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 § 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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 10-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Banarjee et al.US publication no.: US 2014/0268460 A1.
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Banarjee et al. teach, An electric machine (machine 100, figure 1) for an aircraft, comprising a stator (stator 405, figure 4) and a rotor (rotor 400, figure 4) mounted movable in rotation relative to the stator, said rotor comprising at least one permanent magnet, said stator comprising an outer casing and at least three phases (see figure 1; phases A-C) , each of the phases comprising a winding (windings 110a-c, figure 1) , a control branch (112a-c, figure 1) and a neutral branch (branch connection to point N, figure 1), said control branches being configured so as to be connected to a power conversion device (see “power converter’, paragraph 16), said neutral branches being connected together at a neutral point (Neutral point N ,figure 1) said electric machine further comprising at least one protection member (protective element Pea, Peb, Pec, figures 1-2) mounted on the neutral branch of at least one of the phases, at least a portion of the neutral branch of each of the phases on which the protection member is mounted extending externally to the outer casing of the stator, the protection member comprising: an inactive state, wherein the protection member allows a circulation of an electric current in each of the phases on the neutral branch of which the protection member is mounted (see “first configuration”, paragraph 18), and a protection state (see “second configuration”, paragraph 18), wherein the protection member interrupts the circulation of the electric current in each of the phases on the neutral branch of which the protection member is mounted, so as to protect the electric machine in an event of a short-circuit (see paragraph 18 to protection members are utilizes prevent current from flowing through that phase due to short circuit).
Regarding claim 3, Banarjee et al. teach, the electric machine according to claim 1, wherein the neutral branch of each of a plurality of the phases is equipped the protection member (protective element Pea, Peb, Pec, figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 4, Banarjee et al. teach, the electric machine according to claim 1, wherein the protection member of a plurality of the phases is dipolar protection member, being mounted on the neutral branch of the phase (see paragraph 18 “circuit breaker”).
Regarding claim 6, Banarjee et al. teach, the electric machine according to claim 1,wherein each the protection member comprises a switch (see paragraph 18 “circuit breaker”) for each phase on which the protection member is mounted.
Regarding claim 7, Banarjee et al. teach, An assembly of an electric the electric machine according to claim 1 and a power conversion device, said power conversion device being connected to the control branch of each of the phases (see the rejection of claim 1 above and figures 1 and 4).
Regarding claim 11, The electric machine according to claim 3, wherein the neutral branch of at least N-1 of the phases, with N designating a number of phases of the stator, is equipped with the protection member (see figure 1 where the is a protection member for each phase).
Regarding claim 13, The electric machine according to claim 6, wherein the switch is at least one of an electromechanical contactor, a static contactor, and a pyrotechnic fuse (see paragraph 18) .
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 2, 5, 8 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Banarjee et al.US publication no.: US 2014/0268460 A1.
Regarding claim 2, Banarjee et al. is silent on specifically teaching, The electric machine as claimed in claim 1,wherein the neutral point is positioned externally of the outer casing of the stator.
However, providing a neutral point to be positioned externally of the outer casing of the stator could’ve been easily configured by one with the ordinary skills in the art especially given the teachings of Banarjee et al. as seen in figures 1-4.
Therefore, in view of Banarjee et al.’s teachings it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art, before effective filing date of the invention, to include; wherein the neutral point is positioned externally of the outer casing of the stator, for the purpose of simplified wiring and easy of assembly and maintenance.
Regarding claim 5, Banarjee et al. is silent on specifically teaching, the electric machine according to claim 1 , wherein the protection member of a plurality of the phases together form a single multipole protection member mounted on the neutral branch of each of the plurality of the phases.
However, providing single multipole protection member could’ve easily been configured by one with the ordinary skills in the art as it achieves similar results.
Therefore, in view of Banarjee et al.’s teachings it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art, before effective filing date of the invention, to include, wherein the protection member of a plurality of the phases together form a single multipole protection member mounted on the neutral branch of each of the plurality of the phases, for the purpose of simplified wiring and reducing size.
Regarding claim 8, Banarjee et al. is silent on specifically teaching, the assembly according to claim 7, wherein the power conversion device comprises an outer casing, the neutral point being positioned internally to the outer casing of the power conversion device.
However, providing a neutral point to be positioned externally of the outer casing of the stator could’ve been easily configured by one with the ordinary skills in the art especially given the teachings of Banarjee et al. as seen in figures 1-4.
Therefore, in view of Banarjee et al.’s teachings it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art, before effective filing date of the invention, to include; wherein the neutral point is positioned externally of the outer casing of the stator, for the purpose of simplified wiring and easy of assembly and maintenance.
Regarding claim 12, Banarjee et al. is silent on specifically teaching, the electric machine according to claim 5, wherein the single multipole protection member is mounted on the neutral branch of all of the phases of the stator.
Protection member is mounted on the neutral branch as seen in figures 1-4. However, providing single multipole protection member could’ve easily been configured by one with the ordinary skills in the art as it achieves similar results.
Therefore, in view of Banarjee et al.’s teachings it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art, before effective filing date of the invention, to include, wherein the single multipole protection member is mounted on the neutral branch of all of the phases of the stator, for the purpose of simplified wiring and reducing size.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Banarjee et al.US publication no.: US 2014/0268460 A1. in view of Nishimura et al. US publication no.: US 2023/0327596 A1.
Regarding claim 9, an aircraft comprising the electric machine according to claim 1.
Banajree et al. teach the electric machine as seen in the rejection of claim 1 but is silent on specifically teaching “aircraft” utilizing electric machine of claim 1.
However, Nishimura et al. is in the same field of art and teach: “aircraft” utilizing electric machine of claim 1 (see paragraph 266 and figure 1, where it is seen that a power conversion device can be applied to many apparatuses).
Therefore, in view of Nishimur et al.’s teachings it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art, before effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Banarjee et al. to include; an aircraft comprising the electric machine according to claim 1, for the purpose of providing a variant apparatus to be controlled.
Conclusion
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/ZOHEB S IMTIAZ/Primary Examiner , Art Unit 2837
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