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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “an energy harvester” twice, once in line 3 and again in line 4. It is not clear if the first “energy harvester” is the same as the second “energy harvester” or if the first “energy harvester” and the second “energy harvester” are different elements. Appropriate correction is required.
The numbering of claims is not in accordance with 37 CFR 1.126 which requires the original numbering of the claims to be preserved throughout the prosecution. When claims are canceled, the remaining claims must not be renumbered. When new claims are presented, they must be numbered consecutively beginning with the number next following the highest numbered claims previously presented (whether entered or not).
Since there are two #12 claims, the second #12 claim should be #13 claim, #13 claim should be #14 claim, #14 claim should be #15 claim, #15 claim should be #16 claim, #16 claim should be #17 claim, #17 claim should be #18 claim, #18 claim should be #19 claim, and #19 claim should be #20 claim.
Therefore, for the purpose of this Office Action, misnumbered claims 12-19 have been renumbered claims 13-20.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0134365 A1 to Knipprath.
Knipprath clearly teaches an Aircraft Component Comprising a Chiral Lattice, comprising:
a first aircraft component (300) configured to convert at least one input vibration into an output vibration suited to drive an energy harvester (360; see paragraph [0067]), and
an energy harvester (360) coupled to the first aircraft component and configured to generate electrical energy in response to the output vibration of the first aircraft component (see paragraph [0067]),
wherein:
the first aircraft component includes a three-dimensional lattice structure (see Figure 8B) comprising a multiplicity of unit cells;
the unit cells comprising at least one lattice-forming member (see Figures 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B); and
the unit cells have a mean greatest dimension of at least 10 nm (see paragraph [0003] where it is stated that “Chiral shapes have been proposed for use in cellular structures”).
With regards to claim 2, Knipprath discloses:
the unit cells having a mean greatest dimension of no more than 200 mm.
With regards to claim 3, Knipprath discloses:
one or more lattice structure portions (see Figure 6A) formed from said unit cells; and
one or more non-lattice portions not formed from said unit cells (see Figure 6B).
With regards to claim 4, Knipprath discloses:
at least thirty percent (30%) of the unit cells being uniform in at least one of shape, size and number of lattice-forming members (see Figures 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 6A, and 8B).
With regards to claim 5, Knipprath discloses:
each of the unit cells has a shape which is one of: cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, hexagonal, rhombohedral and triclinic (see Figures 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 6A, and 8B).
With regards to claim 6, Knipprath discloses:
a plurality of the unit cells each have a similar orientation of the lattice-forming members (see Figures 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 6A, and 8B).
With regards to claim 7, Knipprath discloses:
a mean number of lattice-forming members per unit cell within the multiplicity of unit cells is at least 3.
With regards to claim 8, Knipprath discloses, in Figures 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 6A, and 8B,:
a first one of the lattice-forming members extends between a first pair of faces of one of the unit cells;
a second of the lattice-forming members extends between a second pair of faces of the one of the unit cells;
a third of the lattice-forming members extends between a first pair of corners of the one of the unit cells; and
a fourth of the lattice-forming members extends between a second pair of corners of the one of the unit cells.
With regards to claim 9, Knipprath discloses:
at least thirty percent (30%) of the unit cells have a fill factor of at least 0.10,
wherein the fill factor is a ratio of a volume of the lattice-forming members in a respective one of the unit cells to a volume of the respective one of the unit cells.
With regards to claim 10, Knipprath discloses:
a second aircraft component (540 or 542) configured to generate the at least one input vibration, and coupled to the first aircraft component so that vibration of the second aircraft component generates the at least one input vibration in the first aircraft component (see paragraphs [0072] and [0075]; see Figures 8A and 9).
With regards to claim 11, Knipprath discloses:
the energy harvester being electrically coupled to an electrical load (see paragraphs [0072] and [0075]; see Figure 6A); and
the energy harvester being configured to provide electrical energy to said electrical load or the energy harvester being arranged to provide electrical energy to a store of electrical energy.
With regards to claim 12, Knipprath discloses:
the at least one input vibration is present or absent in event of a non-standard operating condition (i.e., unexpected turbulence); and
the aircraft arrangement is configured to indicate presence or absence of a non-standard operating condition in the aircraft.
With regards to claim 13, Knipprath discloses:
a presence or an absence of the at least one input vibration is indicative of a non-standard operating condition.
With regards to claim 14, Knipprath discloses:
a first aircraft component (see Figure 8A) suitable for use in the aircraft arrangement as described in paragraph 5 above.
With regards to claim 15, Knipprath discloses a method of generating electrical power in an aircraft from a vibration, comprising the steps of:
providing an aircraft component including a three-dimensional lattice structure comprising a multiplicity of unit cells, each of the unit cells including at least one lattice-forming member and the unit cells have a mean greatest dimension of at least 10 nm;
causing vibrations to be generated in the aircraft, thereby causing the aircraft component to vibrate in a pre-determined manner; and
the pre-determined vibrations driving an energy harvester to generate electrical power.
With regards to claim 20, Knipprath discloses:
an aircraft (see Figure 7) comprising the aircraft arrangement as described in paragraph 5 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-19 are allowed.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance.
The prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, does not teach or suggest a method of sensing for the presence of a non-standard operating condition in an aircraft as recited by independent claim 16, comprising the steps of:
providing an aircraft component configured to be subjected to indicative vibrations having one or more characteristics, wherein a presence or absence of the indicative vibrations indicates the non-standard operating condition,
wherein the aircraft component comprises a three-dimensional lattice structure comprising a multiplicity of unit cells, the unit cells each comprising at least one lattice-forming member and the unit cells have a mean greatest dimension of at least 10 nm;
in the presence of indicative vibrations, the aircraft component vibrates in a first pre-determined manner in accordance with one or more vibrational characteristics to cause an energy harvester to generate electrical energy in a first electrical energy generating mode that is indicative of the presence or absence of the non-standard operating condition; and
in the absence of indicative vibrations, the aircraft component either does not vibrate or vibrates differently from the first pre-determined manner, causing an energy harvester to either not vibrate or to generate electrical energy in a second electrical energy generating mode that is indicative of the presence or absence of the non-standard operating condition.
The prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, does not teach or suggest a method of designing a first aircraft component as recited by independent claim 17, comprising the steps of:
determining one or more desired output vibrational characteristics of the first aircraft component for driving the energy harvester;
determining one or more input vibrational characteristics of the first aircraft component;
based on the one or more desired output vibrational characteristics and the one or more input vibrational characteristics, defining the structure of the first aircraft component in relation to one of more of: a number of unit cells, a size of the unit cells, a number of lattice-forming members within unit cells, a size of lattice-forming members within unit cells, an arrangement of lattice-forming members within unit cells, and a distribution of the unit cells within the first aircraft component;
determining one or more output vibrational characteristics based on the one or more input vibrational characteristics for the defined structure of the first aircraft component, and comparing the one or more output vibrational characteristics with the one or more desired output vibrational characteristics; and
based on said comparison, altering one or more of the number of unit cells, the size of the unit cells, the number of lattice-forming members within unit cells, the size of lattice-forming members within unit cells, the arrangement of lattice-forming members within unit cells, and the distribution of the unit cells within the first aircraft component.
Dependent claims 18 and 19 are considered allowable due to their respective dependence on allowed independent claim 17.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/PEDRO J CUEVAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 June 1, 2026
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