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 .
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, 6, 8, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over YOKOGAWA(US20120286593A1) in view of EDRINGTON(US20120187783A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yokogawa teaches a terminal assembly(11) applied to a motor stator(12) including a coil assembly(53) having a plurality of windings therein, the terminal assembly comprising: a first connecting member(61u,65,66) including a first coupling portion(66) having one end electrically coupled to an end of a winding(53) and a first busbar(61u) formed integrally with the first coupling portion and disposed on a radial outer side of the coil assembly(53); at least one second connecting member(61v, 65, 66) including a second coupling portion(66) having one end electrically coupled to at least one winding adjacent to the winding coupled to the first busbar(61u) and a second busbar(66v) integrally formed with the second coupling portion(66) and disposed on an outer side of the coil assembly(53) in a radial direction, wherein the first coupling portion(66 of first busbar 61u) and the second coupling portion(66 of second busbar 61v) extend toward the motor stator(12) from the end of the winding(53) so as to be substantially parallel to a rotation axis of the motor stator(12), and the first busbar(61u) and the second busbar(61v) are arranged to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance in a radial direction of the motor stator(12)(Para[0116-0132], Figs. 1-11).
Yokogawa is silent two or more jump wires each including a third coupling portion having one end electrically coupled to the end of the winding and a serial connecting portion formed integrally with the third coupling portion and disposed on an inner side of the coil assembly in a radial direction.
However, Edrington teaches two or more jump wires(40; fig. 1) each including a third coupling portion having one end electrically coupled to the end of the winding and a serial connecting portion(30) formed integrally with the third coupling portion and disposed on an inner side of the coil assembly in a radial direction(Figs. 1-2).
Edrington is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention of Yokogawa because they are in the same field of electric machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Yokogawa wherein two or more jump wires each including a third coupling portion having one end electrically coupled to the end of the winding and a serial connecting portion formed integrally with the third coupling portion and disposed on an inner side of the coil assembly in a radial direction, as taught by Edrington. Doing so would allow for conductors to be distributed across radial layers, which improves spatial efficiency and simplifying routing.
Regarding claim 2/1, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 1.
Yokogawa further teaches wherein the first busbar(61u) and the second busbar(61v) extend in an arc shape in a circumferential direction of the motor stator(12)(Figs. 8-12), and one surface of each of the first busbar(61u) and the second busbar(61v) is substantially parallel to an extension direction of the first coupling portion(66 of 61u) and the second coupling portion(66 of 61v)(Figs. 8-12, flat surface of busbars lies parallel to axial direction).
Regarding claim 6/1, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 1.
Yokogawa further teaches wherein the first busbar(61U) and the second busbar(61V) extend in an arc shape in a circumferential direction of the motor stator(12), and one surface of each of the first busbar(61U) and the second busbar(61V) is substantially perpendicular to an extension direction of the first coupling portion(66 of 61U) and the second coupling portion(66 of 61V)(Figs. 8-12, coupling portions extend in axial direction while busbars surface is perpendicular to that direction).
Regarding claim 8/1, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 1.
Yokogawa further teaches wherein the serial connecting portion(66) is bent stepwise in the radial direction of the motor stator(12)(Fig. 14, Para[0132-0140], portion 66 is formed by multiple sequential bends).
Regarding claim 10/1, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 1.
Yokogawa further teaches comprising: a coating portion(51) covering and coating the ends of the first connecting member(66), the at least one second connecting member(66), the jump wires(connecting portions between coil ends covered by resin), and the coil assembly(53)(Para[0116-0164]).
Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over YOKOGAWA(US20120286593A1) in view of EDRINGTON(US20120187783A1) and further in view of IMAMURA(US20200273599A1).
Regarding claim 3/2, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 2.
The combination does not explicitly teach wherein the first connecting member( includes a first bent portion having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the first coupling portion and the first busbar and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, the second connecting member includes a second bent portion having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the second coupling portion and the second busbar and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, and the second bent portion extends to be longer than the first bent portion in the radial direction of the motor stator.
However, Imamura teaches wherein the first connecting member(10U) includes a first bent portion(134U) having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the first coupling portion(131U) and the first busbar(10U) and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, the second connecting member(10V) includes a second bent portion(134V) having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the second coupling portion(131V) and the second busbar(10V) and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, and the second bent portion(134V) extends to be longer than the first bent portion(134U) in the radial direction of the motor stator(Para[0039-0044], Figs. 1-3).
Imamura is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention of Yokogawa in view of Edrington because they are in the same field of electric machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Yokogawa in view of Edrington wherein the first connecting member( includes a first bent portion having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the first coupling portion and the first busbar and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, the second connecting member includes a second bent portion having respective ends connected to and integrally formed with the second coupling portion and the second busbar and extending outwardly in the radial direction of the motor stator, and the second bent portion extends to be longer than the first bent portion in the radial direction of the motor stator, as taught by Imamura. One would be motivated to do this in order to improve insulation distance between adjacent conductive members and reduce risk of short circuit.
Regarding claim 4/3, Yokogawa in view of Edrington and Imamura teaches the terminal assembly of claim 3.
Imamura further teaches wherein one surface of the second busbar(10V) is disposed in a position overlapping one surface of the first busbar(10U) by a predetermined area(Para[0038-0044], Figs. 1-3, busbars taught on same plane with offset distances which would have second busbar overlap first busbar in some regions).
Regarding claim 5/4, Yokogawa in view of Edrington and Imamura teaches the terminal assembly of claim 4.
Imamura further teaches wherein the second connecting member(10V) is provided in two or more connecting members, at least one of the second busbars is disposed to cover an upper end portion of the first busbar, and at least another one of the second busbars is disposed to cover a lower end portion of the first busbar.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over YOKOGAWA(US20120286593A1) in view of EDRINGTON(US20120187783A1) and further in view of LEE(US20190089108A1).
Regarding claim 7/6, Yokogawa in view of Edrington teaches the terminal assembly of claim 6.
The combination does not explicitly teach wherein the first busbar and the second busbar include a protrusion disposed at an outermost portion and protruding toward the opposite side of the motor stator with respect to the radial direction of the motor stator.
However, Lee teaches wherein the first busbar(120) and the second busbar(120) include a protrusion(110A) disposed at an outermost portion and protruding toward the opposite side of the motor stator with respect to the radial direction of the motor stator(Fig. 20).
Lee is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention of Yokogawa in view of Edrington because they are in the same field of electric machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Yokogawa in view of Edrington wherein the first busbar and the second busbar include a protrusion disposed at an outermost portion and protruding toward the opposite side of the motor stator with respect to the radial direction of the motor stator, as taught by Lee. One would be motivated to do this in order to improve connection accessibility and assembly efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 9 is/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.
Regarding claim 5/4/3/2/1, the prior art of record does not teach the limitation, “wherein the second connecting member is provided in two or more connecting members, at least one of the second busbars is disposed to cover an upper end portion of the first busbar, and at least another one of the second busbars is disposed to cover a lower end portion of the first busbar”, in combination of the limitations of the base claim and the intervening claims.
Regarding claim 9/8/1, the prior art of record does not teach the limitation, “wherein the jump wires are arranged to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance in the radial direction of the motor stator, the serial connecting portions of all of the jump wires are located at the same height based on an axial direction of the motor stator, and a predetermined area of one surface of each of the serial connecting portions is in contact with an adjacent one of the serial connecting portions”, in combination of the limitations of the base claim and the intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED QURESHI whose telephone number is (571)-272-8310. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/MOHAMMED AHMED QURESHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834