 & ACL2) to the battery (see the abstract and paras. 0061-0068).
Ang states that the capacitor C1 is a smoothing capacitor (see para. 0056). Ang does not specifically state that the capacitor is a bulk capacitor.
Wambsganss teaches that the use of a bulk capacitor in a power supply system can help to reduce ripple currents from entering the next stage and stabilize a DC bus (see para. 0024).
In view of the teachings of Wambsganss, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date, to utilize a bulk capacitor as the capacitor C1 in the system of Ang, since this would help to reduce ripple currents from entering the next stage and stabilize a DC bus (see para. 0024).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 12, 14, 16, and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest that the controller is configured to control an operation of the AC-DC converter switch to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the load of the line voltage in the battery-to-grid operation, in combination with the other limitations as recited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the battery while a voltage of the bulk capacitor is above a peak voltage of the line voltage plus a hysteresis factor, when the line voltage is connected to the AC-DC converter.
Claims 12 and 14 depend from claim 2 and would be allowable for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 16, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest controlling an operation of the AC to DC converter switch to control the discharge of the bulk capacitor to a load of the line voltage in the battery-to-grid operation, in combination with the other limitations as recited in claim 16.
Regarding claim 18, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest controlling the discharge of the bulk capacitor to the battery while a voltage of the bulk capacitor is above a peak voltage of the line voltage plus a hysteresis factor, when the line voltage is connected to the AC to DC converter, in combination with the other limitations as recited in claim 18.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the additional references cited on the attached PTO-892, which are directed to capacitor discharging; grid to battery charging operations and/or battery to grid discharging operations.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jared Fureman whose telephone number is (571)272-2391. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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/JARED FUREMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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