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 5/31/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-15 set forth in the preliminary amendment submitted 5/31/2024 form the basis of the present examination.
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.
Claim(s) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jong-Jae Lee et el. (Hereinafter, “Jong”) in the NPL-DC–DC Converter Using a Multiple-Coupled Inductor for Low Output Voltages (IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2007) in view of Niehoff in the US Patent Application Publication Number US 20160203932 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Jong teaches a device for measuring an alternating (AC) leakage current though a conductor (The characteristics of cross regulation and current doubler have been analyzed in detail and very good cross regulation (5% voltage regulation for 95% load change) by steering current ripple between two outputs has been obtained in an practical experiment; Page 478; Conclusion Column1 Line 5-9), whereby said device comprises:
a conversion circuit [Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong below as the conversion circuit] comprising a magnetic core (Fig. 2(a) shows the magnetic structure of a CI for cross regulation. The windings are placed on the outer legs of the common core. The core has an air-gap in the outer legs for the energy storage since the CI carries dc current components; Page 468; Column 2 Line 18-21) and a leakage current measurement circuit (A new multiple-coupled inductor (MCI) is proposed for good cross regulation among low output voltages, high power density, and reduced converter volume. Moreover, a current doubler rectifier and a self-driven synchronous rectifier are presented to achieve high efficiency. The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core, and has the properties of a current doubler and good cross regulation; Abstract Line 1-7; To derive the current waveforms in the MCI, the electrical circuit model of the MCI is implemented in two output converters, as shown in Fig. 4(d). Electrical circuit of the MCI for two outputs can be described by the four operations modes during a switching period; Page 473; V. OPERATION ANALYSIS; Column 1 Line 2-6;
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Page 471; IV. ANALYSIS OF A PROPOSED MCI; Column 1 Line 11-14; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong below shows the conversion circuit has magnetic core and leakage current measurement circuit as the current is measured in the leakage windings),
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Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong
wherein said device comprises a synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (The synchronous rectifier switches SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2 as the synchronous rectifier circuit) that comprises a plurality of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (The synchronous rectifiers are also necessary to obtain high efficiency in low output voltage applications. The basic concept of synchronous rectifiers is the use of a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a rectifier; Introduction Page 467 Column 1 Line 23-26), and
said conversion circuit is configured so that said conductor is arranged to pass through, or wind around said magnetic core (The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core, and has the properties of a current doubler and good cross regulation; Abstract Page 467 Line 1-7), and
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Figure 4 (d) i: Modified Figure 4d of Jong
said conversion circuit comprises a plurality of pairs of secondary windings or a single secondary winding with a plurality of taps (The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core; Abstract Line 5-6; Figure 4 (d) i: Modified Figure 4d of Jong below shows conversion circuit comprises a plurality of pairs of secondary windings or a single secondary winding),
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Figure 4 (d) ii: Modified Figure 4d of Jong
whereby said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding [ωA2, ωB2] is wound around said magnetic core (Fig. 2(a)/4(a) shows the magnetic structure of a CI for cross regulation. The windings are placed on the outer legs of the common core. The core has an air-gap in the outer legs for the energy storage since the CI carries dc current components; Page 468; Column 2 Line 18-21; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above shows plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding is wound around said magnetic core),
whereby said conversion circuit is configured to convert a primary AC current in said conductor to a secondary AC current in said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding (Figure 4 (d) ii: Modified Figure 4d of Jong above shows conversion circuit is configured to convert a primary AC current in said conductor to a secondary AC current in said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding), whereby at least one first pair of secondary windings is configured to apply a voltage to said plurality of MOSFETs, and
at least one second pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps is connected to said synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (Consequently, in most cases a voltage is presented across leakage inductor and an ac ripple current flows. Where, if considering the special case when the turns ratio is equal to the following equation: (3)
then, and there is no voltage drop across , hence, no ac ripple current can flow. In other words, a null condition has been established across . This is the origin of the well-known zero ripple condition. The ripple currents across the leakage inductor are given by
