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 . Claims 2-21 are pending of which claims 13-21 were withdrawn without traverse.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 2-12) in the reply filed on 03/16/2026 is acknowledged.
Double Patenting
A rejection based on double patenting of the “same invention” type finds its support in the language of 35 U.S.C. 101 which states that “whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process... may obtain a patent therefor...” (Emphasis added). Thus, the term “same invention,” in this context, means an invention drawn to identical subject matter. See Miller v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 151 U.S. 186 (1894); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Ockert, 245 F.2d 467, 114 USPQ 330 (CCPA 1957).
A statutory type (35 U.S.C. 101) double patenting rejection can be overcome by canceling or amending the claims that are directed to the same invention so they are no longer coextensive in scope. The filing of a terminal disclaimer cannot overcome a double patenting rejection based upon 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claims 2-12 are rejected on the grounds of statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over Claims 1-11 of U.S. Pat. No. 11,973,375 of Konings et al. (reference patent). The claims at issue are substantially identical as shown in the comparison of their claim limitations correlated in the table below.
Claim Element of Present Application
Corresponding Claim Language of Patent No. 11,973,375
Claim 2: An annular axial flux motor comprising:
Claim 1: An annular axial flux motor comprising:
a rotor comprising an array of permanent magnets mounted on a first annular subsection of a rotatable structure,
the first annular subsection of the rotatable structure being formed with a limited arc length less than a full circle,
the array of permanent magnets extending along a circumferential direction of the first annular subsection and being configured to have a stronger magnetic field on an active side of the array than an inactive, opposite side of the array with respect to an axial direction of the first annular subsection; and
a rotor comprising an array of permanent magnets mounted on a first annular subsection of a rotatable structure,
the first annular subsection of the rotatable structure being formed with a limited arc length less than a full circle,
the array of permanent magnets extending along a circumferential direction of the first annular subsection and being configured to have a stronger magnetic field on an active side of the array than that on an inactive side thereof, wherein the inactive side is an opposite side of the array with respect to an axial direction of the first annular subsection; and
a stator comprising multiple layers of printed electrical windings on a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on a second annular subsection of a carrier that corresponds to the first annular subsection, the electrical windings extending along the circumferential direction, the multiple layers of the PCB being stacked along the axial direction, the active side of the array of permanent magnets facing one side of the multiple layers of the PCB and being spaced with a nominal gap,
a stator comprising multiple layers of printed electrical windings on a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on a second annular subsection of a carrier that corresponds to the first annular subsection, the electrical windings extending along the circumferential direction, the multiple layers of the PCB being stacked along the axial direction, the active side of the array of permanent magnets facing one side of the multiple layers of the PCB and being spaced with a nominal gap,
wherein the stator is configured to be energized to generate a torque to drive the rotor with the rotatable structure to rotate forward or backward within a limited angle range less than a full circle with respect to the carrier.
wherein the stator is configured to be energized to generate a torque to drive the rotor with the rotatable structure to rotate within a finite travel range with respect to the carrier.
Claim 3: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the array of permanent magnets is a Halbach array, and wherein the Halbach array comprises periodic units of permanent magnets arranged on the first annular subsection along the circumferential direction, each of the periodic units comprising rows of magnet pole pairs.
Claim 2:The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the array of permanent magnets is a Halbach array, and wherein the Halbach array comprises periodic units of permanent magnets arranged on the first annular subsection along the circumferential direction, each of the periodic units comprising rows of magnet pole pairs.
Claim 4: The annular axial flux motor of claim 3, wherein
each of the periodic units comprises four rows of magnet pole pairs, adjacent rows being separated from one another with a magnetic space along the circumferential direction, each magnet pole pair comprising an N pole and an S pole, and wherein the four rows comprise: a first row having N pole and S pole vertically and sequentially stacked along the axial direction, a second row having S pole and N pole horizontally and sequentially stacked along the circumferential direction, a third row having S pole and N pole vertically and sequentially stacked along the axial direction, and a fourth row having N pole and S pole horizontally and sequentially stacked along the circumferential direction.
