DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This action replaces the Final Action dated 5/15/26. In the filing of 7/7/26, the applicant informed the examiner of an error in that action, i.e. the reliance on a reference which is not properly prior art. This action addresses the most recent claim set, that of 1/26/26, replaces the prior action, and is Final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 10958800 (‘000) in view of Towner (US 10,492,331).
Regarding claim 1, ‘000 teaches a heat exchanger (10) coolant lines (5, 6) disposed within the heat exchanger and throughout the power electronic system (fig. 1); a pump (8) configured to distribute coolant throughout the coolant lines; a fan (12, 121) configured for air intake through the heat exchanger to cool the coolant lines; and a duct assembly (cabinet body walls defining 102, Fig. 1; all cabinet walls illustrated in Fig. 3) configured to direct the air intake from the fan toward the power electronic system (toward 14; see airflow lines Figs. 1 and 3).
‘000 does only illustrates schematics and does not specify the relative directional changes of ducting or mounting structures for the transformers.
Towner teaches that devices are known to include bases (e.g. 302) for transformers (206) spaced horizontally from a heat exchanger (184; Fig. 5b) and to which air is supplied from fans (Col. 7:67-8:1) to a first piece of ducting (vertical portion downstream of 184 in Fig. 5b) receiving airflow from the heat exchanger and directing the flow downwardly (Fig. 5b); a second portion below the first and receiving the air from the first to direct it horizontally toward the transformer base (308 in Fig. 8; 188 in Fig. 5b); and a third portion of the duct assembly below the transformer base receiving airflow from the second portion and redirecting it upwardly toward the transformer base to cool the transformer (Fig. 8; 3100; the fan (within 184) is mounted in the first portion of the duct (see Fig. 5b), per claim 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to provide the device of ‘000 with the ducting arrangement of Towner in order to utilize the natural rising force of air heated by the transformer to assist in air transport force.
Regarding claim 10, ‘000 teaches: a container (1), power electronics module (4), transformer (11); and a cooling system comprising a heat exchanger (10) coolant lines (5, 6) disposed in the heat exchanger and throughout the power electronic system, a pump (8) configured to distribute coolant throughout the coolant lines, a fan (12, 121) configured for air intake through the heat exchanger (see Figs. 1 and 3) to cool the coolant lines, and a duct assembly (cabinet body walls defining 102, Fig. 1; all cabinet walls illustrated in Fig. 3) configured to direct the air intake from the fan toward the power electronic system (toward 14; see airflow lines Figs. 1 and 3).
‘000 does only illustrates schematics and does not specify the relative directional changes of ducting or mounting structures for the transformers.
Towner teaches that devices are known to include bases (e.g. 302) for transformers (206) spaced horizontally from a heat exchanger (184; Fig. 5b) and to which air is supplied from fans (Col. 7:67-8:1) to a first piece of ducting (vertical portion downstream of 184 in Fig. 5b) receiving airflow from the heat exchanger and directing the flow downwardly (Fig. 5b); a second portion below the first and receiving the air from the first to direct it horizontally toward the transformer base (308 in Fig. 8; 188 in Fig. 5b); and a third portion of the duct assembly below the transformer base receiving airflow from the second portion and redirecting it upwardly toward the transformer base to cool the transformer (Fig. 8; 3100; the fan (within 184) is mounted in the first portion of the duct (see Fig. 5b).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to provide the device of ‘000 with the ducting arrangement of Towner in order to utilize the natural rising force of air heated by the transformer to assist in air transport force.
‘000 further teaches that: an ECM controls the operation of the cooling system (2) and monitors the system with sensors including temperature and pressure (see claim 10), per claim 4; the heat exchanger is a radiator (10) and the fans are centrifugal fans (see illustrated orientations in Fig. 1) providing high-pressure airflow through the heat exchanger and duct assembly (Fig. 1), per claims 6 and 13; a shroud (portion of housing surrounding the heat exchanger and which separates 102 and 101) is provided around the PEM to channel airflow toward the transformers (see Fig. 1), per claims 8 and 16.
Claim(s) 3 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner and Jin (US 2025/0087410).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, ‘000 does not teach details of the transformers.
Jin teaches that it is old and well-known to provide transformers (20) with a plurality of cores (20a-20c).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to form the transformers of ‘000 in accordance with Jin to increase capacity.
Claim(s) 5, 12, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner and Huang (US 2023/0034110).
