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 statement (IDS) submitted on 4/09/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following subject matter must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s):
the second coolant channel includes a power module cooling portion that cools the power module via a fin provided on the power module, and a capacitor cooling portion that cools the capacitor via the case; the power module cooling portion and the capacitor cooling portion overlap the output gear as viewed in the axial direction, and the coolant flows from the power module cooling portion into the first coolant channel via the capacitor cooling portion.
No new matter should be entered. 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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (WO2020202963A1) in view of Mohr (US 20150333602 A1).
Claim 1
Inoue teaches: A vehicle drive device (100), comprising:
a rotating electrical machine (1);
a first output member (61) that is one of a pair of members (61, 62) drivingly connected to a pair of wheels (W);
a transmission mechanism (3) configured to transmit a driving force between the rotating electrical machine (1) and the pair of members (61, 62);
an inverter device (7) configured to receive power supply from a battery (power storage device, para. 38) and supply power to the rotating electrical machine (1); and
a case (2) that houses the rotating electrical machine (1), the transmission mechanism (3), and the inverter device (7), wherein
the rotating electrical machine (1) and the pair of members (61, 62) are disposed separately on two parallel axes (A1, A2),
the transmission mechanism (3) includes, coaxially with the pair of members (61, 62), an output gear (51) drivingly connected to at least one of the pair of members (61, 62),
the output gear (51) is disposed so as to overlap each of the rotating electrical machine (1) and the inverter device (7) as viewed in an axial direction along an axial direction,
the inverter device (7) is disposed so as to overlap the transmission mechanism (3) or the first output member (61) as viewed in a direction along an up-down direction,
Inoue is silent however to: a first coolant channel through which a coolant for cooling the rotating electrical machine passes and a second coolant channel through which a coolant for cooling the inverter device passes are provided in the case so as to communicate with each other.
Mohr teaches providing a first coolant channel (231) through which a coolant for cooling a rotating electrical machine (101) passes and a second coolant channel (31) through which a coolant for cooling an inverter device (3) passes are provided in a case (3, 23) so as to communicate with each other.
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It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) at the time of the invention to modify Inoue’s drive device to include coolant channels as taught by Mohr to include the coolant channels as taught by Mohr, wherein the case is provided with a first coolant channel for the motor and a second coolant channel for the inverter that communicate with each other. Furthermore, a PHOSITA would recognize that both the motor and inverter generate heat during operation and are commonly housed within a shared casing in compact vehicle drive devices. Therefore, incorporating the coolant communication structure of Mohr into the integrated drive unit of Inoue would have been a predictable and routine design choice yielding no unexpected results, but rather the expected improvement of efficient heat management in a shared casing. Such a modification would also improve the overall efficiency of the system (para. 0023-0026).
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue as modified by Mohr in view of Kamada (WO2020110887).
Claim 3/1
Inoue as modified by Mohr teaches: The vehicle drive device (100) according to claim 1, but is silent to: wherein at least part of the second coolant channel overlaps the output gear as viewed in the axial direction.
Kamada conversely teaches a vehicle drive device (100) comprised of a first coolant channel (21) through which a coolant (cooling water) for cooling the rotating electrical machine (20) passes and a second coolant channel (13) through which a coolant (cooling water) for cooling an inverter (12, para. 48), wherein at least part of the second coolant channel overlaps an output gear (differential gear, Regarding Gear Device para. 1-3) as viewed in the axial direction (axial direction viewed along X of Fig. 1).
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Therefore, the concept of having a cooling channel provided for an inverter such that it overlaps an output gear is known within the art of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art in the time of the claimed invention to configure a vehicle drive device to have a second coolant channel that overlaps an output gear as viewed in the axial direction as exemplified by Kamada. Such a configuration may contribute to the improved cooling performance of the device due to its design compactness (Regarding the housing, para. 13).
Claim 4/3/1
Inoue as modified by Mohr and Kamada teaches: The vehicle drive device according to claim 3, wherein: the inverter device (12, Kamada) includes a power module (11, Kamada) and a capacitor (14, Kamada), the second coolant channel (13, Kamada) includes a power module cooling portion (cooling unit 13 which cools power module 11, Regarding power conversion unit, para. 1; Kamada) that cools the power module (11), and a capacitor cooling portion (cooling unit 13 also cools capacitor 14; Kamada) that cools the capacitor (14, Kamada); and the power module cooling portion (13) and the capacitor cooling portion (13) overlap the output gear (220) as viewed in the axial direction.
Claim 5/3/1
Inoue as modified by Mohr and Kamada teaches: The vehicle drive device according to claim 3, wherein the second coolant channel (13, Kamada) is disposed between the inverter device (12) and the first output member (23, Kamada as viewed in Fig. 6) in a vehicle (for vehicle, see para. 1 of first embodiment of Kamada) front-rear direction or the up-down direction (based on X, Y, and Z directions as illustrated in Kamda’s Figs. 1-2) as viewed in the axial direction (X direction).
Claims 6and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue as modified by Mohr in view of Takenaka (US 20050006963 A1) and Kamada.