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: Page 469 Column 1 Line 1-11; Figure 4 (d) ii: Modified Figure 4d of Jong above shows at least one second pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps is connected to said synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2]),
whereby said synchronous rectification circuit is configured to rectify said secondary AC current in said at least one second pair of secondary windings or in said at least one second pair of taps to a direct current (DC) (Figure 3a shows AC current rectified to DC current) and supply said DC current to said leakage current measurement circuit (The synchronous rectifiers are also necessary to obtain high efficiency in low output voltage applications. The basic concept of synchronous rectifiers is the use of a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a rectifier; Page 467- I. INTRODUCTION; Column 1 Line 24-27; A driving circuit using an auxiliary winding that operates the synchronous rectifier switches of the two outputs is shown in Fig. 3(b). In topologies with dead times, such as half-bridge converters and push–pull converters using symmetrical control, traditional SDSR is not really suitable because both synchronous rectifier switches are OFF during dead times and the output current flows through the body or external diodes, increasing the rectification losses. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 3(a), by using the auxiliary winding and connecting the diodes between the gate and the source during the dead times, when the voltage in the auxiliary winding is zero, both synchronous rectifier switches SR and SR are ON. This is possible because the energy stored in one parasitic capacitance is transferred to the other and the voltage applied between the gate and the source of each synchronous rectifier switch is determined by the capacitive divider formed by the parasitic capacitances. However, they are very dependent on the transformer design because the leakage inductance and the coupling between windings is absolutely critical; III. DRIVING CIRCUIT OF THE SYNCHRONOUS RECTIFIER SWITCHES; Page 469; Column 2 Line 1-19).
However, Jong fails to teach that the current is leakage current.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
the current is leakage current (The short circuit and overcurrent detection may be implemented using an analog or digital circuit which must be fast enough to detect the short circuit. It also must be accurate enough to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes. A logical solution is an opamp circuit or integrated (analog ASIC) circuit, but also digital circuits with a high sampling rate are possible; Paragraph [0058] Line 1-7; Figure 6 shows leakage current flows to the circuit which is determined). The purpose of doing is to detect the short circuit to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to detect leakage current detects the short circuit and senses small load currents for energy measurement purposes (Paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 2, Jong fails to teach a device, wherein said leakage current measurement circuit comprises an analog meter configured to display said leakage current.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
wherein said leakage current measurement circuit comprises an analog meter configured to display said leakage current (The short circuit and overcurrent detection may be implemented using an analog or digital circuit which must be fast enough to detect the short circuit. It also must be accurate enough to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes. A logical solution is an opamp circuit or integrated (analog ASIC) circuit, but also digital circuits with a high sampling rate are possible; Paragraph [0058] Line 1-7; integrated (analog ASIC) circuit as the analog meter). The purpose of doing is to detect the short circuit to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include analog meter to display current detects the short circuit and senses small load currents for energy measurement purposes (Paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 3, Jong fails to teach a device, wherein the device comprises a plurality of overvoltage protection devices, such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes, connected across said plurality of secondary windings or across said plurality of taps that is configured to protect said leakage current measurement circuit and said plurality of MOSFETS.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
wherein the device comprises a plurality of overvoltage protection devices, such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes [D1-D4], connected across said plurality of secondary windings or across said plurality of taps that is configured to protect said leakage current measurement circuit and said plurality of MOSFETS (In a further embodiment, the alternating current circuit breaker further comprises an overvoltage protection element VDR connected in parallel to the bypass switch SW1. The overvoltage protection element, or overvoltage protection varistor VDR protects the bridge diodes D1-D4 and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection. In the (inductive) load still a lot of energy may be remaining and this does result in a high peak voltage after the disconnection. This high peak voltage is absorbed by the varistor VDR. Of course the shorter the time frame for the disconnection is (fast bypass contact), the smaller the remaining energy in the mains load network is and the smaller the absorbed energy of the varistor VDR is; Paragraph [0109] Line 1-13). The purpose of doing so is to protects the bridge diodes D1-D4 and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include a plurality of overvoltage protection devices, such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes, connected across said plurality of secondary windings or across said plurality of taps protects the bridge diodes and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection (Paragraph [0109]).
