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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/22/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 12/22/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-5 are pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-5 are objected to because of the following informalities.
Claim 1, Line 33, the phrase “the gas movement” should read –a
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Martignago (U.S. PGPub 2020/0011334).
As to Claim 1, Martignago teaches an electric turbo compressor (2) comprising:
a housing (3);
an electric motor (39) accommodated in (as shown in Figure 2) the housing (3);
a rotary shaft (6) accommodated in (as shown in Figure 2) the housing (3), and driven to rotate by (Paragraph 0096) the electric motor (39); and
a first impeller (18) and a second impeller (19) rotating together with (Paragraph 0085) the rotary shaft (6), wherein
the electric motor (39), the first impeller (18), and the second impeller (19) are arranged in this order (as shown in Figures 2/4) in an axial direction (left to right, as viewed in Figures 2/4) of the rotary shaft (6),
the first impeller (18) includes a first hub (the portion of 18 forming front side 21 and back side 25, as shown in Figure 4) fixed to (Paragraph 0085; as shown in Figure 4) the rotary shaft (6), and a plurality of first blades (23) arranged on (as shown in Figure 4) the first hub (the portion of 18 forming front side 21 and back side 25, as shown in Figure 4),
the second impeller (19) includes a second hub (the portion of 19 forming front side 22 and back side 26, as shown in Figure 4) fixed to (Paragraph 0085; as shown in Figure 4) the rotary shaft (6), and a plurality of second blades (24) arranged on (as shown in Figure 4) the second hub (the portion of 19 forming front side 22 and back side 26, as shown in Figure 4),
the first impeller (18) rotates to move gas (the refrigerant in Paragraph 0084) from a first leading end (see Figure 4 below) to a first trailing end (see Figure 4 below) of each of the plurality of first blades (23), wherein the first trailing end (see Figure 4 below) is a first edge portion (as shown in Figure 4) of each of the plurality first blades (23), and the first edge portion (shown as the first trailing end in Figure 4 below) extends (as shown in Figure 4) in the axial direction (left to right, as viewed in Figures 2/4) of the rotary shaft (6),
the second impeller (19) rotates to move the gas moved by (Paragraph 0084) the first impeller (18) from a second leading end (see Figure 4 below) to a second trailing end (see Figure 4 below) of each of the plurality of second blades (24), wherein the second trailing end (see Figure 4 below) is a second edge portion (as shown in Figure 4) of each of the plurality of second blades (24), and the second edge portion (shown as the second trailing end in Figure 4 below) extends (as shown in Figure 4) in the axial direction (left to right, as viewed in Figures 2/4) of the rotary shaft (6),
the housing (3) includes:
a first shroud (29) facing (as shown in Figure 2) the first blades (23) and forming a first impeller chamber (the chamber between 29 and 35, within which first impeller 18 sits, as viewed in Figure 3) that accommodates (as shown in Figure 2) the first impeller (18); and
a second shroud (31) facing (as shown in Figure 2) the second blades (24) and forming a second impeller chamber (the chamber between 31 and 35, within which second impeller 19 sits, as viewed in Figure 3) that accommodates (as shown in Figure 2) the second impeller (19),
a gap between the first edge portion (shown as the first trailing end in Figure 4 below) of each of the first blades (23) and the first shroud (29) is a first trailing end gap (see Figure 3 below) that has (as shown in Figure 3) a shortest distance (see Figure 3 below) between each of the first blades (23) and the first shroud (29) in the axial direction (left to right, as viewed in Figures 2/4), and a gap between the second edge portion (shown as the second trailing end in Figure 4 below) of each of the second blades (24) and the second shroud (31) is a second trailing end gap (see Figure 3 below) that has (as shown in Figure 3) a shortest distance (see Figure 3 below) between each of the second blades (24) and the second shroud (31) ) in the axial direction (left to right, as viewed in Figures 2/4), and
the first edge portion (shown as the first trailing end in Figure 4 below) faces (as shown in Figure 3) a first diffuser passage (Paragraph 0086; see Figure 3 below) that is a first outlet (15) of the first impeller chamber (the chamber between 29 and 35, within which first impeller 18 sits, as viewed in Figure 3) and downstream of (as shown in Figure 3) the first trailing end (see Figure 4 below) of the first blades (23) in a radial direction (up and down, as viewed in Figures 2/4) of the gas movement (the refrigerant moving radially outward, as viewed in Figure 3),
the second edge portion (shown as the second trailing end in Figure 4 below) faces (as shown in Figure 3) a second diffuser passage (Paragraph 0086; see Figure 3 below) that is a second outlet (17) of the second impeller chamber (the chamber between 31 and 35, within which second impeller 19 sits, as viewed in Figure 3) and downstream of (as shown in Figure 3) the second trailing end (see Figure 4 below) of the second blades (24) in the radial direction (up and down, as viewed in Figures 2/4) of the gas movement (the refrigerant moving radially outward, as viewed in Figure 3), and
the first trailing end gap (the portion of the first trailing end gap closest to the fluid outlet 15, as viewed in Figure 3; see Figure 3 below) is smaller than (as shown in Figure 3) the second trailing end gap (the portion of the second trailing end gap closest to the fluid inlet 16, as viewed in Figure 3; see Figure 3 below). As shown in Figure 3, the portion of the first trailing end gap closest to the fluid outlet 15 is smaller than the portion of the second trailing end gap closest to the fluid inlet 16.
