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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/6/23 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lehn et al. (US 2021/0146792).
Regarding claim 1,
Lehn discloses (Fig. 2):
An electric vehicle drive circuit (fig. 2) having comprising:
a first inverter (inverter 1) with a first DC port (switch connected to Battery 1); and
a second inverter (inverter 2) with a second DC port (switch connecting bottom of battery 2), the first DC port and the second DC port being connected in a series connection (connected in series through Vdc, ¶0075),
wherein the series connection of the first DC port and the second DC port is connected to a battery interface (battery 1, Battery 2, V1, V2), the first and the second inverters each having a multiphase AC port (outputs of inverters to motor, i1a, i1b, i1c, i2a, i2b, i2c), and
wherein the multiphase AC ports of the first and the second inverters form a multiphase machine interface (with motor, Ls, ¶0078-¶0081).
Regarding claim 2,
Lehn discloses (Fig. 2):
further comprising a control circuit connected to control inputs of both, the first and
the second inverters (not shown, ¶0010-¶0014), the control circuit being adapted to control the first and the second inverters in order to jointly provide a rotary current system at the multiphase machine interface (¶0014).
Regarding claim 3,
Lehn discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein the control circuit is adapted to limit the voltages occurring at the DC ports to a voltage limit not greater than the sum of a given voltage tolerance gap and the half of the voltage occurring at the battery interface (each battery receives half the voltage, ¶0119-¶0120)
Regarding claim 4,
Lehn discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein each of the inverters having has a rating voltage lower than the operating voltage of the battery interface (¶0073)
Regarding claim 5,
Lehn discloses (Fig. 2):
wherein a first capacitor is connected in parallel to the first DC port and a second capacitor is connected in parallel to the second DC port (C1, C2, each capacitor is connected in parallel with each port and the batteries, ¶0073).
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) 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lehn et al. (US 2021/0146792) in view of Namjabadi et al. (US 2019/0126760).
Regarding claim 6,
Lehn discloses the above elements from claim 1 above.
They do not disclose:
further comprising an electrical machine having a first and a second winding system, both winding systems operating the same rotor of the electrical machine, both inverters being adapted to jointly provide a single, rotary current system at the multiphase machine interface.
However, Namjabadi teaches (Fig. 6):
further comprising an electrical machine having a first and a second winding system (fig. 6, 52, 54, ¶0025), both winding systems operating the same rotor of the electrical machine (¶0026), both inverters being adapted to jointly provide a single, rotary current system at the multiphase machine interface (¶0026).
Regarding claim 6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the dual inverter system that uses the open ended windings of the motor using two inverters to raise or lower the dc voltage in order to charge the batteries as a raised or lowered voltage level without an intermediate DC/DC converter as disclosed by Lehn (¶0078-¶0079) and use the dual winding motor from Namjabadi that also uses the windings to change the voltage and charge the batteries using an inverter without an intermediate DC/DC converter (¶0027-¶0029). This would lower costs as an intermediate DC/DC converter is not needed and would improve reliability by using fewer electronic components.
Regarding claim 7,
Lehn discloses the above elements from claim 6 above.
They do not disclose:
further comprising a DC charging interface being connected to a star point of a first of the winding systems and to a connector of the battery interface.
However, Namjabadi teaches (Fig. 6):
further comprising a DC charging interface (Fig. 6, S1, S2) being connected to a star point of a first of the winding systems and to a connector of the battery interface (connected to first start winding through DC bus and inverter, via S1 and S2, ¶0027).
Regarding claim 7, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the dual inverter system that uses the open ended windings of the motor using two inverters to raise or lower the dc voltage in order to charge the batteries as a raised or lowered voltage level without an intermediate DC/DC converter as disclosed by Lehn (¶0078-¶0079) and use the dual winding motor from Namjabadi that also uses the windings to change the voltage and charge the batteries using an inverter without an intermediate DC/DC converter (¶0027-¶0029). This would lower costs as an intermediate DC/DC converter is not needed and would improve reliability by using fewer electronic components.
Regarding claim 8,
Lehn discloses the above elements from claim 7 above.
They do not disclose:
wherein the DC charging interface comprises two voltage connectors, wherein a capacitive series connection is connected to the two voltage connectors,
the capacitive series connection having a junction point connected to a star point of a second of the winding systems.
However, Namjabadi teaches (Fig. 6):
wherein the DC charging interface comprises two voltage connectors (Fig. 6, S1, S2), wherein a capacitive series connection is connected to the two voltage connectors (capacitor in upper inverter, ¶0027),
the capacitive series connection having a junction point connected to a star point of a second of the winding systems (connected through inverter switches in inverter 56, ¶0027).
Regarding claim 8, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the dual inverter system that uses the open ended windings of the motor using two inverters to raise or lower the dc voltage in order to charge the batteries as a raised or lowered voltage level without an intermediate DC/DC converter as disclosed by Lehn (¶0078-¶0079) and use the dual winding motor from Namjabadi that also uses the windings to change the voltage and charge the batteries using an inverter without an intermediate DC/DC converter (¶0027-¶0029). This would lower costs as an intermediate DC/DC converter is not needed and would improve reliability by using fewer electronic components.
Regarding claim 9,
Lehn discloses the above elements from claim 6 above.
They do not disclose:
wherein the circuit is adapted to operate the inverters, together with the inductances provided by the winding system, as at least one DCDC converter converting the DC voltages at star points of the winding systems and between one of these star points and a connector of the
battery interface into voltages provided at the DC ports of the inverters.
However, Namjabadi teaches (Fig. 6):
wherein the circuit is adapted to operate the inverters, together with the inductances provided by the winding system, as at least one DC/DC converter converting the DC voltages at star points of the winding systems and between one of these star points and a connector of the
battery interface into voltages provided at the DC ports of the inverters (¶0027).
Regarding claim 9, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the dual inverter system that uses the open ended windings of the motor using two inverters to raise or lower the dc voltage in order to charge the batteries as a raised or lowered voltage level without an intermediate DC/DC converter as disclosed by Lehn (¶0078-¶0079) and use the dual winding motor from Namjabadi that also uses the windings to change the voltage and charge the batteries using an inverter without an intermediate DC/DC converter (¶0027-¶0029). This would lower costs as an intermediate DC/DC converter is not needed and would improve reliability by using fewer electronic components.
Regarding claim 10,
Lehn discloses the above elements from claim 1 above.
They do not disclose:
wherein the inverters each have the a same number of
inverter phases and wherein the multiphase AC ports each have the same number of port phases identical to the inverter phases, the inverters being adapted to
operate all or only a subgroup of all the port phases.
However, Namjabadi teaches (Fig. 6):
wherein the inverters each have the a same number of
inverter phases and wherein the multiphase AC ports each have the same number of port phases identical to the inverter phases, the inverters being adapted to operate all or only a subgroup of all the port phases (¶0027).
Regarding claim 10, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the dual inverter system that uses the open ended windings of the motor using two inverters to raise or lower the dc voltage in order to charge the batteries as a raised or lowered voltage level without an intermediate DC/DC converter as disclosed by Lehn (¶0078-¶0079) and use the dual winding motor from Namjabadi that also uses the windings to change the voltage and charge the batteries using an inverter without an intermediate DC/DC converter (¶0027-¶0029). This would lower costs as an intermediate DC/DC converter is not needed and would improve reliability by using fewer electronic components.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jeong et al. (US 2023/0017022) – vehicle battery charger system
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/C.S.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2846 /KAWING CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846
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