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 § 112
Claims 1-20, 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Regarding Claim 1, 12, and 20; asserts “the inverter modules” in respective lines 10, 8, and 10 is unclear; whereas the claims previously asserts “atleast one inverter power module” which only requires one inverter power according to the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of the claim and does not necessitate more than one inverter power module. NOTE: the claims shall be corrected as inverter power modules, as herein examined, and will otherwise be subject to election by original presentation if presented as only one power module. NOTE: the office notes that the above informalities are a non-exhaustive list, and thus requests Applicant’s cooperation with reviewing the claims and correcting all remaining informalities present in the claims, but not made of record above. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1, 8-9, 11, and 20, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (Ruppert 2021/0175144).
Regarding Claim 1; Ruppert discloses a power electronic arrangement, a power electronic arrangement for an externally excited synchronous machine (as set forth by para.’s 0037 and 0040—whereas 2-Fig. 1 or 30-Fig. 4 constitutes an arrangement of power modules-6, a cooling module-4, and a semiconductor module-5 atleast in-part defining an excitation circuit arranged for a synchronous machine), comprising: a heat sink (as constituted by the cooling module-4); at least one inverter power module including an inverter (whereas the power modules-6 includes a MOSFET and constitutes an inverter—as set forth by para, 0042); and at least one exciter power module including an exciter circuit (as already set forth by the semiconductor module-5 defining the exciter circuit), wherein the at least one inverter power module is mounted in a predefined relative inverter position and orientation on the heat sink by a suggested material bonding (as depicted by Fig. 1—whereas the inverters-6 disposed in a predetermined manner across the cooling module and mounted in-part via fastening modules-8—para. 0037 and/or at least indirectly via a thermal interface which constitutes a material bond—as set forth by para. 0013), and wherein the heat sink and the exciter power module each include positioning devices configured to interlock such that a desired relative exciter power module position and orientation relative to the inverter power modules is produced by interlocking the positioning devices of the heat sink and the exciter power module (whereas para. 0037 discloses 5 and 6 and the fastening modules are mechanically and thermally connected to the cooling module-4, wherein the fastening module—8 is formed as a fastening screw connection which constitutes 6 interlocking via 8 to holes of the cooling module and mechanical fastening between 5 and the cooling module constitutes positioning and interlocking therebetween). Except, Ruppert does not explicitly disclose any particular manner of material bonding. However, ‘**material bonding**’ constitutes a method of manufacture and is not structurally distinguished from the prior art. (In re Johnson, 157 USPQ 670, 1968; In re Thorpe, 227 USPQ 964, 1985; See MPEP 2113—Product by Process Claims). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time that the invention was made that the disclosed structure of the prior art is a fully functional equivalent to the claimed structure as evidenced by meeting all of the claimed structural limitations thereof.
Regarding Claim 8; Ruppert discloses the power electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the exciter power module is mounted by a screw connection (whereas para. 0037 discloses mechanical fastening via fastening module-8, and the fastening module is formed as a fastening screw connection).
Regarding Claim 9; Ruppert discloses the power electronic arrangement according to claim 1, suggests wherein the positioning devices include at least one positioning pair, each pair of the at least one positioning pair including a protrusion and a recess, and wherein the protrusion and the recess are each configured such that the protrusion engages in a precise fit with the recess when interlocked (as already set forth by the screw connection mechanically fastening the fastening modules to the cooling module which constitutes a protrusions via the screw and atleast corresponding openings in the cooling modules for mechanically interlocking therebetween), except, explicitly disclosing the corresponding openings are recesses. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify a corresponding wall portion of the cooling module having recesses in lieu of i.e. through-holes etc, since it was known in the art that recesses in portion of the wall thickness will prevent leaks when the cooling module type is a liquid cooled.
