DETAILED ACTION
Non-Final Rejection
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 .
Drawings
The drawings (figs. 4 and 7) are objected to because the items 152 -166 and 302-308 should be changed to corresponding text. See, [0045]-[0056] and [00128]-[00130] of current application PgPub.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1
Each of claims1-23 falls within one of the four statutory categories. See MPEP § 2106.03. For example, each of claims 1-20 fall within category of process; each of claims 21-23 fall within category of machine, i.e., a “concrete thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices and combination of devices.” Digitech, 758 F.3d at 1348–49, 111 USPQ2d at 1719 (quoting Burr v. Duryee, 68 U.S. 531, 570, 17 L. Ed. 650, 657 (1863));.
Regarding Claims 1-20
Step 2A – Prong 1
Exemplary claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea of estimating a health status of a pitch energy storage.
The abstract idea is set forth or described by the following bold limitations:
1. A method for estimating a health status of a pitch energy storage unit of a wind turbine, the method comprising:
providing an equivalent circuit model of the pitch energy storage unit, the equivalent circuit model including an equivalent series resistor and at least one electrical energy storage element connected between two power terminals;
repeatedly sampling a voltage u and a corresponding current im at the two power terminals;
determining at least one voltage change and at least one current change for a plurality of voltage samples and the corresponding current samples;
performing an optimization procedure based at least on the equivalent circuit model, the plurality of the voltage samples, the plurality of the current samples, the determined voltage changes, and the determined current changes to obtain an updated resistance Ri of the equivalent series resistor and updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element; and,
estimating at least one status of health parameter for the pitch energy storage unit by comparing at least one of the updated resistance Ri and the updated at least one model parameter with at least one threshold value.
The bold limitations above represent a mathematical concepts (i.e., a process that can be performed by mathematical relationships or rules or idea). Therefore, the bold limitations fall within the subject matter groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in Section I of the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance.
For example, the limitations “estimating a health status [..]; providing an equivalent circuit model [..]; repeatedly sampling a voltage u and a corresponding current im [..];determining at least one voltage change and at least one current change[..]; performing an optimization procedure[..]; estimating at least one status of health parameter[..]” a mathematical concepts (i.e., a process that can be performed by mathematical relationships or rules or idea, see [0040]-[0046], [0051]-[0091] of current application PgPub.
Limitations are considered together as a single abstract idea for further analysis. (discussing Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593 (2010)).
Step 2A – Prong 2
Claims 1 does not include additional elements (when considered individually, as an ordered combination, and/or within the claim as a whole) that are sufficient to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
For example,1st additional first element is “a voltage u and a corresponding current im at the two power terminals” to be performed, at least in-part, these additional elements appear to only add insignificant extra-solution activity (e.g., data gathering and or pre solution activity and /or field of use) and only generally link the abstract idea to a particular field. Therefore, this element individually or as a whole does not provide a practical application. See MPEP 2106.05(f).
The 2nd additional element is “pitch energy storage unit of a wind turbine”. This element amounts to mere use of a generic turbine system, which is well understood routine and conventional (see background of current discloser and IDS and PTO 892) and this element individually does not provide a practical application. In view of the above, the “additional element” individually or combine does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. see MPEP 2106.05(d).
In view of the above, the “additional elements” individually do not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. Furthermore, the “additional elements” in combination amount to a plurality of generic component with software, where such computers and software amount to mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer(s) and/or mere use of a generic computer component(s) as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Therefore, these elements in combination do not provide a practical application. The combination of additional elements does no more than generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, and for this additional reason, the combination of additional elements does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. Noting MPEP 2106.04(d)(I): “It is notable that mere physicality or tangibility of an additional element or elements is not a relevant consideration in Step 2A Prong Two. As the Supreme Court explained in Alice Corp., mere physical or tangible implementation of an exception does not guarantee eligibility. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 224, 110 USPQ2d 1976, 1983-84 (2014) ("The fact that a computer ‘necessarily exist[s] in the physical, rather than purely conceptual, realm,’ is beside the point")”.
Step 2B
Claims1 does not include additional elements, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. For example, the limitation of Claim 1 contains additional elements that are, i.e. “turbine, pitch energy storage unit ”, generic device and component, which are well understood, routine and convention (see background of current discloser and IDS and PTO 892) and MPEP 2106.05(d))The reasons for reaching this conclusion are substantially the same as the reasons given above in § Step 2A – Prong 2. For brevity only, those reasons are not repeated in this section. See MPEP §§ 2106.05(g) and MPEP §§2106.05(II).
.