Claim 6/1
Inoue as modified by Mohr teaches: The vehicle drive device (100) according to claim 1, wherein: the second coolant channel (31; Mohr) includes an inlet portion (para. 0049, Mohr); the coolant from the second coolant channel (31; Mohr) is introduced into the first coolant channel (231; Mohr), and the first coolant channel (231; Mohr) includes an outlet portion (232), but is silent to: I) the coolant being discharged from a water pump into the inlet portion; the coolant returns to the water pump from the outlet portion; II) and the inlet portion and the outlet portion overlap the output gear as viewed in the axial direction.
As for limitation I, the concept of configuring a vehicle drive device comprised of a cooling structure that cools both an inverter and motor accordingly is a well known concept within the art of the claimed invention. For example, Takenaka teaches a vehicle drive device (Fig. 1) comprised of a cooling structure that cools a motor (1) and an inverter (3). The device comprises a coolant (water) being discharged from a water pump (41) into an inlet portion (51), and the coolant (water) returns to the water pump (41) from the outlet portion (52) as illustrated in Fig. 1 and as disclosed in para. 0024-0025.
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It therefore would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art during the time of the claimed invention to incorporate a water pump to Inoue’s device as modified by Mohr such that coolant is discharged from a water pump into the inlet portion, and the coolant returns to the water pump from the outlet portion. Incorporating a water pump into Inoue’s device would be advantageous in providing uniform temperature distribution, efficient heat removal, and leveraging natural heat convection (para. 0010-0012).
As for limitation II, Kamada conversely teaches a vehicle drive device (100) comprised of a first coolant channel (21) through which a coolant (cooling water) for cooling the rotating electrical machine (20) passes and a second coolant channel (13) through which a coolant (cooling water) for cooling an inverter (12, para. 48), wherein an inlet portion (31) and an outlet portion (32) overlap an output gear differential gear, Regarding Gear Device para. 1-3) viewed in the axial direction.
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Therefore, the concept of having an inlet and outlet provided such that they overlap an output gear is known within the art of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art in the time of the claimed invention to configure a vehicle drive device to comprise an inlet portion and an outlet portion that overlap an output gear as viewed in the axial direction as exemplified by Kamada. Such a configuration may contribute to the improved cooling performance of the device due to its design compactness (Regarding the housing, para. 13).
Claim 7/6
Inoue as modified by Mohr and Kamada teaches: The vehicle drive device according to claim 6, wherein: a connection channel (22, see Kamada’s Fig. 6) connecting the first coolant channel (21, Kamada) and the second coolant channel (13, Kamada) is further provided in the case (40, Kamada); and the connection channel (22) overlaps the output gear (differential gear, Regarding Gear Device para. 1-3) as viewed in the axial direction and extends in the axial direction and a vehicle (for vehicle, see para. 1 of first embodiment; Kamada) front-rear direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, and 8-9 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.
Claim 2/1
Claim 2 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As for claim 2, Inoue as modified by Mohr teaches: The vehicle drive device (100) according to claim 1, but is does not explicitly disclose that the inverter device includes a power module and a capacitor;
Power modules and capacitors however are recognized elements to incorporate into inverters to a person of ordinary skill in the art of the claimed invention. For example, Kamada teaches an electric drive module (100) comprising an inverter device that includes a power module (11) and a capacitor (14).
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Such a configuration is well known and conventional in art involving inverter and power electronics design. An inverter functions to convert DC power from a battery into AC power for driving a rotating electrical machine. TO perform this conversion efficiently and reliably, it is standard practice to include: a) a power unit comprising switching elements such as IGBTs or MOSFETs and their associated driver circuits for controlling the conversion of DC to AC power and b) a capacitor electrically connected to the DC bus of the inverter to smooth voltage fluctuations, suppress noise, and stabilize the DC supply to the power unit.
The prior art fails to teach or fairly suggest, alone or in obvious combination, inter alia:
the second coolant channel includes a power module cooling portion that cools the power module via a fin provided on the power module, and a capacitor cooling portion that cools the capacitor via the case; the power module cooling portion and the capacitor cooling portion overlap the output gear as viewed in the axial direction, and the coolant flows from the power module cooling portion into the first coolant channel via the capacitor cooling portion.
Employing a second coolant channel as described would require a complete redesign of Inoue’s vehicle drive device that would not have been obvious to implement before the filing of the claimed invention by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim 8/6
Claim 8 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As for claim 8, Inoue as modified by Mohr and Kamada teaches: The vehicle drive device according to claim 6 comprising an output member (23);
The prior art fails to teach or fairly suggest, alone or in obvious combination, inter alia:
the first output member is interposed between the rotating electrical machine and the inverter device in a vehicle front-rear direction at a position in the up-down direction where both the rotating electrical machine and the inverter device are disposed; and the second coolant channel extends from below to above a central axis of the first output member in the up-down direction.
Configuring Inoue’s device as modified by Mohr and Kamada as described would require a complete redesign of Inoue’s vehicle drive device as modified by Mohr and Kamada that would not have been obvious to implement before the filing of the claimed invention by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 9 stands allowed over all prior art based on their virtue of depending on claim
8
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED F SECK whose telephone number is (571)272-4638. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 4:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Koehler can be reached at (571) 272-3560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AHMED F SECK/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/MAGED M ALMAWRI/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834