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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/25/24 is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to preliminary amendment filed on 04/25/24. Regarding the amendment, claim 2 is canceled, claims 1, 3-13 are present for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-10, 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Staghoj et al. (US 2013/0270834 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Staghoj teaches an electric axial flux machine (5) comprising a stator (4) which at least one stator half (9, figures 2-7), a rotor (3) arranged in an axial direction relative to the stator (2) and is rotatably mounted relative to the stator, and a rotor shaft (not shown) contacting the rotor (3) in a non-rotatable manner, wherein a magnetic force (magnetic force acting between rotor and flux generating module 9) acts between the rotor (3) and the stator (4) in the axial direction, wherein a preload (via stator support structure 10) pushes the at least one stator half (4) away from the rotor (3) in order to counteract the magnetic force, and wherein the at least one stator half itself generates the preload due to its rigidity (paragraphs [0017], [0063]-[0064], and [0071]).
Regarding claim 3, Staghoj teaches the at least one stator half (2) has a first stator half (10) and a second stator half (10) which are connected to one another radially on an outside (fig 4).
Regarding claim 4, Staghoj teaches the stator (4) has a stator housing (7) which has a first half shell (fig 2), which defines an outer side of the first stator half (10), and a second half shell (10), which defines an outer side of the second stator half (10), and the first half shell or the second half shell has an inherent rigidity that causes the preload which counteracts the magnetic force (para [0071]).
Regarding claim 13, Staghoj teaches an electric axial flux machine (5) having a stator (4) with at least one stator half (9), a rotor (3) arranged in an axial direction relative to the stator (4) and rotatably mounted relative to the stator (4), and a rotor shaft (not shown) contacting the rotor (3) in a non-rotatable manner, wherein a magnetic force acts between the rotor (3) and the stator (4) in the axial direction, wherein a preload (para [0064]) pushes the at least one stator half (9) away from the rotor (3) in order to counteract the magnetic force, wherein a preloading element (17) formed separately from the stator (4) is used, which is connected to the at least one stator half in order to achieve the preload (para [0017], [0063]-[0064], and [0071]).
Regarding claim 12, Staghoj teaches the preloading element (17) is an external preloading element formed separately from the at least one stator half (9), and wherein the at least one stator half (9) is provided with the preload by the external preloading element (17), wherein a first end of the external preloading element (17) is supported on a radially more outwardly located region of the at least one stator half (9) and a second end of the external preloading element (17) is supported on a radially more inwardly located region of the at least one stator half (fig 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-11 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the record of prior art by itself or in combination with other references does not show the electric axial flux machine wherein the preload is applied such that at least one of the first or the second half shell has such a shape in a free state, before the stator halves are exposed to a strong magnetic field and are connected to the rotor shaft via a bearing arrangement, that extends continuously and increasingly away from the rotor, starting from a radially outer region towards a radially inner region, as recited in claim 5.
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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Takeuchi (US 2009/0134723 A1) teaches an electric motor device has a clearance control mechanism (15) that shifts either of disk-shaped rotor (30) and disk-shaped stator (10) to change the size of clearance formed between the rotor and stator. Rotor includes magnet array (34M) of permanent magnets and is fastened to a rotating shaft (112). Stators with electromagnetic coils are arranged across the rotor.
Woolmer et al. (US 9,496,776 B2) teaches an electric machine (10; 100) comprises a rotor (14a, b) having permanent magnets (24a,b) and a stator (12) having coils (22) wound on stator bars (16) for interaction with the magnets across an air gap (26a, b) defined between them. The bars and coils are enclosed by a stator housing (42a,b; 102, 142a, b,146) that extends between the air gap and defines a chamber (52; 152) incorporating cooling medium to cool the coils.
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/LEDA T PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834