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 .
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 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 of this title, 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 2-4, 6, 8 & 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oliver (US 2017/0070087), in view of Chen (US 5,597,991) and Churnock (US 2018/0138740).
With regard to claim 2, Oliver teaches an electrical power distribution system comprising: a bypass unit (522) configured to selectively couple a load (564) to either a first unit (502) or a second unit (504), wherein the first unit comprises a first circuit breaker (506) configured to selectively couple a power bus to the bypass unit, and the second unit comprises a second circuit breaker (512) configured to selectively couple the power bus to the bypass unit, wherein the bypass unit comprises a control system (paragraphs 0043 & 0044) configured to: detect fault conditions in the first or second units (emergency operation state, paragraphs 0027 & 0028), and selectively transfer the load between the first unit and the second unit (paragraphs 0027 & 0028).
Oliver does not teach the first unit comprises a first disconnect switch, that the second unit comprises a second disconnect switch or selectively transferring the load between the first unit and the second unit in response to the detected fault conditions
Chen, in Figure 3, teaches a circuit breaker unit wherein the unit comprises a circuit breaker (14) and a disconnect switch (12) coupled in series.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Oliver with Chen, by including a disconnect switch with the first and second breakers of Oliver, for the purpose of allowing a worker to manually disconnect the power supply from the load by using a knife blade handle.
Churnock, in Figure 1, teaches an automatic transfer switch to transfer power from between a first and second power source to a load. It is further taught that the transfer switch comprises a control system configured to detect fault conditions in the first or second units, and selectively transfer the load between the first unit and the second unit in response to the detected fault conditions (paragraph 0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Oliver with Churnock, by causing the bypass unit of Oliver to transfer between the two power sources based on detected fault conditions in the power sources, for the purpose of allowing the load to be continuously operated without the need for a user to manually toggle the bypass unit if the primary load is faulted.
With regard to claims 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9, Oliver in view of Chen and Churnock discloses the system of claim 2, and further discloses that the control system is further configured to automatically isolate a faulted unit by opening a corresponding circuit breaker before transferring the load to the other unit (paragraphs 0028 & 0029) (re claim 3), wherein the bypass unit further comprises a manual override control that allows an operator to manually select the first unit or second unit for powering the load (paragraph 0020 of Oliver teaches that the switches may be manually switched) (re claim 4), wherein the fault conditions detected by the control system include overload, short-circuit, or ground fault events in the first or second unit (Churnock, paragraph 0045) (re claim 6), wherein the bypass unit includes a user interface that provides real-time information about fault conditions and operational statuses of the first and second units (Churnock, paragraph 0095) (re claim 8), wherein the control system is configured to transmit a trip signal to the circuit breaker of the faulted unit prior to transferring the load to the other unit (paragraph 0020 of Oliver teaches that the switches may be manually switched) (re claim 9).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oliver (US 2017/0070087), in view of Chen (US 5,597,991).
With regard to claim 12, Oliver teaches an electrical power distribution system (500) comprising: a bypass unit (522) configured to selectively couple a load (564) to either a first unit (502) or a second unit (508); wherein the first unit comprises a first circuit breaker (506), and the second unit comprises a second circuit breaker (512), each configured to selectively couple a power bus to the bypass unit; wherein the first unit, the second unit, and the bypass unit are each independently housed in separate compartments and are configured for modular installation and removal from the electrical power distribution system (as seen in Fig. 2), and wherein the bypass unit is configured to maintain uninterrupted power to the load during the removal or replacement of the first unit or the second unit (this would necessarily be the case as when the circuit breakers are opened and the bypass unit is switched to the second power unit, power will be provided to the load regardless of the first power source being connected to the system or not).
Oliver does not teach that the first unit comprises a first disconnect switch or that the second unit comprises a second disconnect switch.
Chen, in Figure 3, teaches a circuit breaker unit wherein the unit comprises a circuit breaker (14) and a disconnect switch (12) coupled in series.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Oliver with Chen, by including a disconnect switch with the first and second breakers of Oliver, for the purpose of allowing a worker to manually disconnect the power supply from the load by using a knife blade handle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 10, 11 & 13-21 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the control system including sensors that monitor temperature, voltage, and current within the first and second units to detect the fault conditions.
Claim 7 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit further comprising auxiliary relays configured to communicate status signals to an external monitoring system regarding a status of the first and second units and any detected fault conditions.
Claim 10 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the control system being programmed to implement a pre-determined load shedding sequence to reduce power consumption in response to certain fault conditions in either unit.
Claim 11 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit being further configured to initiate a self-diagnostic test on the first and second units when no load is connected to ensure operational readiness before transferring the load.
Claim 13 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with an integrated safety interlock system that prevents access to any compartment containing an energized unit.
Claim 14 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit comprising mechanically interlocked first and second contactors, such that only one of the first or second units is coupled to the load at any given time.
Claim 15 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the first unit, the second unit, and the bypass unit each including a housing with extendable and retractable power stabs that connect to and disconnect from the power bus when installed or removed.
Claim 16 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit including a load-side circuit breaker, positioned proximate to the power transfer switch relative to the first and second units, to provide additional protection to the load.
Claim 17 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit further comprising an auxiliary switch that automatically transmits a control signal to the circuit breaker of the first or second unit during the transfer of the load to facilitate isolation.
Claim 18 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the first and second units including interlocks that prevent their removal from the system unless their respective circuit breakers are in an open state.
Claim 19 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit comprising status indicators for each unit, configured to indicate whether the first or second unit is powering the load or is in an isolated state.
Claim 20 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit further including a backup power source configured to maintain power to the control system and the load during a primary power failure.
Claim 21 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest electrical power distribution system comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the bypass unit being configured to provide remote monitoring and control capabilities, allowing an external operator to monitor status and control the operation of the bypass unit, first unit, and second unit via a network interface.
Conclusion
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/Scott Bauer/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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