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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 17 the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 2, 18, 11, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claims 2 and 18 recite “optionally” with renders the claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 11, 25 recites the limitation "of one or more of the inverter circuits”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 3-10, 12-24 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph for indirectly including the above noted deficiencies.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10-14, 16-22, 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 2022/0140781).
With respect to claim 1, Zhang discloses apparatus for use in a solar power plant which comprises a plurality of photovoltaic panels (paragraph 0003, figure 1 disclose a photovoltaic power station), the apparatus comprising: a plurality of power conditioning units (combiner box), each power conditioning unit being adapted to collect DC power at a panel voltage from each of one or more photovoltaic panels associated with the power conditioning unit (combiner box collect DC power from photovoltaic panels), and to pass the DC power to an intermediate power transfer line, such as cabling (figure 8 discloses that the combiner box passes the DC power to a DC cable); and a common inverter unit adapted to receive the DC power from the plurality of power conditioning units through the intermediate power transfer line and to convert the DC power into AC power for output (paragraphs 0004-0005 and the figures discloses an Inverter to receive DC power from the combiner boxes and transmit the AC power to a grid, paragraph 0022).
With respect to claims 2, 18, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, wherein each power conditioning unit comprises a converter adapted to raise the voltage of the collected DC power above both the peak voltage of the AC power, and above the panel voltage of any of the associated photovoltaic panels, for transmission to the common inverter unit through the intermediate power transfer line as high voltage DC power, the apparatus optionally arranged such that the high voltage DC power has a voltage of at least 350 V, or at least 400 V, when the common inverter unit is outputting said AC power. Paragraphs 0082-0089 discloses that the combiner boxes comprise DC-DC boost converters.
With respect to claims 3,19, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, further comprising an energy storage unit coupled to each power conditioning unit, the power conditioning unit being arranged to selectively store at least a portion of the collected DC power, and to selectively release at least a portion of the stored DC power to the common inverter unit through the intermediate power transfer line, the storage of the DC power by the energy storage unit being at substantially the voltage of the high voltage DC power. Figures 15-16, paragraphs 0317-0318 disclose an Energy storage Apparatus to store and release stored DC power.
With respect to claim 4, Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 3, arranged such that selective storing of at least a portion of the collected DC power is controlled dependent on the voltage of the high voltage DC power. Paragraph 0317 discloses matching the voltage of the DC bus to the storage battery.
With respect to claims 5, 20, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, arranged such that the voltage of the high voltage DC power is dependent upon one or both of: a concurrent demand for AC power for output by the common inverter unit; and concurrently collected DC power from the photovoltaic panels associated with the plurality of power conditioning units. Zhang discloses that the DC bus voltage is dependent on DC power provided by the panels and the combiner circuit, paragraphs 0316-0317.
With respect to claims 6, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, wherein each power conditioning unit is arranged to condition the collected DC power using maximum power point tracking to control the panel voltage and/or the output current of each of the one or more photovoltaic panels associated with the power conditioning unit. Paragraph 0084 discloses that each DC/DC converters implement MPPT function.
With respect to claim 7, Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein each power conditioning unit is adapted to collect DC power from no more than four associated photovoltaic panels, or wherein each power conditioning unit is adapted to collect DC power from only one associated photovoltaic panel. Paragraphs 0083-0084 and the figures disclose that the DC-DC converters collect DC power from one or more than four photovoltaic panels.
With respect to claims 8, 22, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, wherein the common inverter unit comprises a plurality of separate inverter circuits, each inverter circuit being arranged to receive a portion of the DC power from the intermediate power transfer line and to convert the received portion of DC power into AC power for output, the common inverter unit being arranged to selectively activate or inactivate one or more of the inverter circuits. Figures 8-16 discloses selectively activating a plurality of inverters (DC/AC).
With respect to claims 10, 24, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, wherein the common inverter unit is arranged to detect a faulty one of the inverter circuits and subsequently to avoid selection of that faulty inverter circuit for conversion of the DC power into AC power for output. Paragraphs 0010, 0117-0018, 0145-0146 discloses that when one of the inverters is faulty another inverter inverts the power.
With respect to claims 11, 25, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, wherein the common inverter unit is arranged to maintain a measure of reliability of one or more of the inverter circuits, and to limit power loading of one or more of these inverter circuits according to the measure of reliability. Zhang discloses that when some inverters are faulty, another inverter inverts the DC, to thereby improve the energy transmission efficiency, and thus limiting the use of the faulty inverters and thus increase reliability.
With respect to claims 12, 21, Zhang discloses the apparatus of one of the claims, in which all of the power conditioning units are connected electrically in parallel to the common inverter unit through the intermediate power transfer line. Zhang discloses in the figures that the DC-DC converters are connected in parallel to the inverter via the cable line.
With respect to claim 13, Zhang discloses a solar power plant comprising the apparatus of claim 1, the plurality of photovoltaic panels, and the intermediate power transfer line. See Photovoltaic power station of the figures, paragraph 0064.
With respect to claim 14, Zhang discloses the solar power plant of claim 13, comprising at least ten of the power conditioning units arranged to pass the high voltage DC power to the common inverter unit through the intermediate power transfer line. Zhang discloses in the figures that the combiner box comprises a plurality of DC converters, more than ten.
With respect to claim 16, Zhang discloses the solar power plant of claim 13, wherein each power conditioning unit is one of: incorporated within, mounted to, or located within 5 meters of the, or one of the, photovoltaic panels associated with the power conditioning unit. Figure 1 discloses that the combiner box/DC-DC converters are located within the panels.
With respect to claim 17, Zhang discloses the apparatus necessary to complete the recited method steps, as discussed above in the rejection of claim 1.
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) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2022/0140781).
With respect to claim 15, Zhang discloses the solar power plant of claim 13; except for, wherein the average length of the intermediate power transfer line between each of the power conditioning units and the common inverter unit is at least 10 meters.
Zhang discloses in the figures 8-16 a DC cable for connecting the combiner box with the inverter.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention, to have modify Zhang and include the length of the cable to be at least 10 meters, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9, 23 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.
Claim 9 is allowable over the prior art of record, because the prior art of record does not disclose wherein at least two of the inverter circuits have different efficiency characteristics than each other with respect to the amount of power being converted, and the common inverter unit is arranged to selectively activate and inactivate different ones of the inverter circuits according to the different efficiency characteristics of those inverter circuits and a detected current demand for AC power for output.
Claim 23 is allowable over the prior art of record, because the prior art of record does not disclose wherein at least two of the inverter circuits have different efficiency characteristics than each other with respect to the amount of power being converted, the method comprising detecting a current demand for AC power for output, and controlling the common inverter unit to selectively activate and inactivate different ones of the inverter circuits according to the different efficiency characteristics of those inverter circuits and the current demand for AC power for output.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nishi (US 2005/0105224) discloses a plurality of DC/DC converters connected via a line to an inverter. Zhang et al. (US 2009/0284240) discloses an energy generating system connected to local converters and to an inverter.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS AMAYA whose telephone number is (571)272-8941. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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/CARLOS AMAYA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836