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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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 1-8, 15-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen (US 5,587,616), in view of Stancu et al. (“Stancu”; US 2012/0218069).
Regarding claim 1: Johnsen discloses a rotor (30, Fig. 3) for an externally excited synchronous machine, comprising:
a rotor winding (38) arranged on a hollow rotor shaft (32); and
a rectifier (40) electrically connected to the rotor winding;
wherein the rectifier (40) and is arranged in the hollow rotor shaft (shown in Fig. 3).
Johnsen does not explicitly disclose a rotary transformer rotor of a rotary transformer with a secondary coil.
However, Stancu discloses a rotary transformer rotor (314) of a rotary transformer (112) with a secondary coil (330) are arranged in a hollow rotor shaft (paragraph 0018, Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the hollow rotor shaft of Johnsen to include the rotary transformer of Stancu in order to allow for more compact and efficient transformer design (paragraph 0004).
Regarding claim 2: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rectifier and secondary coil, Stancu further discloses the rectifier and the secondary coil form a prefabricated assembly (paragraph 0018: “A suitable rectifier/filtering circuit is incorporated into rotary transformer 112”).
Regarding claim 3: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rectifier and secondary coil are a prefabricated assembly, but do not explicitly disclose the secondary coil and the rectifier are at least one of glued, welded, soldered, screwed, pressed, clipped, and cast with one another.
However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to have disclose the secondary coil and the rectifier are at least one of glued, welded, soldered, screwed, pressed, clipped, and cast with one another with a reasonable expectable of success as these are all well known means of connecting electronic components.
Regarding claim 4: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the prefabricated assembly, Stancu further discloses the prefabricated assembly includes a plurality of fluid-permeable openings, via which a coolant is flowable in the hollow rotor shaft (paragraph 0021).
Regarding claim 5: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the secondary coil, Johnsen further the secondary coil includes a coating (80a) and is electrically insulated relative to surroundings (column 12, lines 3-13).
Regarding claim 6: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the secondary coil, Stancu further discloses the secondary coil (330) is annularly arranged about an axis of rotation of the hollow rotor shaft (320, shown in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 7: Johnsen modified by Stancu discloses an externally excited synchronous machine or a traction motor for a motor vehicle or a servomotor comprising:
an electrically energizeable rotor according to Claim 1, Stancu further discloses a rotary transformer stator (312) arranged in the hollow rotor shaft (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rotary transformer stator, Stancu further discloses the rotary transformer stator includes a primary coil and a transformer core of a magnetic core material (paragraph 0016: ferrite core).
Regarding claim 15: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the magnetic core, Stancu further discloses the magnetic core material is a ferrite (paragraph 0016).
Regarding claim 16: Johnsen discloses rotor (30) for an externally excited synchronous machine (Fig. 4), comprising:
a hollow rotor shaft (32);
a rotor winding (38) arranged on the hollow rotor shaft and extending around an outer circumference of the hollow rotor shaft (Fig. 4);
a rectifier (40) electrically connected to the rotor winding (Fig. 2).
Johnsen does not explicitly disclose a rotary transformer rotor of a rotary transformer, the rotary transformer rotor including a secondary coil; wherein the rectifier, the rotary transformer rotor, and the secondary coil are arranged in the hollow rotor shaft.
However, Stancu discloses a rotary transformer rotor (314) of a rotary transformer (112), the rotary transformer rotor including a secondary coil (330);
wherein the rectifier, the rotary transformer rotor, and the secondary coil are arranged in the hollow rotor shaft (paragraph 0018, Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the hollow rotor shaft of Johnsen to include the rotary transformer of Stancu in order to allow for more compact and efficient transformer design (paragraph 0004).
Regarding claim 17: Johnsen discloses a winding head electrically connecting the rotor winding and the rectifier (inherent as they must be electrically connected).
Regarding claim 18: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rectifier and secondary coil, Stancu further discloses the rectifier and the secondary coil form a prefabricated assembly (paragraph 0018: “A suitable rectifier/filtering circuit is incorporated into rotary transformer 112”), and the prefabricated assembly is fixed as a whole in the hollow rotor shaft (as the combination of Johnsen and Stancu teach the assembly being within the shaft).
Regarding claim 20: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the secondary coil, Stancu further discloses the secondary coil (330) extends circumferentially around an axis of rotation (305) of the hollow rotor shaft (312, shown in Fig. 3).
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen and Stancu as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Maier et al. (“Maier”; US 2022/0060088).
Regarding claim 11: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rotary transformer stator, but do not explicitly disclose the rotary transformer stator is arranged on a bearing pin projecting into the hollow rotor shaft for mounting the rotor.
However, Maier discloses the rotary transformer stator is arranged on a bearing pin projecting into the hollow rotor shaft for mounting the rotor (see annotated Fig. 5 below).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the rotary transformer to be on the bearing pin of Maier in order to have a compact design.
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Regarding claim 12: Johnsen modified by Stancu and Maier disclose the bearing pin, Maier further discloses the bearing pin includes a cooling channel (5, Fig. 5B, at 12) for conducting coolant.
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen and Stancu as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Yu et al. (“Yu”; US 2022/0060088).
Regarding claim 13: Johnsen modified by Stancu and Maier disclose the cooling channel of the bearing pin extends in an axial direction of the hollow rotor shaft (see Maier, Fig, 5B, 5); but do not explicitly disclose the bearing pin further includes a second cooling channel extending transversely to the cooling channel; and the cooling channel and the second cooling channel are in fluid communication with one another.
However, Yu discloses the bearing pin further includes a second cooling channel (4) extending transversely to the cooling channel (shown in Fig. 5); and
the cooling channel and the second cooling channel are in fluid communication with one another (as the coolant enters through the shaft, it is inherently connected).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the cooling channel to include the second cooling channel of Yu in order to cool a bearing (paragraph 0041).
Regarding claim 14: Johnsen modified by Stancu and Maier disclose a bearing pin, Maier further discloses at least one bearing arranged on the bearing pin (see annotated Figure above), and Yu further discloses the second cooling channel opens in a vicinity of the at least one bearing such that the at least one bearing is cooled via the coolant from the second cooling channel (paragraph 0041).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen and Stancu as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Frantz et al. (“Frantz”; US 4,065,096).
Regarding claim 19: Johnsen modified by Stancu disclose the rectifier and the secondary coil, Johnsen further discloses an insulation (80a) in which both the rectifier and the secondary coil are embedded, wherein the rectifier and the secondary coil are electrically insulated from surroundings (column 12, lines 3-13), but does not explicitly disclose the insulation is a plastic matrix.
However, Frantz discloses insulation is a plastic matrix (column 4, lines 26-28).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the insulation to be a plastic matrix, as disclosed by Frantz, in order to effectively encapsulate the components (column 4, lines 26-28).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 10 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.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the machine of claim 9, specifically comprising:
the primary coil is arranged in a recess of the inner ring and between the inner ring and the outer ring an annular recess is arranged, in the context of the other components in the claim.
Claim 10 is allowable due to its dependency on claim 9.
Conclusion
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/SEAN GUGGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834