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 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7 depends from claim 5, but recites “a third model parameter indicating a power applied to the flow rate in a second term of the system curve.”; however, claim 5 only introduces one or more trainable model parameters. It does not introduce a first model parameter, second model parameter, or the two-term structure of the system curve, which actually appear in claim 6. Should claim 7 depend from claim 6 instead of claim 5?
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, 5-6, 11 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CHENG, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0173027 A1 (hereinafter: ‘027).
As per claim 1, ‘027 discloses a controller for central plant equipment comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising (e.g., See ‘027; [0013] and [0023], which disclose a pump controller with a processor and computer-readable memory storing program code for controlling a pump):
obtaining first values of flow rate of a fluid provided by one or more pumps to a building or campus and corresponding first values of a pressure differential across the building or campus during a first time period (e.g., See ‘027; [0028], [0035] and [0039], which disclose obtaining a flow rate of fluid being pumped and a differential pressure for a building system or zone over a time period);
generating a system curve for the building or campus that defines a relationship between the flow rate and the pressure differential using the first values of the flow rate and the pressure differential during the first time period (e.g., See ‘027; [0028], which discloses obtaining an adaptive control curve based on the flow rate and the differential pressure for the building system or zone);
predicting a second value of the pressure differential across the building or campus during a second time period using the system curve and a second value of the flow rate during the second time period (e.g., See ‘027; [0029], which discloses obtaining a control pressure set point from the adaptive control curve using the flow rate); and
operating the one or more pumps to achieve the second value of the pressure differential across the building or campus during the second time period (e.g., See ‘027; [0032], which discloses obtaining pump speed using the control pressure set point and the differential pressure).
As per claim 5, ‘027 further discloses that the system curve defines the pressure differential across the building or campus as a function of the flow rate of the fluid provided by the one or more pumps to the building or campus and one or more trainable model parameters (e.g., See ‘027; [0028] and [0029], which disclose the adaptive control curve used to determine the differential pressure for the building system or zone as a function of the flow rate and an adaptive control curve value), and that generating the system curve comprises determining values of the one or more trainable model parameters (e.g., See ‘027; [0028], which discloses obtaining the adaptive control curve value from the flow rate and the differential pressure).
As per claim 6, ‘027 further discloses that the system curve defines the pressure differential across the building or campus as a linear combination of a first term comprising a differential pressure offset and a second term comprising a scaling factor applied to the function of the flow rate (e.g., See ‘027; [0029], which discloses the control pressure set point as a differential pressure offset plus the adaptive control curve value applied to the flow rate), and that the trainable model parameters comprise a first model parameter indicating the differential pressure offset and a second model parameter indicating the scaling factor (e.g., See ‘027; [0028] and [0029], which disclose the differential pressure offset and the adaptive control curve value corresponding to a scaling factor used to determine the control pressure set point).
As per claim 11, the rational set forth above with respect to the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein.
As per claims 15 and 16, the rational set forth above with respect to the rejection of claims 5 and 6 are incorporated herein.
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 (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 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, 8, 12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHENG, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0173027 A1 (hereinafter: ‘027), as applied to claims 1 and 11, respectively, from above, and further in view of Higgins, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0022236 A1 (hereinafter: ‘236).
As per claim 2, ‘027 does not specifically disclose that generating the system curve comprises:
(1) determining whether the one or more pumps are arranged as primary pumps serving the central plant equipment or secondary pumps serving the building or campus, and at least one of:
(2a) using a first method for generating the system curve if the one or more pumps are arranged as the primary pumps; or
(2b) using a second method for generating the system curve if the one or more pumps are arranged as the secondary pumps.
‘236 discloses (1) (e.g., See ‘236; [0141], which discloses controlling a chilled water pump based on pump location or type, including a primary loop or a secondary loop), and further discloses (2b) (e.g., See ‘236; [0141], which discloses using a pump control method for a chilled water pump on a secondary loop).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘236 into ‘027 for the purpose of selecting an adaptive curve control strategy that is suited to the pump’s hydraulic loop, thereby improving control pressure set point accuracy and avoiding unnecessary pump energy.
As per claim 8, ‘027 does not specifically disclose that operating the one or more pumps to achieve the second value of the pressure differential across the building or campus during the second time period comprises:
(1) determining whether the one or more pumps are arranged as primary pumps serving the central plant equipment or secondary pumps serving the building or campus, and at least one of:
(2a) using a first method for operating the one or more pumps if the one or more pumps are arranged as the primary pumps; or
(2b) using a second method for operating the one or more pumps if the one or more pumps are arranged as the secondary pumps.
