DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on May 02, 2024.
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 .
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 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.
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on May 02, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were filed on May 02, 2024. These drawings are accepted by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-10 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Drofenik et al. (U.S. Pub. 2023/0048596 A1).
In re claim 1, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) a converter (100) for converting a medium voltage AC power (116) into a low voltage DC power (LV DC), the converter comprising:
a line interphase transformer (102) comprising:
at least one core (Para. 0033-0036);
a plurality of coils (102 comprises a plurality of coils/windings) provided on the at least one core and configured to receive the medium voltage AC power (116); and
at least one auxiliary winding provided on the at least one core and inductively coupled to the medium voltage AC power by the core (See Fig. 1), wherein the line interphase transformer is configured generate a plurality of phase-shifted AC powers from the medium voltage AC power (Para. 0036), the converter further comprising:
a rectifier (104) configured to generate a medium voltage DC power (MV DC) from the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers; and
a DC/DC converter stage (140) comprising a switching stage (108) and a converter transformer (110 and 111), wherein the DC/DC converter stage is configured to generate a low voltage DC power (LV DC) from the medium voltage DC power;
wherein the converter transformer galvanically insulates the low voltage DC power from the medium voltage AC power (Para. 0033-0036); and
wherein the DC/DC converter stage is powered by the at least one auxiliary winding (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 2, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the converter transformer is a medium frequency transformer (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 3, Drofenik discloses wherein the line interphase transformer is connectable to a medium voltage AC power having n phases, and wherein the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers is connected to the rectifier, the rectifier being a multi-pulse rectifier configured to rectify from 2n to 12n pulses (See Figs. 1 and 3a, Para. 0036 and 0038).
In re claim 4, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the line interphase transformer is connectable to a medium voltage AC power having n phases, wherein the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers each comprise n phases, each phase of the phase-shifted AC powers being shifted by an essentially same phase-shift (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 5, Drofenik discloses wherein the line interphase transformer is connectable to a medium voltage AC power having 3 phases, and wherein the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers is connected to the rectifier, the rectifier being a multi-pulse rectifier configured to rectify 12, 18, 24, or 48 pulses (See Figs. 1 and 3a-3b, Para. 0036 and 0038).
In re claim 6, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein at least one of the rectifier and the DC/DC converter stage is connected without galvanic insulation therebetween to an input terminal of the line interphase transformer, the input terminal being configured to receive the medium voltage AC power (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 7, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the at least one auxiliary winding is a coil provided on a core of the line interphase transformer (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 8, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein one of the at least one core is provided for each phase of the medium voltage AC power, and wherein one of the at least one auxiliary winding is provided on the core of the line interphase transformer for each phase (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 9, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the at least one auxiliary winding provides a galvanically insulated low voltage AC power configured to power the DC/DC converter stage (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 10, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the DC/DC converter stage comprises a plurality of galvanically insulated DC/DC converter stages, and wherein each of the plurality of galvanically insulated DC/DC converter stages is separately powered by one auxiliary winding (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 13, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein the rectifier is an actively switched rectifier, and wherein the actively switched rectifier is powered by the at least one auxiliary winding (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 14, Drofenik discloses a method (Fig. 1) of converting a medium voltage AC power (116) into a low voltage DC power (LV DC), the method comprising:
feeding the medium voltage AC power to a line interphase transformer (102) to generate a plurality of phase-shifted AC powers (Para. 0036);
rectifying (using 104) the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers to generate a medium voltage DC power (MV DC);
converting the medium voltage DC power (MV DC) into a low voltage DC power (LV DC) in a DC/DC converter stage (140), wherein the low voltage DC power is galvanically insulated from the medium voltage AC power (Para. 0033-0036); and
powering the DC/DC converter stage with power provided by at least one auxiliary winding, wherein the at least one auxiliary winding is comprised in the line interphase transformer and inductively coupled to the medium voltage AC power through a core of the line interphase transformer (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 15, Drofenik discloses (Fig. 1) wherein powering the DC/DC converter stage comprises converting the power provided by the at least one auxiliary winding into a DC power (Para. 0033-0036).
In re claim 16, Drofenik discloses a method (Fig. 1) of operating a converter (100) comprising:
providing a line interphase transformer (102), the line interphase transformer including:
at least one core (Para. 0033-0036);
a plurality of coils (102 comprises a plurality of coils/windings) provided on the at least one core and configured to receive a medium voltage AC power (116); and
at least one auxiliary winding provided on the at least one core and inductively coupled to the medium voltage AC power by the core (See Fig. 1), the method further comprising:
generating a plurality of phase-shifted AC powers from the medium voltage AC power (Para. 0036);
rectifying (using 104) the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers to generate a medium voltage DC power (MV DC) from the plurality of phase-shifted AC powers (Para. 0033-0036);
switching and transforming the medium voltage DC power to generate a low voltage DC power (LV DC) from the medium voltage DC power;
galvanically insulating the low voltage DC power from the medium voltage AC power by a converter transformer (110 and 111); and
powering a DC/DC converter stage (140) including the converter transformer by the at least one auxiliary winding (Para. 0033-0036).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding to claim 11, the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest “wherein the line interphase transformer comprises a current-divider coil circuit and a balance-coil circuit” in combination with other limitations of the claim. Claim 12 depends directly from claim 11 and is, therefore, also objected at least for the same reasons set above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAFAEL O. DE LEÓN DOMENECH whose telephone number is (571)270-0517. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m..
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/RAFAEL O DE LEON DOMENECH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838