Dependent Claims 2-16 and 18-20
Dependent claims 2-16 and 18-20 fail to cure this deficiency of independent claim 1 (set forth above) and are rejected accordingly. Particularly, claims 2-16 and 18-20 recite limitations that represent (in addition to the limitations already noted above) either the abstract idea of mathematical concepts (bold) or an additional element that is merely extra-solution activity(data gathering)(italicized), mere use of instructions and/or generic components and/computer component(s) as a tool to implement the abstract idea, and/or merely limits the abstract idea to a particular technological environment(under line).
For examples:
2. the optimization procedure is based on a predetermined number of sample tuples (x1, x2, x3, im), each sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im) including a present voltage sample (u=x3), a corresponding time derivative (x1=du/dt) of the voltage u, a present current sample im, and a corresponding time derivative (x2=dim/dt) of the current im; and, the optimization procedure is performed when a predetermined number of sample tuples (x1, x2, x3, im) has been stored in a buffer storage.
3.determining whether a present sample tuple meets at least one predetermined filter criterion; and, if the at least one predetermined filter criterion is met, adding the present sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im) to the buffer storage, otherwise, discarding the present sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im).
4. determining whether a present sample tuple meets at least one predetermined filter criterion if the present sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im) differs from all sample tuples contained in the buffer storage; and, if the at least one predetermined filter criterion is met, adding the present sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im) to the buffer storage, otherwise, discarding the present sample tuple (x1, x2, x3, im).
5. the optimization procedure is performed multiple times, and the method further comprises: selecting starting values for a set of optimization parameters optimized by the optimization procedure; determining at least one quality parameter RSSnew associated with updated values of the set of optimization parameters obtained after performing the optimization procedure starting from the starting values; and, if the at least one quality parameter RSSnew associated with the set of optimization parameters meets at least one quality condition, computing the updated resistance of the equivalent series resistor and the updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element, and otherwise maintaining a previously computed resistance of the equivalent series resistor and the at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element.
6. selecting the starting values for the set of optimization parameters includes at least one of the following: selecting a set of predefined initial starting values; and, selecting the updated values obtained at a previous time when the optimization procedure was performed.
7. selecting the starting values for the set of optimization parameters includes selecting a set of predefined initial starting values for performing the optimization procedure for the first time or after performing the optimization procedure for a predetermined number of times.
8. each time the optimization procedure is performed, a residual sum of squares, RSS, is computed as RSS= ?A a-Im ?2, wherein A corresponds to a matrix of sample values comprising a plurality of voltage samples (x3=u) and a corresponding time derivative of the voltage (x1=du/dt) and a corresponding derivative of the current (x2=di/dt), corresponds to a vector of the optimization parameters, and Im corresponds to a vector of sampled currents; the at least one quality parameter RSSnew corresponds to the RSS; and, the at least one quality condition includes determining whether the computed RSS is smaller than an RSS computed in a previous repetition of the optimization procedure.
9. the optimization procedure is performed using a gradient optimizer; the gradient optimizer performs up to kmax optimization steps, with
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; and, the gradient optimizer minimizes the RSS.
10. said estimating the at least one status of health parameter of the pitch energy storage unit includes at least one of: comparing the updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element with a nominal parameter value of the at least one electrical energy storage element; and, comparing the updated resistance Ri with a nominal resistance value of the equivalent series resistor.
11. said estimating the at least one status of health parameter of the pitch energy storage unit includes at least one of: comparing the updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element with a nominal parameter value of the at least one electrical energy storage element with a predetermined multiple of the nominal parameter value; and, comparing the updated resistance Ri with a nominal resistance value of the equivalent series resistor with a predetermined multiple of the nominal resistance.
12. requesting at least one of a controlled charging or discharging event of the pitch energy storage unit; and, sampling the voltage u and the corresponding current im at the two power terminals at least once during the controlled charging or discharging event.
13. requesting at least one of a controlled charging or discharging event of the pitch energy storage unit using a predetermined charging or discharging current; and,
sampling the voltage u and the corresponding current im at the two power terminals at least once during the controlled charging or discharging event.
14. the pitch energy storage unit includes at least one capacitor for pitch energy storage, the at least one electrical energy storage element of the equivalent circuit model includes an equivalent capacitor and the updated at least one model parameter corresponds to an updated capacitance C of the equivalent capacitor.
15. the at least one capacitor includes an ultra-capacitor.
16. the equivalent circuit model further includes an equivalent parallel resistor with a resistance Rp connected in parallel with the equivalent capacitor, wherein a total modelled current is in the equivalent circuit model is defined by:
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18. the health status indicates an estimated capacitance C of the capacitor, and a charging voltage for the capacitor is increased from the first charging voltage to the second charging voltage based on the estimated capacitance C.
19. the health status indicates an estimated capacitance C of the capacitor, and a charging voltage for the capacitor is increased from the first charging voltage to the second charging voltage based on the estimated capacitance C in an anti-proportional ratio.
