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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the empty boxes need to be textually labeled (37 CFR 1.84(o)). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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) 1-11, 13-16, 21-23, 25, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US Patent 10500966) and Ukegawa et al (US Patent 9653999).
Claim 1, Chen et al a drivetrain for an electric vehicle battery electric vehicle BEV 112, the drivetrain comprises: a DC-DC voltage converter 152, electrically connected to an energy source 124, comprising at least one single arm switching power converter that includes a half-bridge (switches 206/208 connected in series), an inductor 214 electrically connected to the half-bridge, and at least one capacitor 204 connected in parallel to the inductor (see fig. 2), and a driver (see col. 6 lines 33-37); a DC-DC controller 200, connected to the driver (see col. 7 lines 20-26), configured to receive an indication of required output power (col. 5 lines 39-43), an indication of input DC signal (see fig. 2, inputs to controller 200 include the input voltage), generate a PWM signal, and transmit the generated PWM signal to the driver (see for example col. 6 lines 37-40 and col. 7 lines 16-49), wherein the driver is configured to receive the PWM signal from controller 200 and transmit the control signal to the half-bridge causing the converter to boost or convert the input DC signal from the battery into a DC signal having the required power output; and a DC-AC inverter 126 (see the description of fig. 3), connected to the DC-DC converter 152 and electric motor 114, for receiving the indication of required output power and convert the DC signal outputted by DC-DC converter into an AC signal.
Chen et al does not teach a DC-DC power converter having the half-bridge in thermal contact with a cooling system comprising a heat spreader.
However, Ukegawa et al teaches a power supply apparatus for an electric motor 40 comprising at least a DC-DC power converter 20 connected between a battery 10 and an inverter 30, wherein the power converter includes at least one half-bridge having a switching element Q22 and Q24 connected in series, an inductor L1, and a capacitor C1 or C2, the switching elements are installed as a chip on a substrate 90, the substrate may be a heat spreader ( a copper block or Direct Brazed Aluminum), see for example the description given in col. 14 lines 19-29.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have a DC-DC converter in thermal contact with a cooling system such as the heat spreader described by Ukegawa et al, since copper or aluminum heat spreaders absorb heat from the switching devices and spread said absorbed heat over a bigger area, this helps prevent component damage and lowers operating temperature or potential overcurrent (see col. 1 lines 43-46 where Ukegawa et al describes controlling power to the load in case of short circuit which creates problems with overcurrent).
Claim 2, Chen et al describes the indication of the required inverter output comprises a required speed or torque (see for example the description of fig. 5, where a required speed and required torque is selected to accomplished a required output power.
Claim 3, Chen et al teaches a DC bus (represented by the voltage across capacitor 202) connected between an energy source 124 and the half-bridge (represented switching elements 206/208); a second DC bus represented voltage across capacitor 204 which represents the output of the DC-DC converter; and an AC bus (represented by the output of inverter 126) connected to the motor 114.
Claim 4, Chen et al teaches DC-DC controller 200 receiving input parameters such as VBAT/VDC (see fig. 2).
Claim 5, as described above in the rejection of claim 1, Chen et al describes a half-bridge represented by switching elements 206/208 and a driver for controlling the gate terminal of said switching elements using PWM. Additionally, Chen et al teaches a DC-AC controller 310 and an inverter 126 including a plurality of half-bridges, wherein the controller 310 operates a plurality of switching elements 302A-302F in the inverter using a series of inputs.
Claims 6 and 7, as described by Chen et al in fig. 2 and corresponding description, the DC-DC controller 200 receives various voltage feedback signals from the plurality of DC buses and controls the switching elements 206/208 of the DC-DC converter using PWM signals generated based on the feedback information.
Claim 8, Chen et al describes in fig. 3 and corresponding description a controller for sensing output power sensor using current feedback and output voltage to determine if the inverter is providing motor 114 with a required power (as described in col. 5 lines 39-43).
Claims 9-10, Chen et al describes a first half-bridge comprising high-side transistor 206 and low side transistor 208, wherein DC-DC controller 200 selectively operates the transistors (see col. 7 lines 26-49).
Claim 11, Chen et al describes inductor 214 and capacitor 202 for smoothing an input current and an input voltage (see the description on the capacitor and inductor in fig. 2).
Claim 13, Chen et al describes transistors 206/208 as IGBT or FET transistors (see col. 6 lines 33-37).
Claim 14, Chen et al describes in col. 6 lines 33-36 that switching devices 206 and 208 can be any type of controllable switches.
Claims 15-16, Ukegawa teaches DC-DC converter 20 having switches Q22 and Q24 cooled by the heat spreader (see col. 14 lines 19-29) of a substrate 90 which also dissipates heat.
Claims 21 and 23, the number of half-bridges in the DC-DC power converter depends on the required power level, input/output voltage, and application of the power converter.
Claim 22, Chen et al describes in fig. 3 and corresponding description, an inverter 126 having a plurality of half-bridges according to the number of phases of motor 114.
Claim 25, Chen et al describes a DC-DC converter 152 configured to operate at various frequencies, the specific frequency range is considered a design choice and is not given any patentable weight.
Claim 27, both Chen et al and Ukegawa et al describe a power converter comprising a plurality of capacitors see for example Chen et al (fig. 2) and Ukegawa et al (fig. 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The documents cited in the attached PTO-892 describe other variable voltage variable frequency power converters used to provide power to electric motors, wherein the power converters comprise DC-DC converters for boosting an input voltage from a DC voltage supply such as battery and a DC-AC inverter for converting a DC voltage outputted by the DC-DC converter into an AC voltage outputted to a motor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rina I Duda whose telephone number is (571)272-2062. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached at (571) 272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RINA I DUDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846
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