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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 1-3, filed 06/23/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the new claim amendments and new prior art.
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.
Claims 1-14 and 17-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diehl et al. (US 2021/0328472 A1) in view of El-Refaie et al. (US 2022/0320933 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Diehl discloses a stator (3) for an electrical machine (1), the stator (3) comprising:
a stator core (5) with at least one stator groove (27), the stator core (5) including at least two electrical conductors (31) as individual hairpins arranged therein (FIG. 5, 6);
at least two cooling channels (29) fluidically connected in parallel (FIG. 4- 6); and
a plurality of cooling channel groups, wherein each of the cooling channel groups includes at least some of the cooling channels (29) associated with multiple electrical conductors (31) that are configured to receive cooling fluid (21) and that are fluidically connected in series or in parallel to form separate circuits or a single circuit (FIG. 5),
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Diehl does not disclose wherein at least a part of the stator is produced by additive manufacturing, and wherein a predetermined number of the electrical conductors, form at least one of the cooling channels that receives the cooling fluid.
El-Refaie discloses wherein at least a part of the stator (12) is produced by additive manufacturing (¶ [0058]), and wherein a predetermined number of the electrical conductors (16), form at least one of the cooling channels (17) that receives the cooling fluid.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Diehl in view of El-Refaie to disclose wherein at least a part of the stator is produced by additive manufacturing, and wherein a predetermined number of the electrical conductors, form at least one of the cooling channels that receives the cooling fluid, for the advantages of simplifying fabrication of machine components and enable customization of conductors and windings (¶ [0005]).
Regarding claim 2/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl further discloses wherein the predetermined number of electrical conductors (31) is less than or equal to a number of electrical conductors (31) in the at least one stator groove (27; FIG. 2).
Regarding claim 3/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl discloses wherein the electrical conductors (31) are arranged in a radial direction of the stator (3; FIG. 2), and
wherein the cooling channels (29) form the electrical conductors (31), arranged in an inner region (FIG. 2) relative to the radial direction of the stator (3).
Regarding claim 4/3, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 3. Diehl discloses wherein the cooling channels (29) form the electrical conductors (31) arranged in an outer region in relation to the radial direction of the stator (3) or in a middle region between the outer and the inner region (FIG. 2).
Regarding claim 5/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein the electrical conductors (16) include hollow channels (16), and the cooling channels (17) extend along a longitudinal direction of the respective electrical conductors (16), and wherein the electrical conductors (16) have a polygonal cross-section that corresponds to a polygonal cross-section of the cooling channels (17; FIG. 2D, 3).
Regarding claim 6/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein each of the electrical conductors (16) has a cooling channel element (20) that forms the cooling channel (17) configured to receive the cooling fluid (¶ [0066]; FIG. 1C, D).
Regarding claim 7/6, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 6. El-Refaie discloses wherein the cooling channel elements (20) are at least partially, enclosed by the respective electrical conductor (16) in an active region of the stator (12; FIG. 1B).
Regarding claim 8/6, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 6. El-Refaie discloses wherein the cooling channel elements (20) in a first head region and a second head region of the stator (12) are at least partially enclosed by the respective electrical conductor (60; FIG. 1C).
Regarding claim 9/6, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 6. Diehl further discloses wherein the cooling channel elements and the respective electrical conductors (59) branch out at a first head region and in a second head region (59a, 59c) of the stator (FIG. 7).
Regarding claim 10/9, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 9. El-Refaie discloses wherein each cooling channel element (17) can be fluidically coupled to a first end in the first head region and to a second end in the second head region by a connecting element (27, 29; FIG. 7).
Regarding claim 11/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein a cooling channel element (20) is arranged next to the electrical conductor (16), so that at least a part of a wall of the cooling channel element (20) adjoins the electrical conductor 916; FIG. 2A).
Regarding claim 12/11, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 11. El-Refaie discloses wherein the cooling channel element (20) is additionally arranged next to a neighboring electrical conductor (16), so that at least a part of the wall of the cooling channel element (20) and the respective electrical conductor (16) adjoins the neighboring electrical conductor (16; FIG. 2A).
Regarding claim 13/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein the cooling channels (17) of the plurality of cooling channel groups (23) are connected in parallel, wherein a first cooling channel group (23) of the plurality of cooling channel groups (23) is connected in series with other cooling groups of the plurality of cooling channel groups (23), so that an inlet volume flow (27) and an outlet volume flow (29) are connected to form a cooling circuit (¶ [0057]).
Regarding claim 14/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl in view of El-Refaie does not explicitly disclose wherein a ratio between the predetermined number of conductors, and a number of conductors in the at least one stator groove is less than or equal to ¼.
El-Refaie does disclose in FIG. 2E, 2F and ¶ [0064] that the number of hollow conductors and solid conductors can be varied. As there is a total of 6 layers of conductors, changing the number of hollow conductors such that the ratio between the hollow conductors and solid conductors is at most ¼, would be obvious to try for one of ordinary skill in the art, as there is a finite number of predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 17/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein at least one winding head (21) of the stator (12) is additively applied to a non-additively produced stator core (18) or active region of the stator (12; ¶ [0058] winding 14 is made by additive method).
Regarding claim 18/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein at least one connecting element (22) of at least one cooling channel element (20) is produced by additive manufacturing (¶ [0058] heat exchanger 22 is made by additive method).
The limitation “wherein the at least one connecting element is produced together with at least one winding head of the stator or at least one electrical conductor by additive manufacturing” is a product-by-process limitation. As the claim is to a structure, and Diehl in view of El-Refaie discloses all the structure of the claim, the specific steps of the methods are anticipated by Diehl in view of El-Refaie.