Claim 3: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
each of the periodic units comprises four rows of magnet pole pairs, adjacent rows being separated from one another with a magnetic space along the circumferential direction, each magnet pole pair comprising an N pole and an S pole, and wherein the four rows comprise: a first row having N pole and S pole vertically and sequentially stacked along the axial direction, a second row having S pole and N pole horizontally and sequentially stacked along the circumferential direction, a third row having S pole and N pole vertically and sequentially stacked along the axial direction, and a fourth row having N pole and S pole horizontally and sequentially stacked along the circumferential direction.
Claim 5: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the rotor comprises two arrays of permanent magnets mounted on the first annular subsection and spaced from each other along the axial direction, wherein the multiple layers of printed electrical windings on the PCB are arranged between the two arrays of permanent magnets, active sides of the two arrays facing opposite sides of the multiple layers with respect to the axial direction, and wherein nominal gaps between the active sides of respective Halbach arrays and the opposite sides of the multiple layers have a same width along the axial direction.
Claim 4: The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the rotor comprises two arrays of permanent magnets mounted on the first annular subsection and spaced from each other along the axial direction, wherein the multiple layers of printed electrical windings on the PCB are arranged between the two arrays of permanent magnets, active sides of the two arrays facing opposite sides of the multiple layers with respect to the axial direction, and wherein
nominal gaps between the active sides of respective Halbach arrays and the opposite sides of the multiple layers have a same width along the axial direction.
Claim 6: The annular axial flux motor of claim 5, wherein the two arrays of permanent magnets are configured to generate a symmetrical magnetic field with respect to a center of the multiple layers of the PCB, wherein an axial component of the symmetrical magnetic field along the axial direction is substantially larger than a tangential component of the symmetrical magnetic field along a tangential direction of the first annular subsection, wherein each of the two arrays of permanent magnets is a respective Halbach array, and wherein the respective Halbach arrays have different arrangements of magnetic poles and are configured to have the active sides opposite to the two sides of the multiple layers of printed electrical windings, and wherein the stator comprises multiple phase electrical windings, and wherein each of the multiple phase electrical windings of the stator is configured to have a same rotor-dependent torque constant, such that the stator is configured to generate a constant torque to drive the rotor.
Claim 5: The annular axial flux motor of claim 4, wherein the two arrays of permanent magnets are configured to generate a symmetrical magnetic field with respect to a center of the multiple layers of the PCB, wherein an axial component of the symmetrical magnetic field along the axial direction is substantially larger than a tangential component of the symmetrical magnetic field along a tangential direction of the first annular subsection, wherein each of the two arrays of permanent magnets is a respective Halbach array, and wherein the respective Halbach arrays have different arrangements of magnetic poles and are configured to have the active sides opposite to the two sides of the multiple layers of printed electrical windings, and wherein the stator comprises multiple phase electrical windings, and wherein each of the multiple phase electrical windings of the stator is configured to have a same rotor-dependent torque constant, such that the stator is configured to generate a constant torque to drive the rotor.
Claim 7: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the electrical windings have a height along a radial direction of the structure that is substantially same as a height of the array of permanent magnets along the radial direction, and wherein
the electrical windings are configured such that a winding period of the electrical windings corresponds to a magnetic period of a magnetic field of the rotor.
Claim 1:
wherein the electrical windings have a height along a radial direction of the rotatable structure that is substantially the same as a height of the array of permanent magnets along the radial direction, and wherein
the electrical windings are configured such that an electrical winding period of the electrical windings corresponds to a magnetic period of a magnetic field of the rotor.
Claim 8: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the stator comprises 2- phase electrical windings configured to be driven with sinusoidal drive currents with a phase difference of π /2,
each of the multiple layers corresponds to a respective phase electrical winding, and the respective phase electrical windings with different phases alternate in the multiple layers, and wherein the 2-phase electrical windings have a same winding pattern and are offset by a quarter of a winding period.
