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) filed on 09/27/2023 has been considered.
Drawing Objections
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “wherein the at least one bobbin further includes supporting protrusions with through holes on an external wall thereof onto which the Litz wire is wound” of claim 9, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s), since these features don’t appear to be shown or labeled in the drawings.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 8, the phrase “wherein the supporting construction for the high and low voltage windings is made of Litz wire, and wherein the supporting construction is formed as at least one bobbin”, is not well defined. The Examiner interprets the phrase to mean “wherein the supporting construction for the high and low voltage windings [[is]] that are made of Litz wire, and wherein the supporting construction is formed as at least one bobbin“.
Regarding Claim 9 and 10, claims 9 and 10 are indefinite since claims 9 and 10 depend directly or indirectly on claim 8.
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)(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, 2, 4, 6, 8, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tal, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0027936.
Regarding Claim 1, Tal teaches, a transformer coil (Fig. 3), comprising:
a low voltage winding (210a, 210b);
a high voltage winding (310);
a supporting construction (bobbins 213a, 213b) onto which the low voltage winding and the high voltage winding are wound to form the transformer coil;
wherein the transformer coil is immersed in a main insulation material (120);
wherein the transformer coil further includes a first barrier (311) arranged proximate to the low voltage winding, and a second barrier (312) arranged proximate to the high voltage winding (Fig. 4); and
wherein the first barrier and the second barrier are gas-tight (“semiconductive plastic, isolating plastic with a semiconductive coating, or other semiconductive materials” [0018] comprises gas-tight) and semiconductive (“semiconductive” [0023]). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Regarding Claims 2, Tal further teaches, wherein the first barrier and the second barrier are made of a semiconductive thermoplastic material, or epoxy resin doped with at least one of carbon black, graphite, graphene nanotubes, silver, and copper (id. [0018]). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Regarding Claims 4, Tal further teaches, wherein the supporting construction (213a, 213b) is segmented into a supporting construction for the high voltage winding (310) and a supporting construction for the low voltage winding (210a, 210b), and wherein the supporting construction of the high voltage winding (310) is made of a semiconductive material (“Shield leg 311 may be disposed around (e.g., may encompass) windings 310. Shield leg 311 may be attached to (e.g., manufactured together with, or later connected to) first shield lid 211a and second inner shield lids 211b, for forming an inner shield disposed around (e.g., encompassing) windings 310, and “shielding” windings 310 from strong electrical fields” [0022] comprises a supporting construction made of a semiconductive material), and the supporting construction of the low voltage winding (210) is made of a dielectric material (bobbins 213a, 213b comprise a dielectric material). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Regarding Claims 6, Tal further teaches, wherein the high and low voltage windings are made of Litz wire ([0016]). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019]).
Regarding Claims 8, Tal further teaches, wherein the supporting construction (213) for the high and low voltage windings [[is]] that are made of Litz wire, and wherein the supporting construction is formed as at least one bobbin (213a, 213b). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Regarding Claim 14, Tal teaches, a medium frequency transformer (Fig. 3, “connecting a first square wave voltage generator producing a square wave varying between −700V and +700V to two terminals of windings 210a (in the simulation, there are no additional voltage taps), a second square wave voltage generator substantially in-phase with the first square wave voltage generators, and producing a square wave varying between −700V and +700V to two terminals of windings 210b” [0030] comprises a solid-state transformer capable of being used as a medium frequency transformer), comprising:
a transformer coil, the transformer coil (Fig. 3) comprising:
a low voltage winding (210a, 210b);
a high voltage winding (310);
a supporting construction (bobbins 213a, 213b) onto which the low voltage winding and the high voltage winding are wound to form the transformer coil;
wherein the transformer coil is immersed in a main insulation material (120);
wherein the transformer coil further includes a first barrier (311) arranged proximate to the low voltage winding, and a second barrier (312) arranged proximate to the high voltage winding (Fig. 4); and
wherein the first barrier and the second barrier are gas-tight (“semiconductive plastic, isolating plastic with a semiconductive coating, or other semiconductive materials” [0018] comprises gas-tight) and semiconductive (“semiconductive” [0023]). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Regarding Claim 15, Tal teaches, wherein the second barrier is potentialized by a potentializing lead (“electrically connecting” [0023], not shown) that is connected to the second barrier at an arbitrary position between an edge and a middle of the high voltage winding (“[b]y electrically connecting windings 210b to the outer shield and electrically connecting windings 310 to the inner shield, the voltage drop may exist between the inner shield and the outer shield” [0023]). (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tal, as applied to claim 1, in view of Zhuang et al. (hereinafter Zhuang) U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0148797.
Regarding Claim 3, Tal is silent on including the first barrier and/or the second barrier incorporating into an individual casing of each of the high and low voltage windings. (Tal: Figs. 1-4, para. [0017]-[0019], [0022], [0023], [0027], [0029]).
Tal does not explicitly teach, wherein the transformer coil further includes an individual casing for each of the high and low voltage windings, and wherein the first barrier and/or the second barrier is/are incorporated into the individual casing of each of the high and low voltage windings.
However, Zhuang (Fig. 2) teaches, wherein the transformer coil further includes an individual casing (3, 5) for each of the high and low voltage windings (4, 6), and wherein the first barrier and/or the second barrier is/are incorporated into the individual casing (id.) of each of the high and low voltage windings. (Zhuang: Figs. 2, 3 and 4, para. [0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the transformer coil of Tal to include the first barrier and/or the second barrier incorporated into an individual casing of each of the high and low voltage windings of Zhuang, the motivation being “which can effectively solve the problem of excessive local field strength caused by the irregular structure of the inner coil 6” [0045]. (Zhuang: Figs. 2, 3 and 4, para. [0045]). Therefore, the limitations of Claim 3 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Tal in view of Zhuang further teaches, wherein at least one layer of an interlayer insulation material is interposed between layers of the high and low voltage windings, and wherein the at least one layer of the interlayer insulation material is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nonwoven fabric or non-woven polypropylene (PP) (“the inner coil semi-conductive layer 5 and the outer coil semi-conductive layer 3 may be semi-conductive tape made of high polymer materials” [0074], the motivation being “will not cause excessive mechanical stress concentration due to thermal expansion during the heating process” [0074]). (Zhuang: Figs. 2, 3 and 4, para. [0074]).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Pradhan et al. (US 20200013543) and Iwakura et al. (US 20130328654).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 9-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if any of claims 7 and 9-11 is rewritten in independent form including all of the limitation of the base claims and any intervening claims.
Claim 7 recites, inter alia, “…wherein the Litz wire includes insulation shielding tubing, and wherein an internal surface of the insulation shielding tubing is made of a dielectric material and an external surface of the insulation shielding tubing is made of a semiconductive material”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 9 recites, inter alia, “…wherein the at least one bobbin further includes supporting protrusions with through holes on an external wall thereof onto which the Litz wire is wound”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 10 recites, inter alia, “…wherein the at least one bobbin further includes a padding material on an external wall thereof onto which the Litz wire is wound”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 11 recites, inter alia, “…wherein the high and low voltage windings are made of at least one sheet of foil made of copper or aluminum with interlayers of insulation material”. (Emphasis added).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MALCOLM BARNES whose telephone number is (408)918-7512. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00 pm (PST).
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/MALCOLM BARNES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
6/17/2026
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