Regarding claim 19/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein at least one winding head (21) of the stator (12) is additively applied to a stator core (18) or active region of the stator (12; ¶ [0058] winding 14 is made by additive method).
Regarding claim 20/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl discloses wherein at least one winding head (31a) of the stator (3) comprises at least one connecting element (13) for at least one cooling channel element (29; FIG. 4).
Regarding claim 21/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein the additive manufacturing includes applying build-up material layer by layer by a selective solidification of the build-up material by impinging of a beam thereon (¶ [0094]).
Regarding claim 22/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses wherein aluminium materials or aluminium powder, copper materials or copper powder, are used as raw or build-up material for the additive manufacturing (¶ [0095]), wherein the copper materials or the copper powder have a purity of more than 99.5% (¶ [0070] 99.92% dense).
Regarding claim 23/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses electric machine (10) for electrically or hybrid-electrically driven vehicle (¶ [0002]), the electric machine comprising:
the stator (12) of claim 1 and a rotor (13).
Regarding claim 24/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. El-Refaie discloses stator cooling system (FIG. 1B, C), comprising:
an electric machine (10); and
a cooling unit (17, 20, 22-23, 27, 29) fluidically coupled to the cooling channels (17) of the electrical conductors (16) of the stator (12) of claim 1 such that the plurality of cooling channel groups (23) are fluidically connected in series or in parallel to form separate circuits or a single circuit (FIG. 1B, C),
wherein the cooling unit (17, 20, 22-23, 27, 29) supplies the circuits or the single circuit with a cooling fluid (¶ [0057]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diehl et al. (US 2021/0328472 A1) in view of El-Refaie et al. (US 2022/0320933 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (CN 109361277 A).
Regarding claim 16/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl in view of El-Refaie does not disclose wherein the cooling channels are distributed over the electrical conductors such that the electrical conductors are provided alternately in a radial direction of the stator from an inner circumference to an outer circumference of the stator.
Wang discloses wherein the cooling channels (13) are distributed over the electrical conductors (9, 10) such that the electrical conductors (9, 10) are provided alternately in a radial direction of the stator from an inner circumference to an outer circumference of the stator.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Diehl in view of El-Refaie, further in view of Wang to disclose wherein the cooling channels are distributed over the electrical conductors such that the electrical conductors are provided alternately in a radial direction of the stator from an inner circumference to an outer circumference of the stator, for the advantages of increasing cooling efficiency of the stator by placing the cooling channels in between the conductors.
Claim 25-26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diehl et al. (US 2021/0328472 A1) in view of El-Refaie et al. (US 2022/0320933 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Weeber et al. (US 2004/0066099 A1).
Regarding claim 25/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl in view of El-Refaie does not disclose a sensor unit configured to detect at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator; and
a control unit.
Weeber discloses a sensor unit (41) configured to detect at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator (¶ [0029]); and
a control unit (fan controllers).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Diehl in view of El-Refaie, further in view of Weeber to disclose a sensor unit configured to detect at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator, and a control unit, for the advantages of adjusting the cooling through the temperature of the stator.
The limitation “a control unit communicatively connected to the sensor unit and a cooling unit and is configured to control the cooling unit to adjust the temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator below a predetermined lower limit temperature or above a predetermined upper limit temperature to a set-point temperature” is a product-by-process limitation. As the claim is to a structure, and Diehl in view of El-Refaie and Weeber discloses all the structure of the claim, the specific steps of the methods are anticipated by Diehl in view of El-Refaie and Weeber.
Regarding claim 26/1, Diehl in view of El-Refaie was discussed above in claim 1. Diehl in view of El-Refaie does not disclose detecting at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator.
Weeber discloses detecting at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator (by temperature sensor 41; ¶ [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Diehl in view of El-Refaie, further in view of Weeber to disclose wherein at least one temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator is detected, for the advantages of adjusting the cooling through the temperature of the stator.
The limitation “wherein a cooling fluid is supplied to a circuit formed by the cooling channels to adjust the temperature of the electrical conductors of the stator below a predetermined lower limit temperature or above a predetermined upper limit temperature to a set-point temperature” is a product-by-process limitation. As the claim is to a structure, and Diehl in view of El-Refaie and Weeber discloses all the structure of the claim, the specific steps of the methods are anticipated by Diehl in view of El-Refaie and Weeber.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 is 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.
Regarding claim 15/1, the specific limitation of “wherein the cooling channels (11) are distributed over the electrical conductors (10) such that one cooling channel is provided in an inner region (IB) relative to a radial direction of the stator (100), two cooling channels (MB) are provided in a middle region relative to the radial direction of the stator (100) and one cooling channel is provided in an outer region (AB) relative to the radial direction of the stator (100), wherein the outer region (AB) adjoins the middle region (MB) in the direction of an outer circumference of the stator (100), and wherein the outer region (AB) comprises two electrical conductors” in the combination as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
El-Refaie discloses a stator having conductors with cooling channels inside the conductors, but does not disclose an outer region of a stator slot comprising two electrical conductors, and one of the two electrical conductors has a cooling channel.
Wang et al. (CN 109/361277 A) and Tomioka (JP 2020-150592 A) discloses a stator having conductors, where conductors in the outer region, middle region and inner region of a slot has cooling channels, but fails to disclose an outer region of a stator slot comprising two electrical conductors, and one of the two electrical conductors has a cooling channel.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINKI CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0521. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MINKI CHANG/ Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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