Claim 6: The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the stator comprises 2-phase electrical windings configured to be driven with sinusoidal drive currents with a phase difference of π/2,
Claim 7:
each of the multiple layers corresponds to a respective phase electrical winding, and
the respective phase electrical windings with different phases alternate in the multiple layers, and wherein the 2-phase electrical windings have a same winding pattern and are offset by a quarter of a winding period.
Claim 9: The annular axial flux motor of claim 8, wherein the multiple layers of printed electrical windings comprise a first layer, a second layer, a third layer, and a fourth layer sequentially stacked together along the axial direction, wherein
printed electrical windings on the first layer and the third layer are formed by a first continuous wire to be a first phase electrical winding, and printed electrical windings on the second layer and the fourth layer are formed by a second continuous wire to be a second phase electrical winding, wherein
the first wire is printed starting from an input port of the first layer, extending along a first path on the first layer to a first via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a second path on the third layer to a second via, through which the first wire goes back to the first layer and extends along a third path on the first layer to a third via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a fourth path on the third layer to a fourth via, through which the first wire goes to the first layer and extends along a fifth path on the first layer to a fifth via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a sixth path on the third layer to an output port of the third layer, wherein
the first wire extending along the first path, the third path, and the fifth path forms a first electrical winding on the first layer, the first wire extending along the second path, the fourth path, and the sixth path forms a second electrical winding on the third layer, and the first electrical winding and the second electrical winding form the first phase electrical winding, wherein the first electrical winding and the second electrical winding have a same winding pattern offset by a quarter of a winding period, and wherein the first via, the third via, and the fifth via are adjacent to each other, and the second via and the fourth via are adjacent to each other.
Claim 8: The annular axial flux motor of claim 6, wherein the multiple layers of printed electrical windings comprise a first layer, a second layer, a third layer, and a fourth layer sequentially stacked together along the axial direction, wherein
printed electrical windings on the first layer and the third layer are formed by a first continuous wire to be a first phase electrical winding, and printed electrical windings on the second layer and the fourth layer are formed by a second continuous wire to be a second phase electrical winding, wherein
the first wire is printed starting from an input port of the first layer, extending along a first path on the first layer to a first via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a second path on the third layer to a second via, through which the first wire goes back to the first layer and extends along a third path on the first layer to a third via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a fourth path on the third layer to a fourth via, through which the first wire goes to the first layer and extends along a fifth path on the first layer to a fifth via, through which the first wire goes to the third layer and extends along a sixth path on the third layer to an output port of the third layer, wherein
the first wire extending along the first path, the third path, and the fifth path forms a first electrical winding on the first layer, the first wire extending along the second path, the fourth path, and the sixth path forms a second electrical winding on the third layer, and the first electrical winding and the second electrical winding form the first phase electrical winding, wherein the first electrical winding and the second electrical winding have a same winding pattern offset by a quarter of a winding period, and wherein the first via, the third via, and the fifth via are adjacent to each other, and the second via and the fourth via are adjacent to each other.
Claim 10: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the stator comprises 3- phase electrical windings configured to be driven with sinusoidal drive currents that are 2π/3 out of phase relative to one another.
Claim 9: The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the stator comprises 3-phase electrical windings configured to be driven with sinusoidal drive currents that are 2π/3 out of phase relative to one another.
Claim 11: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the electrical windings have a rectangular winding pattern or a triangular winding pattern.
Claim 10: The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the electrical windings have a rectangular winding pattern or a triangular winding pattern.
Claim 12: The annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the rotor is configured to generate a magnetic field having a sinusoidal shape corresponding to positions of magnetic pole pairs of the rotor, and wherein the stator is configured to be driven by a sinusoidal current varying corresponding to the positions of the magnet pole pairs of the rotor.
Claim 11: The annular axial flux motor of claim 1, wherein the rotor is configured to generate a magnetic field having a sinusoidal shape corresponding to positions of magnetic pole pairs of the rotor, and wherein the stator is configured to be driven by a sinusoidal current varying corresponding to the positions of the magnet pole pairs of the rotor.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 2, 5-7 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi, X., (DE 112016003201).