Regarding claim 4, Jong teaches a device,
wherein said at least one first pair of secondary windings or said at least one first pair of taps comprises a higher number of turns or a higher number of turns therebetween than said at least one second pair of secondary windings or than between said at least one second pair of taps (The maximum duty ratio at the lowest input voltage 40 V should be limited below 0.5. From (19), the turns ratio of the transformer should be satisfied as
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Thus, the turns ratio of the transformer and the maximum duty ratio are selected; Page 475; Column 2 Line 5-15).
Regarding claim 5, Jong fails to teach a device, wherein said conductor is a ground conductor.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
wherein said conductor is a ground conductor (neutral line conductor) (In FIG. 1 a block diagram is shown of an embodiment of a circuit breaker according to the present invention. The alternating current circuit breaker comprises a live line between a live supply connecting terminal Lin and a live load connecting terminal Lout, and a neutral line between a neutral supply connecting terminal Nin and a neutral load connecting terminal Nout for connecting an alternating current load to a mains supply AC; Paragraph [0044] Line 1-8). The purpose of doing so is to provide power to the processing unit (and possibly further components of the circuit breaker).
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include ground conductor provides power to the processing unit (and possibly further components of the circuit breaker) (Paragraph [0068]).
Regarding claim 6, Jong teaches a device,
wherein said conversion circuit comprises, four, six, eight or ten secondary windings or pairs of taps (The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core; Abstract Line 5-6).
Regarding claim 7, Jong teaches a device,
wherein the device comprises a surge counting circuit, such as a surge counting circuit that includes a magnetic core (Figure 4a) and that is configured so that said conductor is arranged to pass through, or wind around said magnetic core (Also, the MCI has the property of a coupled current doubler and integrates the inductors on a single core. Thus, the losses due to current stress and interconnection among the magnetic components can be reduced. Due to these advantages, the MCI improves cross regulation between the two output voltages, efficiency, and power integrated density. Therefore, a dc–dc half-bridge converter using one MCI and synchronous rectifiers is proposed for low output voltages (3.3 V, 4.5 V, 40 W), as shown in Fig. 1; Page 468; Column 1 Line 4-12; single core here is functioned as a surge counting circuit as claim does not recite any specific function of the surge counting circuit; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above shows a surge counting circuit, such as a surge counting circuit that includes a magnetic core and that is configured so that said conductor is arranged to pass through, or wind around said magnetic core).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Jong and Niehoff discloses the c1aimed invention (magnetic core) except for said magnetic core comprises at least one of said following materials: nickel, carbon steel, martensitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, iron having a purity of at least 99.8%, cobalt iron, Mu-metal, permalloy, or metglass. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to include said following materials: nickel, carbon steel, martensitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, iron having a purity of at least 99.8%, cobalt iron, Mu-metal, permalloy, or metglas since Applicant has not disclosed that said materials solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the magnetic core disclosed by Jong.