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 17, ‘000 teaches the use of temperature and pressure sensors (see claim 10, located in 5 and 6 which are proximate to the PEM and cooling system) and a controller (2) but does not specify modulation of pump speed based on these sensor inputs.
Huang teaches that it is old and well-known to modulate pump speed by a controller based on temperature and pressure inputs of a cooling system for power electronics (see Para. [0108]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the device of ‘000 with the control schema of Huang as no other control algorithm is discussed in ‘000.
Claim(s) 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner, Huang, and Ohno (US 2002/0184862)
Regarding claims 7 and 14, ‘000 does not teach that the filters are formed as louvers.
Ohno teaches that it is old and well-known to form filters as louvers for an air intake (see Para. [0014]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to form the filter of ‘000 in any form known in the art, including that of Ohno, as such decisions were left to one of ordinary skill.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner, Jin, and Ohno.
Regarding claim 19, ‘000 teach the method of providing a power electronic module housed within an energy container (1), including transformers (11), circulating (via 8) coolant through a cooling system integrated with the PEM (Fig. 1) comprising a heat exchanger (10) duct assembly (see Fig. 3), pump (8), and coolant lines (5, 6) disposed within the heat exchanger and throughout the PEM (see Fig. 1), the pump distributes coolant throughout the coolant lines (see Fig. 1); drawing air into the duct assembly through a filter (9, 19) using a fan (12, 121; Figs. 1 and 3) and directing intake of air from the fan through the duct assembly (see fig. 3) to the transformers (Fig. 3).
‘000 does only illustrates schematics and does not specify the relative directional changes of ducting or mounting structures for the transformers.
Towner teaches that devices are known to include bases (e.g. 302) for transformers (206) spaced horizontally from a heat exchanger (184; Fig. 5b) and to which air is supplied from fans (Col. 7:67-8:1) to a first piece of ducting (vertical portion downstream of 184 in Fig. 5b) receiving airflow from the heat exchanger and directing the flow downwardly (Fig. 5b); a second portion below the first and receiving the air from the first to direct it horizontally toward the transformer base (308 in Fig. 8; 188 in Fig. 5b); and a third portion of the duct assembly below the transformer base receiving airflow from the second portion and redirecting it upwardly toward the transformer base to cool the transformer (Fig. 8; 3100; the fan (within 184) is mounted in the first portion of the duct (see Fig. 5b), per claim 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to provide the device of ‘000 with the ducting arrangement of Towner in order to utilize the natural rising force of air heated by the transformer to assist in air transport force.
‘000 does not teach details of the transformers.
Jin teaches that it is old and well-known to provide transformers (20) with a plurality of cores (20a-20c).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to form the transformers of ‘000 in accordance with Jin to increase capacity.
‘000 does not teach that the filters are formed as louvers.
Ohno teaches that it is old and well-known to form filters as louvers for an air intake (see Para. [0014]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to form the filter of ‘000 in any form known in the art, including that of Ohno, as such decisions were left to one of ordinary skill.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner, Jin, Ohno, and Huang.
Regarding claim 20, ‘000 teaches the use of temperature and pressure sensors (see claim 10, located in 5 and 6 which are proximate to the PEM and cooling system) and a controller (2) but does not specify modulation of pump speed based on these sensor inputs.
Huang teaches that it is old and well-known to modulate pump speed by a controller based on temperature and pressure inputs of a cooling system for power electronics (see Para. [0108]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the device of ‘000 with the control schema of Huang as no other control algorithm is discussed in ‘000.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner and Young (US 2014/0124170).
Regarding claim 18, ‘000 teaches the use of the device in vehicles (trains) but does not specify the use cases claimed.
Young teaches that such power electronics and their cooling systems are commonly used in drilling and other construction equipment (Para. [0014]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the power electronic cooling design of ‘000 to a drilling application as such uses are old and well-known in the art, according to Young.
Claim(s) 9 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘000 in view of Towner and CN 109274018 (‘018).
Regarding claims 9 and 15, ‘000 does not teach a dehumidifier.
‘018 teaches that it is old and well-known to dehumidify air when cooling a transformer (“power electronic component cooling and dehumidifying device”; “device mainly is…a transformer”).
It would have been obvious to dehumidify air used to cool the transformer in the device of ‘000 as taught by ‘018 in order to prevent degradation of the transformer by water exposure.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/7/26 and 1/26/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The arguments are directed to the newly entered claim amendments of 1/26/26 which are addressed above for the first time with the Towner reference.
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 Devon Lane whose telephone number is (571)270-1858. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, 9-4.
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/DEVON LANE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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