DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the application filed on 17 June 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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In page 8, “Further, the current stress of each power switch may be derived from Equation (7).” provides an informality. There is no equation (7).
Drawing objection
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The drawing is objected to because of the following informalities:
In Fig. 9, D (red arrow) should be C.
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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roberto Rizzolatti et. al (2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), DOI: 10.1109/APEC42165.2021.9487136; hereafter “Roberto”) in view of Da Jin et. al (US2023/0238173A1; hereafter “Jin”).
-Regarding claim 1;
Roberto discloses:
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A power conversion system (Fig. 2), comprising a positive input interface (Fig. 2; red arrow a), a negative input interface (Fig. 2; red arrow b), a positive output interface(Fig. 2; red arrow c), a negative output interface(Fig. 2; red arrow d), a resonant capacitor (Fig. 2; Cres1, Cres2) .a transformer(Fig. 2; green arrow), and a proximal power conversion unit (Fig. 2; Q1, Q2, and Q3) and a distal power conversion unit (Fig. 2; Q4, Q5, and Q6) connected in parallel between the positive input interface and the negative input interface, wherein an input capacitor(Fig. 2; Vin), is arranged between the positive input interface and the negative input interface, an output capacitor (Fig. 2; Vout) is arranged between the positive output interface and the negative output interface, the proximal power conversion unit comprises a proximal first power switch (Fig. 2;Q1) ,a proximal second power switch(Fig. 2;Q2), and a proximal third power switch(Fig. 2;Q3) connected in series, the distal power conversion unit comprises a distal first power switch(Fig. 2;Q4), a distal second power switch(Fig. 2;Q5), and a distal third power switch(Fig. 2;Q6) connected in series, the transformer comprises a primary winding(Fig. 2;N1) and two secondary windings(Fig. 2;N2), the two secondary windings have a same number of turns, after the resonant capacitor C and the primary winding are connected in series (Fig. 2; Cres1 and N1), undotted terminal of the secondary winding of the transformer is connected to a dotted terminal of the secondary winding of the transformer (Fig. 2; com), a dotted terminal of the secondary winding of the transformer is connected between the proximal second power switch and the proximal third power switch (Fig. 2; Vx), and an undotted terminal of the secondary winding of the transformer is connected between the distal second power switch and the distal third power switch (Fig.2; Vy ), a positive output port is connected to a connection line between the two secondary windings (Fig. 2; com) and, a negative output port is connected to a negative input port through a wire (Fig. 2; bottom line), and a ground wire is further connected to the wire between the negative output port and the negative input port (Fig. 2; ground point).
However, Roberto does not teach “one end is connected between the proximal first power switch and the proximal second power switch of the proximal power conversion unit, and the other end is connected between the distal first power switch and the distal second power switch of the distal power conversion unit; a dotted terminal of the primary winding of the transformer is located between the distal first power switch and the distal second power switch,”.
Roberto added the second LC series resonant converter to the transformer and connected the primary winding to a different node (between 2nd and 3rd switches). Roberto also discloses the identical results (Fig. 3) as the claimed invention (compare Fig. 7 in the claimed invention with Fig.3 in Roberto’s paper).
Jin discloses:
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one end is connected (above Fig; point E) between the proximal first power switch (above Fig; M6) and the proximal second power switch (above Fig; M7) of the proximal power conversion unit, and the other end is connected (above Fig; point B) between the distal first power switch(above Fig; M2) and the distal second power switch (above Fig; M3) of the distal power conversion unit; a dotted terminal of the primary winding of the transformer is located between the distal first power switch and the distal second power switch(above Fig; point B),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device described in Roberto such that one of the LC series resonant converters is deleted from the transformer and the primary winding is connected as described in Jin. Doing so allows for providing a desirable level of a flexible voltage transformation ratio in the power conversion system.
-Regarding claim 2;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 1, wherein the proximal first power switch, the distal second power switch and the proximal third power switch are controlled by a control signal I (Fig. 2; ɸa) to be turned on or off at the same time, the distal first power switch, the proximal second power switch, and the distal third power switch are controlled by a control signal II(Fig. 2; ɸb) to be turned on or off at the same time, and phases of the control signal I and the control signal II are offset from each other by 180 degrees (Fig. 3; operation waveform).
-Regarding claim 3;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 2, wherein the proximal first power switch, the proximal second power switch, the distal first power switch, and the distal second power switch each are a Si MOSFET (Introduction part), a GaN HEMT, or a SiC MOSFET (Introduction part).
-Regarding claim 4;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 2, wherein the proximal third power switch and the distal third power switch each are a Si MOSFET (Introduction part), a GaN HEMT, a SiC MOSFET (Introduction part), or a diode.
-Regarding claim 5;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 1. wherein the primary winding and the two secondary windings are wound around a same magnetic core column (Fig. 2; N1 and N2).
-Regarding claim 6;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 2, wherein the primary winding and the two secondary windings are wound around a same magnetic core column (Fig. 2; N1 and N2).
-Regarding claim 7;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 3, wherein the primary winding and the two secondary windings are wound around a same magnetic core column (Fig. 2; N1 and N2).
-Regarding claim 8;
Roberto discloses:
The power conversion system according to claim 4, wherein the primary winding and the two secondary windings are wound around a same magnetic core column (Fig. 2; N1 and N2).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The reference (Cheng Li, A Comparative Study of Hybrid DC-DC Converters by Indirect Power) reviews and classifies hybrid converters from the perspective of the power processed by their components.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEUNG HO CHOI whose telephone number is (571)272-8188. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Crystal Hammond can be reached at 571-270-1682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEUNG HO CHOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/CRYSTAL L HAMMOND/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838