Regarding claim 9, Jong teaches a method for measuring an alternating (AC) leakage current though a conductor, such as a ground conductor (The characteristics of cross regulation and current doubler have been analyzed in detail and very good cross regulation (5% voltage regulation for 95% load change) by steering current ripple between two outputs has been obtained in an practical experiment; Page 478; Conclusion Column1 Line 5-9), whereby said method comprises the step of providing a device comprising:
a conversion circuit [Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above as the conversion circuit] comprising a magnetic core (Fig. 2(a) shows the magnetic structure of a CI for cross regulation. The windings are placed on the outer legs of the common core. The core has an air-gap in the outer legs for the energy storage since the CI carries dc current components; Page 468; Column 2 Line 18-21) and a leakage current measurement circuit (A new multiple-coupled inductor (MCI) is proposed for good cross regulation among low output voltages, high power density, and reduced converter volume. Moreover, a current doubler rectifier and a self-driven synchronous rectifier are presented to achieve high efficiency. The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core, and has the properties of a current doubler and good cross regulation; Abstract Line 1-7; To derive the current waveforms in the MCI, the electrical circuit model of the MCI is implemented in two output converters, as shown in Fig. 4(d). Electrical circuit of the MCI for two outputs can be described by the four operations modes during a switching period; Page 473; V. OPERATION ANALYSIS; Column 1 Line 2-6;
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Page 471; IV. ANALYSIS OF A PROPOSED MCI; Column 1 Line 11-14; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above shows the conversion circuit has magnetic core and leakage current measurement circuit as the current is measured in the leakage windings),
wherein the method comprises the steps of: providing a synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (The synchronous rectifier switches SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2 as the synchronous rectifier circuit) that comprises a plurality of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (The synchronous rectifiers are also necessary to obtain high efficiency in low output voltage applications. The basic concept of synchronous rectifiers is the use of a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a rectifier; Introduction Page 467 Column 1 Line 23-26), and
providing said conversion circuit is configured so that said conductor is arranged to pass through, or wind around said magnetic core (The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core, and has the properties of a current doubler and good cross regulation; Abstract Page 467 Line 1-7), and
providing said conversion circuit comprises a plurality of pairs of secondary windings or a single secondary winding with a plurality of taps (The structure of the MCI is composed of four windings on a common core; Abstract Line 5-6; Figure 4 (d) i: Modified Figure 4d of Jong above shows conversion circuit comprises a plurality of pairs of secondary windings or a single secondary winding),
whereby said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding is wound around said magnetic core (Fig. 2(a)/4(a) shows the magnetic structure of a CI for cross regulation. The windings are placed on the outer legs of the common core. The core has an air-gap in the outer legs for the energy storage since the CI carries dc current components; Page 468; Column 2 Line 18-21; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above shows plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding is wound around said magnetic core),
whereby said conversion circuit is configured to convert a primary AC current in said conductor to a secondary AC current in said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding (Figure 4 (d) ii: Modified Figure 4d of Jong above shows conversion circuit is configured to convert a primary AC current in said conductor to a secondary AC current in said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or said single secondary winding), configuring at least one first pair of secondary windings is configured to apply a voltage to said plurality of MOSFETs, and connecting at least one second pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps is connected to said synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2] (Consequently, in most cases a voltage is presented across leakage inductor and an ac ripple current flows. Where, if considering the special case when the turns ratio is equal to the following equation: (3)
then , and there is no voltage drop across , hence, no ac ripple current can flow. In other words, a null condition has been established across . This is the origin of the well-known zero ripple condition. The ripple currents across the leakage inductor are given by
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: Page 469 Column 1 Line 1-11; Figure 4 (d) ii: Modified Figure 4d of Jong above shows at least one second pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps is connected to said synchronous rectification circuit [SRA1, SRA2, SRB1 and SRB2]),
configuring said synchronous rectification circuit is configured to rectify said secondary AC current in said at least one second pair of secondary windings or in said at least one second pair of taps to a direct current (DC) (Figure 3a shows AC current rectified to DC current) and supply said DC current to said leakage current measurement circuit (The synchronous rectifiers are also necessary to obtain high efficiency in low output voltage applications. The basic concept of synchronous rectifiers is the use of a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a rectifier; Page 467- I. INTRODUCTION; Column 1 Line 24-27; A driving circuit using an auxiliary winding that operates the synchronous rectifier switches of the two outputs is shown in Fig. 3(b). In topologies with dead times, such as half-bridge converters and push–pull converters using symmetrical control, traditional SDSR is not really suitable because both synchronous rectifier switches are OFF during dead times and the output current flows through the body or external diodes, increasing the rectification losses. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 3(a), by using the auxiliary winding and connecting the diodes between the gate and the source during the dead times, when the voltage in the auxiliary winding is zero, both synchronous rectifier switches SR and SR are ON. This is possible because the energy stored in one parasitic capacitance is transferred to the other and the voltage applied between the gate and the source of each synchronous rectifier switch is determined by the capacitive divider formed by the parasitic capacitances. However, they are very dependent on the transformer design because the leakage inductance and the coupling between windings is absolutely critical; III. DRIVING CIRCUIT OF THE SYNCHRONOUS RECTIFIER SWITCHES; Page 469; Column 2 Line 1-19).