‘236 discloses (1) (e.g., See ‘236; [0141], which discloses controlling a chilled water pump based on pump location or type, including a primary loop or a secondary loop), and further discloses (2b) (e.g., See ‘236; [0141] and [0143], which disclose using a pump control method for a chilled water pump on a secondary loop and controlling secondary chilled water pumps).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘236 into ‘027 for the purpose of selecting a pump control method that is suited to the pump’s hydraulic loop, thereby improving control pressure set point accuracy and avoiding unnecessary pump energy.
As per claims 12 and 18, the rational set forth above with respect to the rejection of claims 2 and 8 are incorporated herein.
Claims 4, 10, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHENG, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0173027 A1 (hereinafter: ‘027), in view of Higgins, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0022236 A1 (hereinafter: ‘236), as applied to claims 2 and 8 (for claims 4 and 10), and claims 12 and 18 (for claims 14 and 20), respectively, from above, and further in view of Warren, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0047578 A1 (hereinafter: ‘578).
As per claim 4, ‘027 in view of ‘236 does not specifically disclose that the second method for generating the system curve comprises using a pressure differential across the secondary pumps as the first values of the pressure differential across the building or campus.
‘578 discloses this feature (e.g., See ‘578; [0179], which discloses circulating chilled water in a secondary loop through a secondary pump at a flow rate and a pressure differential).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘578 into the combination of ‘027 and ‘236 for the purpose of using secondary pump pressure differential data to generate the adaptive control curve, thereby producing a control pressure set point that better reflects secondary loop demand and improves secondary pump control.
As per claim 10, ‘027 in view of ‘236 does not specifically disclose that the second method for operating the one or more pumps comprises:
(1) using the pressure differential across the building or campus during the second time period as a pressure differential across the secondary pumps; and
(2) operating the one or more pumps to achieve the pressure differential across the secondary pumps during the second time period.
‘578 discloses (1) (e.g., See ‘578; [0179], which discloses circulating chilled water in a secondary loop through a secondary pump at a flow rate and a pressure differential), and further discloses (2) (e.g., See ‘578; [0132], [0134] and [0179], which discloses providing pressure set points to secondary pumps, calculating a pressure set point to control flow rate, and operating a secondary pump at a pressure differential).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘578 into the combination of ‘027 and ‘236 for the purpose of using a secondary pump pressure differential as the pump control target, thereby operating the secondary pump to meet secondary loop pressure demand and improve secondary pump control.
As per claims 14 and 20, the rational set forth above with respect to the rejection of claims 4 and 10 are incorporated herein.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHENG, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0173027 A1 (hereinafter: ‘027), as applied to claims 5 and 15, respectively, from above, and further in view of Warren, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0047578 A1 (hereinafter: ‘578).
As per claim 7, ‘027 does not specifically disclose that the trainable model parameters further comprise a third model parameter indicating a power applied to the flow rate in a second term of the system curve.
‘578 discloses this feature (e.g., See ‘578; [0139], [0140], [0141] and [0142], which disclose empirically calculating an operating pressure exponent and deriving a pressure exponent curve from measured pressure differential values and pump speed values).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘578 into ‘027 for the purpose of applying an empirically derived pressure exponent to the flow rate, thereby better modeling nonlinear pressure change.
As per claim 17, the rational set forth above with respect to the rejection of claim 7 is incorporated herein.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 9, 13 and 19 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.
As per claims 3 and 13, the prior art fails to teach or adequately suggest using a primary pump pressure differential and then subtracting the pressure drop from the central pant equipment to find the building or campus pressure differential, in combination with the other claimed features and or limitations as claimed.
As per claims 9 and 19, the prior art fails to teach or adequately suggest taking the building or campus pressure differential and then adding the central plant equipment pressure drop to set the primary pump pressure differential, in combination with the other claimed features and or limitations as claimed.
References Considered but Not Relied Upon
The following references were considered but were not relied upon with respect to any prior art rejections:
(1) US 10,048,701 B2, which discloses variable speed pump control using adaptive flow and pressure curves to set pump pressure and to conserve energy;
(2) US 8,774,978 B2, which discloses chilled water plant control that calculates pressure setpoints to control flow and improve plant efficiency;
(3) US 2007/0028632 A1, which discloses chiller pump control using pressure differential and flow rate to determine pump speed setpoints;
(4) US 11,536,507 B2, which discloses chilled water distribution control using building load and pump speed data to reduce energy usage;
(5) US 2022/0018564 A1, which discloses air conditioning pump control using pump flow, lift, efficiency, and speed relationships; and
(6) US 10,794.383 B2, which discloses variable speed hydronic pump control using differential pressure setpoints and pressure independent control valves.
Conclusion
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/RONALD D HARTMAN JR/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119 July 11, 2026
/RDH/
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