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 § 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 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei Liu, (Liu) US 11,109,518 B2 in view of YOSHINAGA FUMITAKA (FUMITAKA) JP 2009289944 A .
Regarding claim 1 Liu disclose
A motor controller (Fig. 1 and 4 item 100), comprising:
a first box body (1) comprising a first surface (top) and a second surface opposite (bottom) to each other along a thickness direction of the first box body, the first box body comprising a cooling water passage (Fig. 4 item 3 having passage 3A), and the cooling water passage (3) comprising at least one first opening (at item 8 for item 4) on the first surface (for item 4 to mount on item 3);
at least one insulate-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module (item 4 contains IGBT Col. 1 line 49) disposed on the first surface and inserted into the cooling water passage through the at least one first opening (Fig. 1);
a capacitor (item 2), the capacitor disposed on the second surface (Fig. 4) and connected to the IGBT module (Fig. 4 4), the capacitor comprising a housing and a capacitor core (part of item 2), the capacitor core disposed in the housing (to contain core),
Liu further teaches insulating and thermally conductive material (item 6)
But specifically do not teach following details of capacitor core and housing,
the housing comprising a heat dissipation opening configured to expose the capacitor core; and
a heat conductor, the heat conductor covering the heat dissipation opening, and a first side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with the capacitor core and a second side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with an outer wall surface of the cooling water passage.
However in analogues art to dissipate heat from a capacitor FUMITAKA disclose capacitor having structural details,
the housing (fig. 1 and 2 item 10) comprising a heat dissipation opening (for item 14) configured to expose the capacitor core (item 12 through hole for item 14); and
a heat conductor (item 14), the heat conductor covering the heat dissipation opening (Fig. 1 and 2 item for cover opening in item 10), and a first side surface of the heat conductor (item 14) being in contact with the capacitor core (item 12 page 2 “the heat radiating member is installed in a core portion of the capacitor”) and a second side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with an outer wall surface of the cooling water passage (fig. 1 and 2 through flange of item 10 to item 16a).
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by FUMITAKA to the device of Liu would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for provide a capacitor capable of improving heat radiation characteristics of a capacitive element (Abstract)
Regarding claim 15 Liu disclose
A vehicle (Col. 2 line 1), comprising a motor controller, wherein the motor controller (Fig. 1 and 4 item 100) comprises:
a first box body (1) comprising a first surface (top) and a second surface opposite (bottom) to each other along a thickness direction of the first box body, the first box body comprising a cooling water passage (Fig. 4 item 3 having passage 3A), and the cooling water passage (3) comprising at least one first opening (at item 8 for item 4) on the first surface (for item 4 to mount on item 3);
at least one insulate-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module (item 4 contains IGBT Col. 1 line 49) disposed on the first surface and inserted into the cooling water passage through the at least one first opening (Fig. 1);
a capacitor (item 2), the capacitor disposed on the second surface (Fig. 4) and connected to the IGBT module (Fig. 4 4), the capacitor comprising a housing and a capacitor core (part of item 2), the capacitor core disposed in the housing (to contain core),
Liu further teaches insulating and thermally conductive material (item 6)
But specifically do not teach following details of capacitor core and housing,
the housing comprising a heat dissipation opening configured to expose the capacitor core; and
a heat conductor, the heat conductor covering the heat dissipation opening, and a first side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with the capacitor core and a second side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with an outer wall surface of the cooling water passage.
However in analogues art to dissipate heat from a capacitor FUMITAKA disclose capacitor having structural details,
the housing (fig. 1 and 2 item 10) comprising a heat dissipation opening (for item 14) configured to expose the capacitor core (item 12 through hole for item 14); and
a heat conductor (item 14), the heat conductor covering the heat dissipation opening (Fig. 1 and 2 item for cover opening in item 10), and a first side surface of the heat conductor (item 14) being in contact with the capacitor core (item 12 page 2 “the heat radiating member is installed in a core portion of the capacitor”) and a second side surface of the heat conductor being in contact with an outer wall surface of the cooling water passage (fig. 1 and 2 through flange of item 10 to item 16a).
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by FUMITAKA to the device of Liu would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for provide a capacitor capable of improving heat radiation characteristics of a capacitive element (Abstract)
Claim(s) 2, 3, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of FUMITAKA and further in view of Christoph Hoyler (Hoyler) US 11,464,141 B2.
Regarding claims 2 and 3 Liu disclose;
wherein the heat conductor comprises at least one of a heat conducting material (item 6) but do not teach well known in the art.
wherein: the heat conductor comprises a heat conducting plate and a heat conducting mud; and the heat conducting plate and the heat conducting mud are stacked along a direction from the capacitor core to the outer wall surface of the cooling water passage.
However in analogues art Hoyler disclose, wherein the heat conductor comprises a heat conducting plate and a heat conducting mud; and the heat conducting plate and the heat conducting mud are stacked along a direction from the capacitor core to the outer wall surface of the cooling water passage.(Col. 4 lines 34-38)
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by Hoyler to the device of Liu and FUMITAKA would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for effectively conducting heat.
Regarding claims 16 and 17, claims 16 and 17 are rejected for the same reason as claims 2 and 3, as claims 16 and 17 recites similar to claims 2 and 3. See rejection of claims 2 and 3.
Claim(s) 5 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of FUMITAKA and further in view of Hideyo Suzuki (Suzuki) US 20100097765 A1.
Regarding claim 5 Liu and FUMITAKA disclose;
wherein the first box body (item 1) comprises an accommodating groove (Fig. 1), the second surface forms a groove bottom of the accommodating groove, the capacitor is disposed in the accommodating groove (Fig. 1),
But do not teach well-known alternative a capacitor cover plate is mounted on the first box body, and the capacitor cover plate covers the accommodating groove.
However in analogues art Suzuki disclose, a capacitor cover plate (fig. 4 item 16) is mounted on the first box body (item 12), and the capacitor cover plate (item 16) covers the accommodating groove (for item 500 capacitor).
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by Suzuki to the device of Liu and FUMITAKA would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for flexibility of removing capacitor through bottom cover.
Regarding claim 12 Liu and FUMITAKA disclose;
a water inlet pipe (fig. 4 item 9) and a water outlet pipe (item 10), the water inlet pipe and the water outlet pipe being respectively connected to two ends of the first box body (item 1) along a length direction of the first box body, the first box body comprising a water inlet channel (at 1A near item 9) and a water outlet channel, (at 1A near item 10) the water inlet channel being connected to the water inlet pipe (9) and a first cooling cavity (at item 3A near item 9) that is closest to the water inlet pipe (Fig. 4), a cooling cavity (3A) that is closest to the water outlet pipe (item 10).
Liu disclose single cooling cavity but do not teach cooling cavity having first and second cooling cavity the water outlet channel being connected to the water outlet pipe and a second cooling cavity that is closest to the water outlet pipe.
However in analogues art However in analogues art Suzuki disclose,
the water inlet channel (Fig. 5 item 19 near item 13) being connected to the water inlet pipe (13) and a first cooling cavity (at item 19 near item 13) that is closest to the water inlet pipe (Fig. 5), a cooling cavity (19 on opposite side near item 14) that is closest to the water outlet pipe (item 14).
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by Suzuki to the device of Liu and FUMITAKA would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for additional cooling channels to add power modules as required.
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 is rejected for the same reason as claim 5, as claim 19 recites similar to claim 5. See rejection of claim 5 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-11, 13-14, 18 and 20 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.
Conclusion
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/MUKUNDBHAI G PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835