Regarding Claim 11; Ruppert discloses the power electronic arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the positioning devices include at least three positioning pairs (as depicted by Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 20; Ruppert discloses a motor vehicle (as constituted by a hybrid vehicle—as set forth by para. 0023), comprising an externally excited synchronous machine as a drive machine thereof and a power electronic arrangement (as set forth by para.’s 0037 and 0040— an externally-excited synchronous machine constitutes an arrangement—as depicted by 2-Fig. 1 or 30-Fig. 4, including power modules-6 a cooling module-4, and a semiconductor module-5 atleast in-part defining an excitation circuit arranged for a synchronous machine), comprising: a heat sink (as constituted by the cooling module-4); at least one inverter power module including an inverter (whereas the power modules-6 includes a MOSFET and constitutes an inverter—as set forth by para, 0042); and at least one exciter power module including an exciter circuit (as already set forth by the semiconductor module-5 defining the exciter circuit), wherein the at least one inverter power module is mounted in a predefined relative inverter position and orientation on the heat sink by material bonding (as depicted by Fig. 1—whereas the power modules comprise inverters-6 disposed in a predetermined manner across the cooling module and mounted in-part via fastening modules-8 and/or at least indirectly via a thermal interface—as set forth by para.’s 0011, 0013, and 0037), and wherein the heat sink and the exciter power module each include positioning devices configured to interlock such that a desired relative exciter power module position and orientation relative to the inverter power modules is produced by interlocking the positioning devices of the heat sink and the exciter power module (whereas para. 0037 discloses 5 and 6 and the fastening modules are mechanically and thermally connected to the cooling module-4, wherein the fastening module—8 includes a screw connection which constitutes 6 interlocking via 8 to holes of the cooling module and mechanical fastening between 5 and the cooling module constitutes positioning and interlocking therebetween). However, ‘**material bonding**’ constitutes a method of manufacture and is not structurally distinguished from the prior art. (In re Johnson, 157 USPQ 670, 1968; In re Thorpe, 227 USPQ 964, 1985; See MPEP 2113—Product by Process Claims). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time that the invention was made that the disclosed structure of the prior art is a fully functional equivalent to the claimed structure as evidenced by meeting all of the claimed structural limitations thereof.
Claim(s) 5, 12, 16, and 19, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (Ruppert 2021/0175144) in view of (Samples 2022/0328990).
Regarding Claim 5; Ruppert discloses the power electronic arrangement according to claim 1, except, explicitly wherein the at least one inverter power module is mounted by material bonding through at least one of soldering and/or sintering. However, Samples discloses material bonding (whereas Fig. 13 depicts inverter modules defined by a power substrates-606 having a power devices-302 defining MOSFETs in which each constitutes an inverter–para.’s 0037 and 0107, wherein the power substrates attached by soldering or sintering to a base plate-602 which comprises cooling features—as set forth by para’s 0118-0119, and 0139) it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the material bonding by soldering since it was known in the art that the inverter power module and heat sink may employ an integration structure with improved fastening reliability therebetween and reduced warping or movement upon temperature changes.
Regarding Claim 12; the method steps are necessitated by the already modified structure of Ruppert, except, explicitly disclosing material bonding. However, Samples discloses material bonding (whereas Fig. 13 depicts inverter modules defined by a power substrates-606 having a power devices-302 defining MOSFETs in which each constitutes an inverter–para.’s 0037 and 0107, wherein the power substrates attached by soldering or sintering to a base plate-602 which comprises cooling features—as set forth by para’s 0118-0119, and 0139) it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the material bonding by soldering since it was known in the art that the inverter power module and heat sink may employ an integration structure with improved fastening reliability therebetween and reduced warping or movement upon temperature changes.
Regarding Claim 16; Ruppert discloses the method according to claim 12, wherein mounting the at least one inverter power module includes at least one of soldering and sintering (as already set forth).
Regarding Claim 19; Ruppert discloses the method according to claim 12, wherein the fastening device includes a screw connection (as already set forth by para. 0037—whereas the fastening module-8 formed as a fastening screw connection).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 6, 10, 13-15, and 17-18, 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.
Regarding Claim 2; the power electronic arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the at least one exciter power module and the at least one inverter power module each include contacting pins protruding into a common contacting plane in one direction, and wherein the contacting pins of the at least one exciter power module and the at least one inverter power module are configured to contact a common circuit board.
Regarding Claim 6; the power electronic arrangement according to claim 5, wherein a thermal connection material is provided between the at least one exciter power module and the heat sink.
Regarding Claim 10; the power electronic arrangement according to claim 9, wherein the protrusion and the recess each include a conical or pyramidally tapering guide surface, the tapering guide surfaces being configured to bear against each other during a positioning process.
Regarding Claim 13; the method according to claim 12, further comprising: connecting contacting pins of the exciter power module and the at least one inverter power module to a common circuit board after the mounting of the exciter power module, wherein the contacting pins protrude into a common contacting plane in a first direction.
Regarding Claim 17; the method according to claim 16, further comprising: applying a thermal connection material to the heat sink, such that the exciter power module is arranged on the thermal connection material.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20060086981 A1
Yamaguchi; Koji et al.
Fig. 1
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/COURTNEY L SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835