DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the application and preliminary amendment filed on 03 July 2024.
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 .
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/1765801 (hereinafter “D1”; citations to text of D1 below refer to the national stage pub. US 2023/0057522 as the English language equivalent) in view of “Reliability oriented thermal management of aircraft power converters” by Harikumaran et al. (hereinafter “D2”).
In re claims 1 and 9, D1 discloses an aircraft (see Abstract and Fig. 1) comprising:
a power source (Fig. 1: DC distribution network 1);
a load (motor 6); and
a power conversion device (3, 5) connected between the power source and the load, the power conversion device comprising:
a first power converter (inverter 5) to receive an input of a DC voltage (DC link voltage across lines 47p, 47s), and generate a voltage to be supplied to the load (three phase output voltage on lines 49u-w);
a second power converter (chopper 3) to generate an input voltage of the first power converter from a DC voltage of the power source ([0109]: chopper 3 converts DC voltage from distribution line 1 to DC link across 47p/s); and
a control circuitry device (11, 23, 35) to control the second power converter ([0117]), wherein
the control circuitry device determines the input voltage of the first power converter based on position data indicating a height of the power conversion device (Figs. 8-10 and [0124]: DC-link voltage is changed via operating mode of chopper 3 based on detected altitude information from altitude sensor 21), and data relative to a failure rate of the first power converter attributable to neutrons ([0009], [0142]), and controls the second power converter to generate the input voltage determined ([0124]-[0125]).
D1 does not disclose that the position data further indicates latitude and longitude. Whereas D2 teaches that Cosmic ray (CR) neutron flux, and consequent component failure due to CR neutrons is dependent on latitude and longitude in addition to altitude of a power conversion device aboard an aircraft (p. 1591, left column, subsection A. Atmospheric nucleon flux at aircraft altitudes, second paragraph: “The neutron flux at any point in the atmosphere can be quantified if the following quantities are known - the latitude and longitude of the location, ... and altitude of interest”). D2 further teaches that determination of component failure rates can be made more accurate by taking into account the additional position data of latitude and longitude (id. and first two paragraphs under subsection B. SEB failure rate estimation).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the device in D1 by taking into account the additional position data of latitude/longitude, as taught by D2. Doing so would have predictably improved the data relative to component failure rate attributable to neutrons, resulting in improved determination of appropriate input voltage to the first power converter in D1.
In re claim 2, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes a measuring instrument to collect the position data of the power conversion device (D1, Fig. 1: altitude sensor 21; in D2, the measuring instruments to collect latitude and longitude are implied as necessary for obtaining the data to determine the neutron flux and resulting component failure rate, as taught at p. 1591 and explained above), wherein the control circuitry device calculates an amount of neutrons with which the power conversion device is irradiated, by using the position data acquired from the measuring instrument (D1: [0009], [0142]; and D2: p. 1591. Left column, subsection A. Atmospheric nucleon flux at aircraft altitudes: the neutron flux due to cosmic rays can be calculated given the position data of latitude, longitude, and altitude), and determines the input voltage based on correlation data between the failure rate and the input voltage of the first power converter with respect to the amount of neutrons calculated (D1: Figs. 8-10 and [0124] demonstrates how the DC link voltage is changed based on failure rate differences based on the position data).
In re claim 3, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes wherein the control circuitry determines the input voltage based on a voltage value when the failure rate is less than or equal to a predetermined design value in the correlation data (Fig. 10 and [0124]: the determined input voltage is always based on a voltage value, including when the failure rate is less than or equal to a predetermined design value in the correlation data).
In re claims 4 and 10, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes a detector to acquire temperature information of the first power converter (D1, Fig. 28: temperature sensor 19), wherein the control circuitry corrects the correlation data by using the temperature information acquired from the detector, and determines the input voltage based on the correlation data corrected (see Figs. 8-10, 14, 29; see [0165]-[0166]).
In re claims 5 and 11, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes wherein the detector detects an outside air temperature of the power conversion device or a temperature of a semiconductor element mounted on the first power converter (D1: [0136], [0165]).
In re claim 7, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes a measuring instrument to collect the position data of the power conversion device (D1, Fig. 1: altitude sensor 21; in D2, the measuring instruments to collect latitude and longitude are implied as necessary for obtaining the data to determine the neutron flux and resulting component failure rate, as taught at p. 1591 and explained above); and
a storage device to store a map indicating a relationship between a position and the input voltage of the first power converter (D1: storage map Fig. 88 for correlating position data to voltage information; see [0264]), wherein the control device determines, by using the map, the input voltage from the position data acquired from the measuring instrument ([0264]-[0265]).
In re claims 6, 8 and 12-14, the above combination of D1 and D2 further includes wherein the power source, the load, and the power conversion device are mounted on an aircraft (D1: Abstract, [0108]), and while the aircraft is in flight, the control device calculates the amount of neutrons by using the position data for each control cycle, and determines the input voltage (D1: [0124], [0125], [0142]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 2023/0045952 discloses DC BUS VOLTAGE CONTROL in an aircraft power electronics system that includes varying a DC bus voltage based on altitude and other environmental conditions data.
US 2023/0133771 discloses ELECTRICAL CONVERTER that maintains operational reliability of converter components by adjusting DC voltage or temperature based on altitude information.
“Failure modes and reliability oriented system design for aerospace power electronics converters” by Harikumaran et al. discloses calculating neutron flux density for purposes of maintaining power component operational reliability in aircraft power electronics based on position data including latitude, longitude, and altitude.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRED E FINCH III whose telephone number is (571)270-7883. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at (571) 272-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FRED E FINCH III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
1 Both the cited WIPO publication and its US equivalent were cited by Applicant in the IDS filed on 24 April 2025.
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