20. the pitch energy storage unit comprises at least one rechargeable battery cell for pitch energy storage, the at least one electrical energy storage element of the equivalent circuit model includes an equivalent voltage source, and the updated parameter corresponds to a voltage of the equivalent voltage source..
Examiner Notes 1
Regarding Claims 17, the claim contains the subject matter, e.g. if the health status indicates that the pitch energy storage unit is at or near a begin-of-life, then charging the capacitor to a first charging voltage sufficient to provide a predetermined amount of at least one of electrical power and energy; and, if the health status indicates that the pitch energy storage unit is at or near an end-of-life, charging the capacitor to a second charging voltage sufficient to provide the predetermined amount of at least one of electrical power and energy, wherein the second charging voltage exceeds the first charging voltage, which is integrated with practical field of application and patent eligible subject matter..
Regarding Claims 21-23
Step 2A – Prong 1
Exemplary claim 21 is directed to an abstract idea of estimating a health status of a pitch energy storage.
The abstract idea is set forth or described by the following bold limitations:
21. A pitch control system for a wind turbine, the wind turbine having an energy storage unit and a converter circuit, the energy storage unit including at least one energy storage device and at least two power terminals for receiving or providing electrical energy, the converter circuit being connected via the at least two power terminals to the energy storage unit to selectively charge or discharge the at least one energy storage device of the energy storage unit, the pitch control system comprising:
at least one controller including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code stored thereon and a processor;
said program code being configured, when executed by said processor, to:
provide an equivalent circuit model of the pitch energy storage unit, the equivalent circuit model including at least an equivalent series resistor and at least one electrical energy storage element connected between the at least two power terminals;
repeatedly sample a voltage u and a corresponding current im at the at least two power terminals;
determine at least one voltage change and at least one current change for a plurality of voltage samples and corresponding current samples;
perform an optimization procedure based at least on the equivalent circuit model, the plurality of the voltage samples, the plurality of the current samples, the determined voltage changes, and the determined current changes to obtain an updated resistance Ri of the equivalent series resistor and updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element; and,
estimate at least one status of health parameter for the pitch energy storage unit by comparing at least one of the updated resistance Ri and the updated at least one model parameter with at least one threshold value.
The bold limitations above represent a mathematical concepts (i.e., a process that can be performed by mathematical relationships or rules or idea). Therefore, the bold limitations fall within the subject matter groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in Section I of the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance.
For example, the limitations “estimating a health status [..]; providing an equivalent circuit model [..]; repeatedly sampling a voltage u and a corresponding current im [..];determining at least one voltage change and at least one current change[..]; performing an optimization procedure[..]; estimating at least one status of health parameter[..]” a mathematical concepts (i.e., a process that can be performed by mathematical relationships or rules or idea, see [0040]-[0046], [0051]-[0091] of current application PgPub.
Limitations are considered together as a single abstract idea for further analysis. (discussing Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593 (2010)).
Step 2A – Prong 2
Claims 1 does not include additional elements (when considered individually, as an ordered combination, and/or within the claim as a whole) that are sufficient to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
For example,1st additional first element is “a voltage u and a corresponding current im at the at least two power terminals” to be performed, at least in-part, these additional elements appear to only add insignificant extra-solution activity (e.g., data gathering and or pre solution activity and /or field of use) and only generally link the abstract idea to a particular field. Therefore, this element individually or as a whole does not provide a practical application. See MPEP 2106.05(f).
The 2nd additional element is “A pitch control system for a wind turbine, the wind turbine having an energy storage unit and a converter circuit, the energy storage unit including at least one energy storage device and at least two power terminals for receiving or providing electrical energy, the converter circuit being connected via the at least two power terminals to the energy storage unit to selectively charge or discharge the at least one energy storage device of the energy storage unit, the pitch control system comprising”. This element amounts to mere use of a generic turbine system, which is well understood routine and conventional (see background of current discloser and IDS and PTO 892) and this element individually does not provide a practical application. In view of the above, the “additional element” individually or combine does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. see MPEP 2106.05(d).
The 3rd additional element is “at least one controller including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code stored thereon and a processor; said program code being configured, when executed by said processor, to”. This element amounts to mere use of a generic computer component, which is well understood routine and conventional (see background of current discloser and IDS and PTO 892) and this element individually does not provide a practical application. In view of the above, the “additional element” individually or combine does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. see MPEP 2106.05(d).