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Martignago Figure 4, Modified by Examiner
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Martignago Figure 3, Modified by Examiner
As to Claim 2, Martignago teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach a height of the trailing end (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) of each of the first blades (23) toward the first trailing end gap (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) is a first outlet height (see Figure 4 below), and a height of the second trailing end (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) of each of the second blades (24) is a second outlet height (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above), and
the first outlet height (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) is greater than (as shown in Figure 4) the second outlet height (see Figure 4 below).
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Martignago Figure 4, Modified by Examiner
As to Claim 3, Martignago teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach an outer diameter (see Figure 4 in the Claim 2 rejection above) of the first impeller (18) is greater than (as shown in Figure 4) an outer diameter (see Figure 4 in the Claim 2 rejection above) of the second impeller (19).
As to Claim 4, Martignago teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach a gap between the first leading end (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) of each of the first blades (23) and the first shroud (29) is a first leading end gap (see Figure 3 below) that has a shortest distance (see Figure 3 below) between each of the first blades (23) and the first shroud (29), and a gap between the second leading end (see Figure 4 in the Claim 1 rejection above) of each of the second blades (24) and the second shroud (31) is a second leading end gap (see Figure 3 below) that has a shortest distance (see Figure 3 below) between each of the second blades (24) and the second shroud (31), and
the first leading end gap (the portion of the first leading end gap closest to the fluid outlet 15, as viewed in Figure 3; see Figure 3 below) is smaller than (as shown in Figure 3) the second leading end gap (the portion of the second leading end gap closest to the fluid inlet 16, as viewed in Figure 3; see Figure 3 below). As shown in Figure 3, the portion of the first leading end gap closest to the fluid outlet 15 is smaller than the portion of the second leading end gap closest to the fluid inlet 16.
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Martignago Figure 3, Modified by Examiner
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Martignago, in view of Fujii (U.S. PGPub 2015/0267717).
As to Claim 5, Martignago teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach the electric turbo compressor (2) is configured to compress refrigerant (Paragraph 0020).
Martignago is silent on where the compressor is used, so does not explicitly teach the electric turbo compressor compresses refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle.
Fujii describes a similar compressor, and teaches the electric turbo compressor (100) is configured to compress refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle (Paragraph 0063).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the compressor, as taught by Martignago, in a refrigeration cycle, as taught by Fujii, to provide the refrigerant compression required in a refrigeration cycle.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/26/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the 102 rejection for Claim 1, Applicant argues Martignago does not teach “the first trailing end gap is smaller than the second trailing end gap.” Examiner disagrees.
It appears Applicant is attempting to define both the first and second trailing end gaps by the respective “shortest distance” for each defined in Claim 1, Lines 27 & 29-30, when making the gap size comparison. However, this connection has not been made. As such, any portion of the first trailing end gap may be compared to any other portion of the second trailing gap. As explained in the Claim 1 rejection above, the portion of the first trailing end gap closest to the fluid outlet 15 is smaller than the portion of the second trailing end gap closest to the fluid inlet 16. Therefore, Martignago anticipates each limitation of Claim 1, including the comparison between the first and second trailing end gaps.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID BRANDT whose telephone number is (303)297-4776. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10-6, MT.
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/DAVID N BRANDT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783