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 .
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 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 of this title, 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 1 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (US 2020/0067452) in view of Koga (US 2020/0014188).
With regard to claim 1, Yang, in Fig. 5, teaches a rapid shutdown device, comprising: a first on-off switching transistor (80, paragraph 0023 teaches that the switches and parallel diode can comprise a transistor); a voltage module (50); a first driving module (70); and a control chip (10), wherein the voltage module is configured to generate power supply voltage based on output voltage of a controlled photovoltaic module, and supply the power supply voltage to the control chip (paragraph 0052); the control chip is configured to send a cutoff control signal to the first driving module in response to an abnormal condition signal (paragraph 0078); the first driving module is configured to process the cutoff control signal, and send the processed cutoff control signal to the first on-off switching transistor (paragraph 0078); and the first on-off switching transistor is configured to connect in series to the controlled photovoltaic module, and is configured to determine, based on the cutoff control signal, to cut off an output terminal of the photovoltaic module from an external circuit (paragraph 0078).
Yang does not teach that the abnormal condition signal is an arcing signal.
Koga, in Figure 6, teaches a protection device similar to Yang wherein a switch (40) is coupled to a PV panel (30). Like Yang, Koga teaches that an abnormal condition is detected and when an abnormal condition is detected, that a switch control circuit (42) opens the switch to disconnect the PV panel from a load (50). It is further taught that the abnormal condition is an arcing fault (paragraph 0033)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teachings of Yang with Koga, by opening the switch of Yang when an arc fault is detected, for the purpose of protecting the photovoltaic panel from potentially catching on fire.
With regard to claim 10, Yang, in Fig. 5, teaches a photovoltaic device (Abstract), comprising a rapid shutdown device, wherein the rapid shutdown device comprises: a first on-off switching transistor (80, paragraph 0023 teaches that the switches and parallel diode can comprise a transistor); a voltage module (50); a first driving module (70); and a control chip (10), wherein the voltage module is configured to generate power supply voltage based on output voltage of a controlled photovoltaic module, and supply the power supply voltage to the control chip (paragraph 0052); the control chip is configured to send a cutoff control signal to the first driving module in response to an abnormal condition signal (paragraph 0078); the first driving module is configured to process the cutoff control signal, and send the processed cutoff control signal to the first on-off switching transistor (paragraph 0078); and the first on-off switching transistor is configured to connect in series to the controlled photovoltaic module, and is configured to determine, based on the cutoff control signal, to cut off an output terminal of the photovoltaic module from an external circuit (paragraph 0078).
Yang does not teach that the abnormal condition signal is an arcing signal.
Koga, in Figure 6, teaches a protection device similar to Yang wherein a switch (40) is coupled to a PV panel (30). Like Yang, Koga teaches that an abnormal condition is detected and when an abnormal condition is detected, that a switch control circuit (42) opens the switch to disconnect the PV panel from a load (50). It is further taught that the abnormal condition is an arcing fault (paragraph 0033)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teachings of Yang with Koga, by opening the switch of Yang when an arc fault is detected, for the purpose of protecting the photovoltaic panel from potentially catching on fire.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a rapid shutdown device comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with a positive terminal of the controlled photovoltaic module is connected to a first terminal of the voltage module and a source a drain of the first on-off switching transistor; a second terminal of the voltage module is connected to an input terminal of the control chip; a first signal output terminal of the control chip is connected to an input terminal of the first driving module, a voltage output terminal of the control chip is connected to a voltage input terminal of the first driving module, and a parallel power supply terminal of the control chip is connected to a negative terminal of the controlled photovoltaic module; and a signal terminal of the first driving module is connected to a gate of the switching transistor, a first collecting terminal of the first driving module is connected to a source of the first on-off switching transistor, a second collecting terminal of the first driving module is connected to a drain of the first on- off switching transistor, and a parallel power supply terminal of the first driving module is connected to the negative terminal of the controlled photovoltaic module.
Claims 3-9 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because they depend on claim 2 which would also be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Krein (US 2015/0131187) teaches a system to protect a PV system from an arcing condition by opening a switch in series with the PV module and a load and to bypass the PV module which is similar to Applicant’s invention.
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/Scott Bauer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838