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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 3/14/2024 and 1/3/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
A title such as the following is suggested: Power conversion control receiving a protection signal from a relay device.
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 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita (JP 2010-93878) in view of Pabst (US 2019/0237283).
With respect to claim 1, Morita discloses a power conversion device that performs power conversion between an AC circuit and a DC circuit, the power conversion device (Fig. 1 16) comprising: a self-commutated converter (“IGBT in the inverter 16”) connected to a busbar (Fig. 1 8; “output bus bar 8”) of the AC circuit; and a controller (Fig. 1 controller of 16 not shown) to control an operation of the self-commutated converter, wherein the AC circuit includes the busbar, and a first AC system (Fig. 1 10) and a second AC system (Fig. 1 11) connected to the busbar, a converter capacity of the self-commutated converter is greater than a differential capacity between an installed capacity and a load capacity in the second AC system (Fig. 1 16 powers 11 when 19 disconnects 10), a protective relay device (Fig. 1 19) to protect the first AC system (Fig. 1 10), and an AC control unit to generate an AC voltage command value for the self-commutated converter in accordance with any one of an AC current control scheme (“current control”) and an AC voltage control scheme (“voltage control”), and when the first AC system is disconnected (Fig. 1 19 opened) from the busbar, the AC control unit switches a control scheme of the self-commutated converter from the AC current control scheme to the AC voltage control scheme and generates the AC voltage command value in accordance with the AC voltage control scheme (“switched from current control to voltage control”). Morita does not disclose a protection signal being transmitted from the protective relay device to the controller.
Pabst discloses the controller (Fig. 1 50) includes a determination unit to determine, based on a protection signal (Fig. 1 54) for disconnecting (Fig. 1 16) the first AC system (Fig. 1 12) from the busbar (Fig. 1 20), whether the first AC system is disconnected (paragraph 22, “the relay 40 will send a signal to the supervisory controller 50 indicating that it will be opening the switch 16. In response to this signal, the supervisory controller 50 commands the relay 42 to change from the grid-connected settings group to the islanded settings group prior to the switch 16 being opened.”) from the busbar, the protection signal being transmitted from a protective relay device (Fig. 1 40) to protect the first AC system. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the invention to implement wherein the controller includes a determination unit to determine, based on a protection signal for disconnecting the first AC system from the busbar, whether the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar, the protection signal being transmitted from a protective relay device to protect the first AC system, in order to provide sufficient advance notice to the controller that the connection to the first AC system will be changed, so that the controller can have sufficient time to change the configuration for the new mode of operation.
With respect to claim 11, Morita in view of Pabst make obvious a power conversion system as set forth above. See claim 1 for additional details.
Claim(s) 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita (JP 2010-93878) in view of Pabst (US 2019/0237283) and further in view of Colby (US 2005/0135031).
With respect to claim 3, Morita in view of Pabst make obvious the power conversion device according to claim 1 as set forth above, and Morita remains silent as to the details of the controller.
Colby discloses a controller (Fig. 1A 14) wherein the AC control unit includes an AC current control unit (Fig. 2A 30,42,44,48) to generate a first AC voltage command value (Fig. 2A VREF (GRID MODE)) for causing an output current (Fig. 2A IOUT) of the self-commutated converter to follow an AC current command value (Fig. 2A IREF), an AC voltage control unit (Fig. 8 18) to generate a second AC voltage command value (Fig. 8 VREF (SYNC AND STAND ALONE MODES) such that an AC voltage (Fig. 1A VOUT) of the busbar (Fig. 1A 28) is equal to a target voltage (Fig. 2A ), and a command value generation unit (Fig. 2A 51) to generate the AC voltage command value (Fig. 2A 51 output to 50) for the self-commutated converter based on a determination result (Fig. 2A CNTL) of the determination unit, the first AC voltage command value (Fig. 2A VREF (GRID MODE)), and the second AC voltage command value (Fig. 2A VREF (SYNC AND STAND ALONE MODES)). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the invention to implement wherein the AC control unit includes an AC current control unit to generate a first AC voltage command value for causing an output current of the self-commutated converter to follow an AC current command value, an AC voltage control unit to generate a second AC voltage command value such that an AC voltage of the busbar is equal to a target voltage, and a command value generation unit to generate the AC voltage command value for the self-commutated converter based on a determination result of the determination unit, the first AC voltage command value, and the second AC voltage command value, in order to generate the needed voltage control and current control commands and to switch between the two control modes.