In view of the above, the “additional elements” individually do not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. Furthermore, the “additional elements” in combination amount to a plurality of generic component with software, where such computers and software amount to mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer(s) and/or mere use of a generic computer component(s) as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Therefore, these elements in combination do not provide a practical application. The combination of additional elements does no more than generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, and for this additional reason, the combination of additional elements does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea. Noting MPEP 2106.04(d)(I): “It is notable that mere physicality or tangibility of an additional element or elements is not a relevant consideration in Step 2A Prong Two. As the Supreme Court explained in Alice Corp., mere physical or tangible implementation of an exception does not guarantee eligibility. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 224, 110 USPQ2d 1976, 1983-84 (2014) ("The fact that a computer ‘necessarily exist[s] in the physical, rather than purely conceptual, realm,’ is beside the point")”.
Step 2B
Claims1 does not include additional elements, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. For example, the limitation of Claim 1 contains additional elements that are, i.e. “turbine, pitch energy storage unit, battery ”, generic device and component, which are well understood, routine and convention (see background of current discloser and IDS and PTO 892) and MPEP 2106.05(d))The reasons for reaching this conclusion are substantially the same as the reasons given above in § Step 2A – Prong 2. For brevity only, those reasons are not repeated in this section. See MPEP §§ 2106.05(g) and MPEP §§2106.05(II).
.
Dependent Claims 22-23
Dependent claims 22-23 fail to cure this deficiency of independent claim 21 (set forth above) and are rejected accordingly. Particularly, claims 22-23 recite limitations that represent (in addition to the limitations already noted above) either the abstract idea of mathematical concepts (bold) or an additional element that is merely extra-solution activity(data gathering)(italicized), mere use of instructions and/or generic components and/computer component(s) as a tool to implement the abstract idea, and/or merely limits the abstract idea to a particular technological environment(under line).
For Examples
22. at least one of: the energy storage unit is a pitch energy storage unit and the converter circuit is configured as a pitch converter.
23. said at least one controller is of the converter circuit.
.
Examiner Notes 2
Regarding claims 1 and 21, claims contain an allowable subject matter, however there are 101 rejection. Closest prior art fails to teach the limitation of “estimating a health status of a pitch energy storage unit of a wind turbine comprising: performing an optimization procedure based at least on the equivalent circuit model, the plurality of the voltage samples, the plurality of the current samples, the determined voltage changes, and the determined current changes to obtain an updated resistance Ri of the equivalent series resistor and updated at least one model parameter of the at least one electrical energy storage element; and, estimating at least one status of health parameter for the pitch energy storage unit by comparing at least one of the updated resistance Ri and the updated at least one model parameter with at least one threshold value.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a) US 2025/0012253: disclose an energy storage and pitch control unit configured to: while controlling the rotor of the wind turbine, control the energy storage device or both the energy storage device and a pitch system of the wind turbine based on the determined power increment, to generate a second power increment; wherein in response to controlling the rotor of the wind turbine for a predetermined time period, the rotor control unit is configured to: stop controlling the rotor of the wind turbine; and the energy storage and pitch control unit is configured to: control the energy storage device or both the energy storage device and the pitch system through a second mixed feedforward and feedback control manner based on the determined power increment, to generate a third power increment, wherein the predetermined time period is a time period required for the second power increment to reach a steady state.
b) US 2023/0220828: disclose pitch energy storage systems for wind turbines. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to pitch energy modules employing ultracapacitors for storing electrical energy, wherein the pitch energy module replaces existing batteries within wind turbine pitch energy storage systems. Typically, wind turbines store energy for emergency pitch events within batteries mounted within a battery housing disposed within the wind turbine. However, batteries have a range of deficiencies such as slow charging and discharging times, as well as temperature dependence. Additionally, the lifetime of batteries may be limited to a certain number of charge cycles.
c) US 2019/0285058: disclose a method for testing capacity of at least one energy storage device of a pitch drive mechanism to drive a first rotor blade of a wind turbine connected to a power grid includes defining a rotor position range for implementing a first test procedure for the energy storage device(s).
d) US 2012/0327693: disclose the nacelle 104 suitably mounts to the top end of the tower 102, and the hub or rotor 106, bearing the rotor blades 108, suitably mounts to a lateral end of the nacelle 104. The rotor blades 108 may be adjusted by the pitch system 110, which is typically accommodated inside the hub or rotor 106. In certain embodiments, the pitch system 110 may control the rotor blades 108 based on pitch commands from another component of the wind turbine 100. The pitch system 110 may include one or more pitch drives (not shown) for adjusting the pitch of the rotor blades 108. Further, the pitch system 110 may include one or more pitch batteries (not shown) allowing the rotor blades 108 to be adjusted during periods of power loss. In certain embodiments, the pitch system 110 may include a pitch battery for each of the rotor blades 108.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD K ISLAM whose telephone number is (571)270-0328. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shelby A Turner can be reached at 571-272-6334. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD K ISLAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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