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 04/08/2024 has been considered.
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 1-13 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 1, the phrase “the air gaps”, is not well defined, since it lacks antecedent basis.
Regarding Claims 2-13, the claims are indefinite since claim 2-13 depend directly or indirectly on claim 6.
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 1-4, 9-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khaligh et al. (hereinafter Khaligh), U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0172880, in view of Shi et al., (hereinafter Shi), U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0266534.
Regarding Claim 1, Khaligh teaches, a transformer (Fig. 4(e)) comprising a magnetic core (not labeled, UU-shape core, Fig. 4(e)), the magnetic core comprising plural limbs (id.) around each of which is wound a primary winding (402), a first secondary winding (404) and a tertiary winding (406);
the transformer comprising said windings (id.);
the magnetic core comprising a first half core (top half, Fig. 4(e)) and a second half core (bottom half, Fig. 4(e)) respectively comprising sub-limbs (left and right sub-limbs, Fig. 4(e)) of the limbs;
the transformer being characterized in that:
– the air gaps (not labeled) are respectively located either close to the first half core, or close to the second half core;
– some of the windings of the transformer are Litz wires, and some of the windings are flat conductors (“It is noted that both Litz wire and planar PCB winding trace can be implemented as the winding conductor type”). (Khaligh: Figs. 1, 4(a)-4(e), 6(a), 9, 12, 19(a), 20 and 21, para. [0085]-[0088]]).
Khaligh does not explicitly teach, the half cores include…the air gaps are respectively located either close to the first half core, or close to the second half core.
However, Shi (Fig. 4) teaches, the half cores include…the air gaps (not labeled, Figs. 4 and 15) are respectively located either close to the first half core, or close to the second half core (id.). (Shi: Figs. 4, 11, 12, 15, 19 and 20, para. [0048], [0049], [0073]).
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 first and second half cores of Khaligh to include the half cores with the air gaps respectively located either close to the first half core, or close to the second half core of Shi, the motivation being “…transformer winding loss can be reduced, and the transformer efficiency can be improved” [0093]. (Shi: Figs. 4, 11, 12, 15, 19 and 20, para. [0093]). Therefore, the limitations of Claim 1 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding Claim 2 and similarly claim 3, the combination of Khaligh in view of Shi further teaches, wherein: the primary windings and the first secondary windings are Litz wires (id.); and/or the tertiary windings of the transformer are flat conductors (id.). (Khaligh: Figs. 1, 4(a)-4(e), 6(a), 9, 12, 19(a), 20 and 21, para. [0085]-[0088]).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Khaligh in view of Shi further teaches, wherein:
the air gaps are all located close to the first half core; or
the air gaps (not labeled, close to bottom half core, Fig. 4(e)) are all located close to the second half core (5b); or
the air gap in the middle limb is located close to the first half core while the air gap in the limb adjacent to the middle limb is located close to the second half core; or
the air gap in the middle limb is located close to the second half core while the air gap in the limb adjacent to the middle limb is located close to the first half core. (Khaligh: Figs. 1, 4(a)-4(e), 6(a), 9, 12, 19(a), 20 and 21, para. [0085]-[0088]).
Regarding Claim 9 and similarly claim 10, the combination of Khaligh in view of Shi further teaches, wherein the tertiary windings are respectively composed of two auxiliary windings or are respectively a single winding (406). (Khaligh: Figs. 1, 4(a)-4(e), 6(a), 9, 12, 19(a), 20 and 21, para. [0085]-[0088]).
Regarding Claim 11 and similarly claim 13, the combination of Khaligh in view of Shi further teaches, an electrical system (Fig. 1) for an electric vehicle (“a three-winding transformer design integrating an OBC [on-board charger] and an APM [auxiliary power module] in the case of an EV [electric vehicle] is disclosed” [0009] ) or a hybrid electric vehicle, comprising a transformer according to any one of the preceding claims. (Khaligh: Figs. 1, 4(a)-4(e), 6(a), 9, 12, 19(a), 20 and 21, para. [0085]-[0088]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if any of claims 5-8 and 12 is rewritten in independent form including all of the limitation of the base claims and any intervening claims.
Claim 5 recites, inter alia, “…wherein for each of the limbs of the magnetic core (5), the corresponding first secondary winding is sandwiched between two sets of turns of the tertiary winding”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 6 recites, inter alia, “…wherein: each of the tertiary windings of the transformer (20) is interleaved with one of the primary windings, in a way that one set of turns of the tertiary winding is sandwiched between two sets of turns of the corresponding primary winding; and/or each of the tertiary windings is also respectively interleaved with one of the first secondary windings, in a way that one set of turns of the tertiary winding is sandwiched between two sets of turns of the corresponding first secondary winding”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 7 recites, inter alia, “…wherein: the primary windings respectively wound around one of two adjacent limbs are arranged in a way that one of the primary windings is wound close to one of the first and the second half cores while the other primary winding (P1, P3) is wound close to the other one of the first and the second half cores; and/or the first secondary windings respectively wound around one of two adjacent limbs are arranged in a way that one of the first secondary windings is wound close to one of the first and the second half cores while the other first secondary winding is wound close to the other one of the first and the second half cores”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 8 recites, inter alia, “…wherein: each of the tertiary windings of the transformer (20) is interleaved with one of the primary windings, in a way that at least one set of turns of the tertiary winding and one set of turns of the corresponding first secondary winding are sandwiched between two sets of turns of the corresponding primary winding; and/or each of the tertiary windings is also interleaved with one of the first secondary windings, in a way that at least one set of turns of the tertiary winding and one set of turns of the corresponding primary winding are sandwiched between two sets of turns of the corresponding first secondary winding”. (Emphasis added).
Claim 12 recites, inter alia, “…being connected to a power factor correction (PFC) converter and configured to charge and discharge a first battery (34) and a second battery (44) of the vehicle; the first battery (34) having a higher rated voltage than the second battery (44); the electrical system (1) comprising: a LLC primary circuit (12) comprising a first multi-phase H-bridge (B1) to control primary windings (P1, P2, P3) of the transformer (20); the LLC primary circuit (12) being connected to the PFC converter; a HVDC part (30) coupled to the LLC primary circuit (12), first secondary windings (S1, S2, S3) of the transformer (20) and the first battery (34), so as to allow energy exchange with the first battery (34); the HVDC part (30) comprising a second multi-phase H-bridge (B2) configured to control the first secondary windings (S1, S2, S3); a LVDC part (40) coupled to tertiary windings of the transformer (20) and to the second battery (44) so as to allow energy exchange with the second battery (44); the LVDC part (40) comprising a rectifier (41) configured to control the tertiary windings of the transformer (20)”. (Emphasis added).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sullivan et al. (US 20170221625) and Njiende (US 20230361687).
Conclusion
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/MALCOLM BARNES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
9/15/2026
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