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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/07/2024 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. Integrated On-Board Battery Charger Based on T-type Converter (hereinafter Li) in view of Loudot et al. US 2012/0286740 (hereinafter Loudot).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Li teaches a method of charging a battery of an electric vehicle, comprising:
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coupling a charging station (section I; EVs equipped with IOBC can
easily exchange energy from the AC grid) to an electric motor of the vehicle (fig. 1-2; AC motor),
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wherein the electric motor (fig. 1-2; AC motor) is coupled to the battery (fig. 2, element EV battery) by a T-bridge multi-level inverter (including S1 to S12; see fig. 2 above) that includes a first leg having a first set of switches (includes S1 to S4) and a first AC terminal (see fig. 2 below) coupled to the electric motor (PMSM; permanent magnet synchronous motor),
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a second leg having a second set of switches (S5, S6, S7, S8) and a second AC terminal (see fig. 2 above) coupled to the electric motor (PMSM) and a third leg having a third set of switches (S9, S10, S11, S12) and a third AC terminal (see fig. 2) couped to the electric motor (PMSM);
connecting (indirectly connecting) the third AC terminal of the third leg to the charging station (single-phase grid).
controlling at least one of the first set of switches (S1 to S4) to control a first current through the first AC terminal of the first leg and the second set of switches (S5 to S8) to control a second current through the second AC terminal of the second leg (during regenerative braking, the controller of the vehicle regulates the three-phase currents [including the current through the first leg’s AC terminal and/or the second leg’s AC terminal] to control torque [negative for braking] and pus power back to the battery) to charge the battery (Section I; the T-type converter can transfer the energy of the electric vehicle battery to the AC motor, and can also feed the energy back from the AC motor to the battery during braking).
Li does not disclose the method includes charging the battery via the charging station through the electric motor.
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However, Loudot further discloses a method (claim 20) includes charging the battery (fig. 4, element 2 and ¶ 0092; a battery of an electric vehicle) via the charging station (¶ 0082 and fig. 4, element 40; a device 1 for charging a battery 2 powered by a single-phase power supply network 40) through the electric motor (¶¶ 0055, 0057-0058, 0067, 0098; the inverter output stage 7 is coupled to the output of the measurement module 10 via three stator coils (parts of motor). Each coil 14 is coupled to a branch of the circuit of the inverter output stage 7. The inverter output stage 7 is finally coupled at the output to the battery 2).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li to incorporate with the teaching of Loudot by using the inductance of the stator coils of the charging device as energy buffer filter, because it would be advantageous to reduce the weight of the electric vehicle and prolong the service life of the battery pack.
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Li teaches wherein controlling the first current further comprises controlling a first switching cycle for the first set of switches of the first leg (Section IIB: first, assume that phase-a stator winding is connected to the grid. The switch action is as follows: S1, S4, S5, S6, S10 and S11 are all blocked, S2 and S3 keep turning on. Other switches are controlled by PWM waves) and controlling the second current further comprises controlling a second switching cycle for the second set of switches of the second leg (Section IIB, Fig. 10-11: When 30°< θe <150° or 210°< θe <330°, to control the torque zero, stator current of phase-a is less than phase-b or phase-c. When the charger connects phase-b or phase-c to the grid, the working condition is only a phase angle away from the condition when phase-a is connected to the grid).
Regarding claim 3, Li teaches wherein the first leg includes a switch pair and switches of the switch pair receive inputs that are out of phase by 180 degrees (fig. 4-5; switches in the first receive input out of phase by 180 degrees [complementary or interleaved PWM within the leg]).
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, Li teaches the method further comprising controlling a first magnitude of the first current and a second magnitude of the second current to generate a net zero torque at the electric motor for any angular location of a rotor of the motor (section IIB: The auxiliary bridge is connected to the grid and work as one bridge of the inverter to keep torque zero… the matrix L is very complex and it is very difficult to analyze and control. Eq. (3) is usually transferred to αβ coordinate or dq coordinate. In this work, in order to keep the torque zero, the equation is transferred to (6) in dq coordinate, where C3s/2r is Park's transformation matrix).
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Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, Li teaches wherein the third leg includes a first pair of switches in series (S1 and S4) between a positive DC voltage bus and a negative DC voltage bus (see fig. 2) and a second pair of switches (S5 and S8) in series between the third AC terminal (see fig. 2 above) and neutral point (fig. 3, element 0), further comprising performing one of: (i) placing all switches of the third leg in a closed configuration; and (ii) closing the first pair of switches and opening the second pair of switches (section IIB; The switch action is as follows: S1, S4, S5, S6, S10 and S11 are all blocked, S2 and S3 keep turning on. Other switches are controlled by PWM waves. So, the voltage of phase-a is controlled by S13 and S14.).
Regarding claim 7, Li teaches the method further comprising connecting (indirectly connecting) the second leg (S5, S8) and the third leg (S9, S12) to the charging station (the grid) using switches that are operated to multiplex connections of the second leg and the third leg (connected by Phase select device as shown below) to the charging station (connected to the grid).
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Regarding claims 10 and 17, Li teaches wherein the first leg includes a switch pair (S1 and S4) and the processor is further configured provide a carrier signal (see fig. 6 and Section IIA: For three-level SVPWM, there are 27 vectors (including 12 small vectors, 6 medium vectors, 6 large vectors and 3 zero vectors)) to the switch pair, wherein switches of the switch pair receive inputs that are out of phase by 180 degrees (fig. 4-5; switches in the first receive input out of phase by 180 degrees [complementary or interleaved PWM within the leg]).
Regarding claim 14, Li teaches wherein the processor is further configured to control a first connection (turning on/off) between the second leg (S5, S8) and the charging station (AC grid) and a second connection (turning on/off) between the third leg (S9, S12) and the charging station (AC grid) to multiplex operation of the first connection and the second connection (by the phase select device; section IIB: When the charger connects phase-b or phase-c to the grid, the working condition is only a phase angle away from the condition when phase-a is connected to the grid).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 12, 19 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 claims 5, 12 and 19, the prior art fails to teach or suggest further inclusion of wherein the battery includes a first battery half-pack and a second battery half-pack, the method further comprising opening a switch of the third leg to isolate one of the first battery half-pack and the second battery half-pack for individual charging.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
DANNER
WO2019178094A1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-6739. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 06/02/2026
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