However, Jong fails to teach that the current is leakage current.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
the current is leakage current (The short circuit and overcurrent detection may be implemented using an analog or digital circuit which must be fast enough to detect the short circuit. It also must be accurate enough to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes. A logical solution is an opamp circuit or integrated (analog ASIC) circuit, but also digital circuits with a high sampling rate are possible; Paragraph [0058] Line 1-7; Figure 6 shows leakage current flows to the circuit which is determined). The purpose of doing is to detect the short circuit to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to detect leakage current detects the short circuit and senses small load currents for energy measurement purposes (Paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 10, Jong fails to teach a method, further comprising providing said leakage current measurement circuit with an analog meter configured to display said leakage current.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
further comprising providing said leakage current measurement circuit with an analog meter configured to display said leakage current (The short circuit and overcurrent detection may be implemented using an analog or digital circuit which must be fast enough to detect the short circuit. It also must be accurate enough to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes. A logical solution is an opamp circuit or integrated (analog ASIC) circuit, but also digital circuits with a high sampling rate are possible; Paragraph [0058] Line 1-7; integrated (analog ASIC) circuit as the analog meter). The purpose of doing is to detect the short circuit to sense small load currents for energy measurement purposes.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include analog meter to display current detects the short circuit and senses small load currents for energy measurement purposes (Paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 11, Jong fails to teach a method, further comprising connecting a plurality of overvoltage protection devices 32, such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes, across said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or across said plurality of pairs of taps that is configured to protect said measurement circuit and said plurality of MOSFETS.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
further comprising connecting a plurality of overvoltage protection devices [D1-D4], such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes, across said plurality of pairs of secondary windings or across said plurality of pairs of taps that is configured to protect said measurement circuit and said plurality of MOSFETS (In a further embodiment, the alternating current circuit breaker further comprises an overvoltage protection element VDR connected in parallel to the bypass switch SW1. The overvoltage protection element, or overvoltage protection varistor VDR protects the bridge diodes D1-D4 and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection. In the (inductive) load still a lot of energy may be remaining and this does result in a high peak voltage after the disconnection. This high peak voltage is absorbed by the varistor VDR. Of course the shorter the time frame for the disconnection is (fast bypass contact), the smaller the remaining energy in the mains load network is and the smaller the absorbed energy of the varistor VDR is; Paragraph [0109] Line 1-13). The purpose of doing so is to protects the bridge diodes D1-D4 and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection.
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include a plurality of overvoltage protection devices, such as transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diodes, connected across said plurality of secondary windings or across said plurality of taps protects the bridge diodes and IGBT against too high overvoltage's after a short circuit disconnection (Paragraph [0109]).
Regarding claim 12, Jong teaches a method,
further comprising at least one of the following steps: providing said primary winding comprises a single turn; providing said at least one first pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps with a higher number of turns or with a higher number of turns therebetween than said at least one second pair of secondary windings or than between said at least second pair of taps; or providing four, six, eight or ten secondary windings or pairs of taps (The maximum duty ratio at the lowest input voltage 40 V should be limited below 0.5. From (19), the turns ratio of the transformer should be satisfied as
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Thus, the turns ratio of the transformer and the maximum duty ratio are selected; Page 475; Column 2 Line 5-15).
Regarding claim 13, Jong teaches a method,
further comprising providing said device with a surge counting circuit that comprises a magnetic core and passing said conductor through said magnetic core or winding said conductor around said magnetic core (Also, the MCI has the property of a coupled current doubler and integrates the inductors on a single core. Thus, the losses due to current stress and interconnection among the magnetic components can be reduced.
