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 Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 4 should recite “opposite at least one heat generating component”, with ‘a’ deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Churchill et al. (“Churchill”; US 2022/0340292).
Regarding claim 1: Churchill discloses a motor and inverter assembly (Fig. 1B), comprising:
a motor, including:
a rotor (148) ;
a stator (152) concentrically arranged with the rotor;
a shaft (140) coupled to a central portion of the rotor and configured to transmit a rotational force to a propulsor (104, Fig. 1A) coupled to the shaft, to drive the propulsor;
a first housing (upper part of housing above stator 152, shown by the solid circle in annotated Fig. 1B below) coupled to a first end portion of a frame of the stator; and
a second housing (lower part of housing below stator 152, shown by the dashed circle in annotated Fig. 1B below) coupled to a second end portion of the frame of the stator, such that the rotor and the stator are positioned between the first housing and the second housing (as shown in Fig. 1B); and
an inverter assembly coupled to the motor, the inverter assembly comprising:
a plurality of inverters (164, 168); and a plurality of support members coupled between the plurality of inverters and the second housing, to couple the plurality of inverters to the motor (inherent as the inverters need to be supported and they are within the second housing).
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Regarding claim 2: Churchill discloses the first housing includes:
a central opening guiding the shaft therethrough (at the exact location of the solid circle in annotated Fig. 1B above);
a bearing receptacle defined at the central opening, the bearing receptacle housing a first bearing (unlabeled but clearly apparent within the above circled region, paragraph 0051);
a flanged portion formed along a peripheral portion of the first housing (at the location of the line leading from 104); and
a plurality of mounting points formed in the flanged portion, wherein the plurality of mounting points are configured to receive a fastener for coupling the motor and inverter assembly to a structural component of an aircraft (as 104 is a propulsor, it must inherently be mounted to the motor).
Regarding claim 3: Churchill discloses the first bearing is a tapered roller bearing configured to support a load generated in response to rotation of the propulsor (shown by the angled lines in the annotated figure below), the first bearing including:
a first roller bearing (bearing at the upper arrow in the annotated figure below) received in the bearing receptacle of the first housing, the first roller bearing having a first bearing capacity configured to react to a moment force imparted on the shaft in response to rotation of the propulsor (inherent for a bearing); and
a second roller bearing (bearing at lower arrow in the annotated figure below) received in the bearing receptacle of the first housing, the second roller bearing having a second bearing capacity configured to react to a thrust load imparted on the shaft in response to rotation of the propulsor (as the bearing is at an angle, it will react to a force in the A direction).
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Regarding claim 15: Churchill discloses the shaft is a hollow shaft configured to receive components of a pitch control mechanism therethrough (paragraph 0020), coupling an actuation device at a first end portion of the shaft to the propulsor coupled to a second end portion of the shaft (first and second end portion here is not further defined and thus can be open to interpretation of wherever said pitch control mechanism is attached).
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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Churchill, in view of Lugt et al. (“Lugt”; US 2025/0290829).
Regarding claim 14: Churchull discloses a sealed bearing received in one of the first housing or the second housing and supporting the shaft (shown by the arrows in the annotated figure above).
Churchill does not explicitly disclose a temperature sensor coupled in the one of the first housing or the second housing and configured to detect a grease temperature proximate an outer race of the sealed bearing, wherein the grease temperature is indicative of a condition of the sealed bearing.
However, Lugt discloses a temperature sensor (2) coupled in the one of the first housing or the second housing (when combined with Churchill, in this case the first housing) and configured to detect a grease temperature proximate an outer race of the sealed bearing (paragraph 0013),
wherein the grease temperature is indicative of a condition of the sealed bearing (paragraph 0013).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sealed bearing of Churchill to have the grease temperature sensor of Lugt in order to better understand the service life of the bearing (paragraph 0005).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 16-29 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the motor and inverter assembly of claim 4, specifically comprising:
a first fan coupled to the rotor, positioned between the rotor and the first housing, and configured to rotate with the rotor to draw cooling air from the first housing radially into the motor; and a second fan coupled to the shaft, positioned between the second housing and the inverter assembly, and configured to rotate with the shaft to draw cooling air axially through the motor, in the context of the other components in the claim.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the motor and inverter assembly of claim 16, specifically comprising:
a radial fan coupled to the rotor, at a first end portion of the motor, and configured to rotate with the rotor to draw cooling air radially into the motor; an axial fan coupled to the shaft, at a second end portion of the motor, and configured to rotate with the shaft to draw cooling air axially through the motor, in the context of the other components in the claim.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the motor and inverter assembly of claim 26, specifically comprising:
cooling air is drawn radially into the motor by the first plurality of vanes and the second plurality of vanes; a first portion of cooling air flows in a radial direction along the first side of the base, through adjacent vanes of the first plurality of vanes, and is guided in an axial direction by a stationary shroud coupled radially outward from the radial fan; and a second portion of the cooling air flows in the radial direction along the second side of the base, and is guided in the axial direction by a contour of the second side of the base defining a rotating shroud, in context of the other components in the claim.
Claims 5-13, 17-25, and 27-29 are allowable due to their dependency on an allowed claim.
Note, Leli et al. (US 2017/0346366) discloses two fans 24, 28 at two ends of a motor, but is silent as to the axial and radial airflows claimed above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN GUGGER whose telephone number is (571)272-5343. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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/SEAN GUGGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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