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Regarding Claim 2, Yi discloses an annular axial flux motor comprising (see figs. 14, 17 and 19):
a rotor (rotor, annotated fig. 14) comprising an array of permanent magnets (magnets, annotated fig. 14) mounted on a first annular subsection of a rotatable structure (ring and shaft, annotated fig. 14),
the first annular subsection of the rotatable structure being formed with a limited are length less than a full circle (Examiner considers only a fraction of the magnets because this limitation does not prohibit having additional magnets on the rotor; additionally, loading a subset of the rotor less than a full circle is known in the art, for example, in optical imaging systems),
the array of permanent magnets (magnets, annotated fig. 14) extending along a circumferential direction of the first annular subsection (see fig. 14) and
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being configured to have a stronger magnetic field on an active side of the array than an inactive, opposite side of the array with respect to an axial direction of the first annular subsection (see fig. 18, this is an inherent property of Halbach configuration shown in fig. 18, see: “ … the respective permanent magnets 542 a Halbach array structure, as in 16 are shown, the respective permanent magnets 542 Arranged radially and tangentially into arrays, combined with the structure, it is realized that the magnetic field on one side increases and the magnet weakens on the other side.”); and
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a stator (stator, annotated fig. 14) comprising multiple layers of printed electrical windings (figs. 1-9, see also annotated fig. 2 above) on a printed circuit board (PCB) (see invention title: Stator with a Printed Circuit Board Winding) mounted on a second annular subsection of a carrier that corresponds to the first annular subsection (carrier 11, fig. 14; the stator has an annular carrier 11 on which electrical windings or coils are attached), the electrical windings extending along the circumferential direction (stator, annotated fig. 14), the multiple layers of the PCB being stacked along the axial direction (annotated figs. 2 and 14), the active side of the array of permanent magnets (542) facing to one side of the multiple layers of the PCB and being spaced with a nominal gap (implied; that’s how a rotor and stator are configured in an axial flux machine maintaining an axial airgap), wherein
the stator is configured to be energized to generate a torque to drive the rotor with the rotatable structure to rotate within a finite travel range with respect to the carrier (see the Machine Translation copy: “When the current passes through all windings 2 flows, a rotational magnetic field is generated, the rotational magnetic field acts on the permanent magnet 542 to form a rotational torque of the electromagnetic force, so that the rotor 54 is driven further to the rotation…”; the motor disclosed by Yi can also be configured as an actuator or a stepper motor that have finite travel ranges).
Regarding Claim 5, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
the rotor comprises two arrays of permanent magnets mounted on the first annular subsection and spaced from each other along the axial direction (see the two rotors in annotated fig. 14), wherein
the multiple layers of printed electrical windings on the PCB are arranged between the two arrays of permanent magnets (see the stator between two rotors in annotated fig. 14),
active sides of the two arrays facing opposite sides of the multiple layers with respect to the axial direction (implied to create maximum torque), and wherein nominal gaps between the active sides of respective Halbach arrays and the opposite sides of the multiple layers have a same width along the axial direction (implied for similar rotors).
Regarding Claim 6, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 5, wherein
the two arrays of permanent magnets are configured to generate a symmetrical magnetic field with respect to a center of the multiple layers of the PCB (implied- similar magnets create similar magnetic fields), wherein
an axial component of the symmetrical magnetic field along the axial direction is substantially larger than a tangential component of the symmetrical magnetic field along a tangential direction of the first annular subsection (property of Halbach configuration), wherein
each of the two arrays of permanent magnets is a respective Halbach array (discussed regarding claim 2), and wherein
the respective Halbach arrays have different arrangements of magnetic poles and are configured to have the active sides opposite to the two sides of the multiple layers of printed electrical windings (implied; see the arrangement shown in fig. 18; axially facing magnets have to have opposite polarization directions to provide maximum torque), and wherein
the stator comprises multiple phase electrical windings (see abstract: “The present invention provides a stator structure having a circuit board winding comprising a stator formed by at least three phases of the same structure windings.”), and wherein
each of the multiple phase electrical windings of the stator is configured to have a same rotor-dependent torque constant (implied in multiphase drives), such that the stator is configured to generate a constant torque to drive the rotor (otherwise, there will be torque ripples).