With respect to claim 4, Morita in view of Pabst and Colby make obvious the power conversion device according to claim 3, wherein the command value generation unit generates the first AC voltage command value as the AC voltage command value when the first AC system is not disconnected from the busbar (in combination, when Morita Fig. 1 19 is closed and operates in current control), and generates the second AC voltage command value as the AC voltage command value when the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar (in combination, when Morita Fig. 1 19 is opened and operates in voltage control).
With respect to claim 5, Morita in view of Pabst and Colby make obvious the power conversion device according to claim 3, wherein the command value generation unit generates the first AC voltage command value as the AC voltage command value when the first AC system is not disconnected from the busbar (in combination, when Morita Fig. 1 19 is closed and operates in current control), and changes (in combination, Colby Fig. 2A 51 changes VREF from GRID MODE to STAND ALONE MODE) the AC voltage command value from the first AC voltage command value to the second AC voltage command value when the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar (in combination, when Morita Fig. 1 19 is opened and operates in voltage control).
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita (JP 2010-93878) in view of Pabst (US 2019/0237283) and further in view of Takahashi (US 2020/0177097).
With respect to claim 10, Morita in view of Pabst make obvious the power conversion device according to a claim 1 as set forth above, and Morita does not disclose using an MMC converter. The use of MMC converters were well known at the time of filing of the invention.
Takahashi discloses use of a self-commutated converter of a modular-multilevel-conversion power converter (Fig. 1 2-3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the invention to implement wherein the self-commutated converter is a modular-multilevel-conversion power converter, in order to provide high power conversion with internal redundancy.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 6-9 and 12-20 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:
With respect to claim 2, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the determination unit determines that the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar after a lapse of a prescribed time from reception of the protection signal, or determines that the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar when the determination unit receives the protection signal and a voltage of the busbar is not less than a first threshold.
Claims 12, 15 and 20 are indicated as possessing allowable subject for the same reasons as claim 2 above.
With respect to claim 6, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the AC control unit includes an AC current control unit to generate a first AC voltage command value for causing an output current of the self-commutated converter to follow an AC current command value, an AC voltage control unit to generate a second AC voltage command value such that an AC voltage of the busbar is equal to a target voltage, and a command value generation unit to generate the AC voltage command value for the self-commutated converter based on a determination result of the determination unit, the first AC voltage command value, and the second AC voltage command value, and wherein the controller further includes an overcurrent suppression unit to generate a suppression amount for restricting the second AC voltage command value when the output current of the self-commutated converter becomes an overcurrent.
Claims 13 and 14 are indicated as possessing allowable subject for the same reasons as claim 6 above.
With respect to claim 7, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the controller further includes a setting unit to set an active power command value for the self-commutated converter based on a determination result of the determination unit, and when the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar, the setting unit sets the active power command value to active power output to the second AC system before disconnection of the first AC system from the busbar.
Claims 16-19 are indicated as possessing allowable subject for the same reasons as claim 7 above.
With respect to claim 8, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the controller further includes a phase generation unit to generate a phase of an output voltage of the self-commutated converter, and the phase generation unit generates, as the phase of the output voltage, a first phase when the first AC system is not disconnected from the busbar, the first phase being calculated by time integration of an addition value of a reference angular frequency and an angular frequency adjustment amount for synchronizing the phase of the output voltage of the self-commutated converter with a phase of an AC voltage of the busbar, and generates, as the phase of the output voltage, a second phase when the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar, the second phase being calculated by time integration of the reference angular frequency.
Claims 20 is indicated as possessing allowable subject for the same reasons as claim 8 above.
With respect to claim 9, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the controller further includes a phase generation unit to output a phase of an output voltage of the self-commutated converter, and the phase generation unit generates, as the phase of the output voltage of the self-commutated converter, a first phase when the first AC system is not disconnected from the busbar, the first phase being calculated by time integration of an addition value of a reference angular frequency and an angular frequency adjustment amount for synchronizing the phase of the output voltage with a phase of an AC voltage of the busbar, and changes the phase of the output voltage from the first phase to a second phase when the first AC system is disconnected from the busbar, the second phase being calculated by time integration of the reference angular frequency.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of the respective claims are believed to render the aforementioned indicated claim and any dependent claims thereof patentable over the art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li (CN 105391097) and Zhu (CN 204651940) disclose AC circuits.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY RAYMOND BEHM whose telephone number is (571)272-8929. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8-5 EST.
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/HARRY R BEHM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/THIENVU V TRAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2838