Due to these advantages, the MCI improves cross regulation between the two output voltages, efficiency, and power integrated density. Therefore, a dc–dc half-bridge converter using one MCI and synchronous rectifiers is proposed for low output voltages (3.3 V, 4.5 V, 40 W), as shown in Fig. 1; Page 468; Column 1 Line 4-12; single core here is functioned as a surge counting circuit as claim does not recite any specific function of the surge counting circuit; Figure 4 (a): Modified Figure 4a of Jong above shows a surge counting circuit, such as a surge counting circuit that includes a magnetic core and that is configured so that said conductor is arranged to pass through, or wind around said magnetic core).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Jong and Niehoff discloses the c1aimed invention (magnetic core) except for said magnetic core comprises at least one of said following materials: nickel, carbon steel, martensitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, iron having a purity of at least 99.8%, cobalt iron, Mu-metal, permalloy, or metglass. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to include said following materials: nickel, carbon steel, martensitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, iron having a purity of at least 99.8%, cobalt iron, Mu-metal, permalloy, or metglas since Applicant has not disclosed that said materials solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the magnetic core disclosed by Jong.
Regarding claim 15, Jong fails to teach a method, further comprising connecting said device to the grounded side of a surge arrester and to ground.
Niehoff teaches an alternating current circuit breaker (Paragraph [0002] Line 1),
further comprising connecting said device to the grounded side of a surge arrester and to ground (In FIG. 1 a block diagram is shown of an embodiment of a circuit breaker according to the present invention. The alternating current circuit breaker comprises a live line between a live supply connecting terminal Lin and a live load connecting terminal Lout, and a neutral line between a neutral supply connecting terminal Nin and a neutral load connecting terminal Nout for connecting an alternating current load to a mains supply AC; Paragraph [0044] Line 1-8). The purpose of doing so is to provide power to the processing unit (and possibly further components of the circuit breaker).
It would have obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Jong in view of Niehoff, because Niehoff teaches to include ground conductor provides power to the processing unit (and possibly further components of the circuit breaker) (Paragraph [0068]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Yasumura (US 20060114697 A1) discloses, “SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT-[Abstract] In a switching power supply circuit in which, in order to both provide high power conversion efficiency of a complex resonant converter having a synchronous rectifier circuit and reduce a circuit scale and cost by simplifying the circuit, a synchronous rectifier circuit of a winding voltage detection system is provided on a secondary side of the complex resonant converter. [0103] FIG. 1 shows an example of configuration of a switching power supply circuit as a first embodiment of the best mode for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment). [0104] The power supply circuit shown in this figure has a basic configuration formed by combining a current resonant converter of an externally excited type and a half-bridge coupling type with a partial voltage resonant circuit. [0105] In the power supply circuit shown in this figure, a full-wave rectifying and smoothing circuit formed by a bridge rectifier circuit as a rectifier circuit part Di and one smoothing capacitor Ci is connected to a commercial alternating-current power supply AC. The full-wave rectifying and smoothing circuit is supplied with the commercial alternating-current power supply AC, and performs a full-wave rectifying operation on the commercial alternating-current power supply AC, whereby a rectified and smoothed voltage Ei (direct-current input voltage) is obtained across the smoothing capacitor Ci. The rectified and smoothed voltage Ei in this case has a level equal to that of an alternating input voltage VAC. [0106] The current resonant converter supplied with the direct-current input voltage and switching (interrupting) the direct-current input voltage has a switching circuit formed by connecting two MOS-FET switching devices Q1 and Q2 to each other by half-bridge coupling as shown in the figure. Damper diodes DD1 and DD2 are connected in parallel with the switching devices Q1 and Q2 between a drain and a source of the switching devices Q1 and Q2, respectively. An anode and a cathode of the damper diode DD1 are connected to the source and the drain, respectively, of the switching device Q1. Similarly, an anode and a cathode of the damper diode DD2 are connected to the source and the drain, respectively, of the switching device Q2. The damper diodes DD1 and DD2 are body diodes possessed by the switching devices Q1 and Q2, respectively-However Yasumura does not disclose whereby at least one first pair of secondary windings is configured to apply a voltage to said plurality of MOSFETs, and at least one second pair of secondary windings or at least one first pair of taps is connected to said synchronous rectification circuit, whereby said synchronous rectification circuit is configured to rectify said secondary AC current in said at least one second pair of secondary windings or in said at least one second pair of taps to a direct current (DC) and supply said DC current to said leakage current measurement circuit.”
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/NASIMA MONSUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858