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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/24/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dircks (US 2020/0373814 A1) in view of Dib et al. (US 2019/0334409 A1).
Regarding claim 21, Dircks discloses an electric machine (1), comprising:
a rotor group (2, 3) comprising a shaft (2) that is rotatable about an axis of rotation and a rotor (3) that is non-rotatably fixed to the shaft (2),
a housing group (4, 5, 16, 17) comprising a housing (5, 16, 17) and a stator (4) that is received in the housing (5),
the rotor group (2, 3) being rotatably arranged in the housing group (4, 5; FIG. 1), wherein the stator (4) is radially adjacent to the rotor (3) and encircles the rotor (3) with respect to the axis of rotation,
at least two axially extending cooling channels (S2, 54a has both axial and radial extending channels) disposed in or on the stator (4),
a first circulation chamber (33, see annotation below) axially adjacent to the stator (4) disposed at a first axial end (right side in FIG. 1) of the stator (4) and a second circulation chamber (32, see annotation below) axially adjacent to the stator (4) disposed at a second axial end (left side in FIG. 1) of the stator (4),
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a flow path (2a, 32, 33, 54a, S1-S3) for guiding a coolant formed at least by the at least two cooling channels (S2, 54a) and the first and second circulation chambers (33, 32),
a coolant inlet (S1) of the flow path (2a, 32, 33, 54a, S1-S3) disposed at the first and/or second axial end of the stator (4; inlet at first axial end in FIG. 1) and a coolant outlet (S3) of the flow path (32, 33, 54a) disposed at the first and/or second axial end of the stator (4; outlet at second axial end in FIG. 1), and
wherein the at least two cooling channels (S2, 54a) extend axially through the entire stator (4; FIG. 5, 6) and can be flowed through in the flow path (2a, 32, 33, 54a, S1-S3) in parallel and/or in series with one another (FIG. 5 and 6 discloses the flow path run both parallel and in series).
Dircks does not disclose a first/second impeller disposed on a first/second end surface of the rotor that is aligned transversely to the axis of rotation, wherein the first/second impeller comprises a plurality of radially extending blades,
wherein at least two first/second vanes are disposed on the housing, wherein the at least two first/second vanes are arranged opposite to the first/second impeller blades of the rotor.
Dib discloses a first/second impeller (181, 182) disposed on a first/second end surface of the rotor (150) that is aligned transversely to the axis of rotation (X), wherein the first/second impeller (181) comprises a plurality of radially extending blades (13; FIG. 6A),
wherein at least two first/second vanes (113, 123) are disposed on the housing (110, 120), wherein the at least two first/second vanes (113, 123) are arranged opposite to the first/second impeller blades (13) of the rotor (150; FIG. 12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Dircks in view of Dib to disclose a first/second impeller disposed on a first/second end surface of the rotor that is aligned transversely to the axis of rotation, wherein the first/second impeller comprises a plurality of radially extending blades, wherein at least two first/second vanes are disposed on the housing, wherein the at least two first/second vanes are arranged opposite to the first/second impeller blades of the rotor, for the advantages of an efficient cooling system without degrading in performance (¶ [0010]).
Regarding claim 22/21, Dircks in view of Dib was discussed above in claim 21.Dib further discloses wherein a back wall of the first/second impeller (181, 182) carries the plurality of blades (13) and extends in an axial direction away from the rotor (150) in a radially outer region of the first/second impeller (181, 182), for imparting an axial component (3000) to the flow through the first/second impeller (181, 182) away from the rotor (150).
Regarding claim 23/21, Dircks in view of Dib was discussed above in claim 21. Dircks further discloses the shaft (2) contains a shaft cavity (2a) extending parallel to the axis of rotation (FIG. 1), the coolant inlet (S1) of the flow path (2a, 32, 33, 54a, S1-S3) leading into the shaft cavity (2a) at the first axial end of the stator (4) and the shaft cavity (2a) being fluidically connected to the first and/or second circulation chamber (33; connected to the first circulation chamber) at the first and/or second axial end of the stator (located at the first axial end).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the specific limitation of “the first/second axial gap (32) is minimized and an axial width of the first/second axial gap (32) is less than 2 mm” in the combination as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
Dib et al. discloses in ¶ [0114] that the first/second axial gap is between 4-5 mm, but does not disclose the axial gap is less than 2 mm.
Claims 2-3, 5-7, 10-20 are allowable for depending upon claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINKI CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0521. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MINKI CHANG/ Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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