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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 10/29/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-6 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant’s remarks filed on 10/29/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Specifically, the Examiner acknowledges Merzhaeuser does not explicitly teach wherein the spar member of the second part of the spar structure is at least partly received in a conductive jacket. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hibbard (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2007/0074892) teaching a conductive jacket enclosing a spar member.
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) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Merzhaeuser (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2020/0072189) in view of Hibbard (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2007/0074892).
As per claim 1, Merzhaeuser discloses a spar structure (60, 40; figure 5) for a wind turbine blade, the spar structure comprising a first part (60; figure 4) and a second part (40; figure 3), the first and second part being releasably coupled to each other (as shown; figure 2), wherein the second part of the spar structure comprises a spar member (beam structure 40), wherein the first part (60; figure 4) of the spar structure comprises a sheath (as shown; figure 5) for at least partly enclosing the second part of the spar structure (receiving section 60 for receiving beams structure 40 of the first blade segment 30; paragraph [0038]), the sheath being a conductive sheath for a lightning protection system of the wind turbine blade (spar caps 68, 70 and webs 72 forming the sheath are made of carbon fiber which is conductive material; paragraphs [0040], [0042]), and wherein the sheath is box-shaped (as shown; figure 5).
Merzhaeuser does not explicitly teach wherein the spar member of the second part of the spar structure is at least partly received in a conductive jacket.
Hibbard (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2007/0074892) is a related prior art in that it deals with potential equalizing, i.e., lightning protection, of a wind turbine blade. Hibbard teaches wherein a spar member is received in a conductive jacket (spar 44 enclosed by metal ribbon 20, contact enhancing layer 22 and cover layer 24 made of conductive material; figure 8; paragraph [0057]). Hibbard also teaches that the conductivity of carbon fibres transverse to the length direction of the fibre is relatively bad (paragraphs [0004]-[0005]) and the conducting metal ribbon 20, contact enhancing layer 22 and cover layer 24 are made of material of high conductivity and relatively inert towards chemical attack from other materials and provides contact enhancement (paragraphs [0056], [0057]). Therefore, in order to provide better potential equalization, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify Merzhaeuser’s spar member to incorporate Hibbard’s metal ribbon, contact enhancing layer and cover layer (conductive jacket) because as Hibbard teaches, providing a means of potential equalizing prevents the risk of flashover (paragraph [0003]), good electrical contact needs to be established between the members to be eqaulised (paragraph [0005]), the metal ribbon, contact enhancing layer and cover layer are made of material of high conductivity and relatively inert towards chemical attack from other materials and provides contact enhancement (paragraphs [0056], [0057]) and they are oriented orthogonal to the carbon fibers of the spar which would improve potential equalizing within the spar substantially (paragraph [0069]).
As per claim 3, Merzhaeuser, in view of Hibbbard, discloses the spar structure according to claim 1, wherein the spar structure comprises at least one locking pin for releasably coupling the first part to the second part of the spar structure through aligned respective locking apertures in each of the first and second part of the spar structure (via pinned connection at joint slots 50 and 52; figure 3; paragraph [0037]).
As per claim 4, Merzhaeuser, in view of Hibbbard, discloses the spar structure according to claim 1, wherein the spar member comprises a spar beam (beam structure 40; paragraph [0036]).
As per claim 5, Merzhaeuser, in view of Hibbbard, discloses the spar structure according to claim 1, wherein the spar member comprises a spar box (beam structure is formed as a box-type structure; paragraph [0036]).
As per claim 6, Merzhaeuser, in view of Hibbbard, discloses the spar structure according to claim 5, wherein the spar box comprises at least one spar beam and at least one spar flange (spar caps 46, 48; figure 3).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-1324. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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/SANG K KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745