Regarding Claim 7, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
the electrical windings have a height along a radial direction of the structure that is substantially same as a height of the array of permanent magnets along the radial direction (required for proper interaction of the stator and rotor; see the coils and magnets in annotated fig. 14), and wherein
the electrical windings are configured such that a winding period of the electrical windings corresponds to a magnetic period of a magnetic field of the rotor (implied for minimizing torque ripple).
Regarding Claim 10, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein the stator comprises 3- phase electrical windings configured to be driven with sinusoidal drive currents that are 2π/3 out of phase relative to one another (See the 2nd paragraph on page 6 in Machine Translation copy of Yi’s application: “The sets of three sets of three-phase windings are alternately arranged along the circumferential direction, ie, each of the two windings among the three-phase windings spatially includes an electrical angle of 120 °, … .”).
Regarding Claim 11, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
the electrical windings have a rectangular winding pattern or a triangular winding pattern (see annotated fig. 2 wherein the windings have rectangular pattern).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi in view of Ricci, et al., (US 20160329795).
Regarding Claim 3, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
the array of permanent magnets is a Halbach array (see fig. 18), and wherein the Halbach array comprises periodic units of permanent magnets arranged on the first annular subsection along the circumferential direction (see fig. 18).
Yi does not disclose: each of the periodic units comprising rows of magnet pole pairs.
Ricci teaches (see fig. 16d below) an axial flux machine with Halbach arrays that uses a Halbach array that has rows of magnet pole pairs as shown in fig. 16d, below. Ricci states, see paragraph [0064] that “FIG. 16d shows that the pockets may also be on both sides of the plate so that the pocket surface wall 99 is axially intermediate between the active and inactive surfaces to create a web part way (axially) through the rotor—such a placement may be tuned to reduce “cupping” of the rotor at high speeds due to centrifugal forces.”
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It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Halbach magnet array in Yi in such a way that each of the periodic units comprising rows of magnet pole pairs in order to improve the performance of the motor by reducing “cupping” of the rotor at high speeds due to centrifugal forces.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi, X. in view of Ye et al., (CN 107482841).
Regarding Claim 12, Yi discloses the annular axial flux motor of claim 2, wherein
the stator is configured to be driven by a sinusoidal current (AC current or alternating current is sinusoidal, see Machine Translation copy of Yi: “when the alternating current flows through the drive guide rods 2111 . 2211 a rotational magnetic field can be formed.”; see also: “By setting the angle α2 between the respective middle drive guide rods and the angle α3 between the drive guide rods on the inside, the harmonic wave inside the coil windings can be optimized so that the counterelectromotive force waveform approaches the winding of the sine waveform, therefore, the structure is suitable according to 8th best to the electric motor.”) varying corresponding to the positions of the magnet pole pairs of the rotor (implied to maximize generated average torque).
Yi does not explicitly disclose: the rotor is configured to generate a magnetic field having a sinusoidal shape corresponding to positions of magnetic pole pairs of the rotor. However, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, Yi discloses the stator generates sinusoidal magnetic field. To maximize average torque and minimize torque ripple, the rotor should be configured to generate sinusoidal magnetic field as well. As Ye teaches, with Halbach magnet arrays, sinusoidal magnetic field can be generated (see: “(2) Preferably, the invention adopts magnetizing mode Halbach, this magnetizing manner such that a permanent magnet side air gap waveform close to sinusoidal, harmonic wave is small, substantially no magnetic field at the other side”; see also fig. 9 in Ye shows sinusoidal field generated by the corresponding stator.)
Hence, to maximize average torque and minimize torque ripple, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that: the rotor is configured to generate a magnetic field having a sinusoidal shape corresponding to positions of magnetic pole pairs of the rotor.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 8-9 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.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
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/MASOUD VAZIRI/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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