The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s response of 11/20/2025 has been entered and considered. Upon entering amendment, claims 16 and 31 have been amended, and claims 23-30 have been canceled. Accordingly, claims 16-22, 31-35 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 16 and 31 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show the electrical grid, the “main power supply line”, and the wind turbine components to show how the system all works together. In particular, fig.3 illustrates a “back-up power supply system” 100 (i.e., the external power supply 120, internal backup power supply 110, converters, and switches), but does not illustrate where the grid is with respect to the rest of the components, the “main power supply line” is shown as a box (200) and not a “line”, and the wind turbine components and how they are connected to the main power supply line are structurally not shown. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Configured to
The claims contain “configured to” language which is interpreted as intended use for the purpose of this office action. A recitation directed to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be used does not distinguish the claimed apparatus from the prior art, if the prior art has the capability to so perform. Additionally, it is noted that an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function noting that apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does (see MPEP 2114-2115).
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) 16-22, 31-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (2024/0332968 A1) in view of Williams (2018/0171758 A1) in further view of AAPA (Applicant Admitted Prior Art).
Regarding Claim 16,
Zhang teaches a wind turbine system (see figs.1-2) configured to produce electricity (par [62]), an electrical grid (208), comprising:
a hub (103) rotationally driven by a plurality of rotor blades (104, par [62]), and an electric generator (par [62]; “…rotation of the rotor of the power generator relative to a stator…”) coupled to the hub that generates electricity (par [62]; “…drive a rotor arranged in the hub… rotation of the rotor of the power generator relative to a stator will cause electrical energy to be generated…”);
a main power supply line (fig.2, main power supply line read on by the DC bus with 210) for supplying power from the grid (208) to wind turbine components (209, see fig.2; the man power supply line supplies power from grid 208 to wind turbine components via 207);
a back-up power supply (202);
a first converter (213; converter 213 converts and supplies power from backup power supply 202 to the main power supply line that is the DC bus with 210) configured to convert and supply power from the back-up power supply (202) to the main power supply line when power from the grid (208) is unavailable (pars [68, 72, 79] and related discussion);
an external power supply (201; diesel generator 201 is external to 202 and other illustrated components) separate from the electric generator (par [62]; diesel generator 201 is a standby backup power supply to power wind turbine components separate from the electric/power generator of the wind turbine) and the back-up power supply (202) configured to provide power to the main power supply line when power from the grid (208) is unavailable (pars [65-66, 72-73, 79] and related discussion);
an external power supply switch (203; “external” is a label/nomenclature for the switch and does not indicate what the power supply switch is “external” to- 203 is external to components illustrated in fig.2) arranged between the external power supply (201) and the main power supply line (see fig.2); and
the external power supply (201) is switched on while the back-up power supply (202) supplies power to the main power supply line (pars [72, 79] and related discussion; when the grid is unavailable the first switch 203 and/or second switch 204 are closed- when there is an “and”, the external power supply is switched on while the backup power supply 202 is supplying power to a main power supply line).
Zhang teaches the wind turbine system is connected to the electricity grid (208)-thus, it is implied that the electricity generated by the electric generator (par 62) would go to the grid (208), the back-up power supply (202), and that external power supply is (201) is connected while the back-up power supply supplies power to the main power supply line as discussed above.
Zhang, however, does not explicitly disclose that the external power supply (i.e., the diesel generator) is further configured to provide power to the back-up power supply (i.e., battery) while the back-up power supply supplies power.
Williams, however, teaches it is known for a generator to be configured to provide power to the battery while the battery supplies power (par [62]; “As the batteries discharge to the load, the engine/generators will continuously supply power to the batteries.”). Examiner Note: Williams is only being relied upon for the capability of having Zhang’s external power supply/diesel generator (201) to be “configured to”/capable of providing power to Zhang’s back-up power supply (202) while Zhang’s back-up power supply supplies power to the main power supply line.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Zhang to that of Williams in order for Zhang’s external power supply to replenish the back-up power supply/battery for continued use of the components during the grid outage.
While implied, Zhang in view of Williams does not explicitly teach that the electricity generated by the electric generator is supplied to the electrical grid and the back-up power supply is internal.
AAPA, however, teaches it is generally known and obvious in the art for electricity generated by the electric generator to be supplied to the electrical grid (par [2]; “Modern wind turbines are commonly used to supply electricity into the electrical grid…the generator produces electricity which can be supplied to the electrical grid.”) and that the back-up power supply is internal (par [5]; “…it is known to use batteries or ultracapacitors as internal back-up power supplies…”). The examiner further notes that AAPA, similar to Williams, teaches it is known for the external power supply (i.e., the diesel generator) to be further configured to provide power to the internal back-up power supply while the internal back-up power supply supplies power (par [7]; “storage devices used for supplying back-up power to the wind turbine yaw systems… while diesel generators may be used to replenish the back-up power supply…”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Zhang in view of Williams to that of AAPA. The motivation would have been because the generated electricity from the electric generator in Zhang’s system (which is connected to grid 208) has to go somewhere and it is well-known and well-desired in the art to supply it to the electric grid. Further, making the back-up power supply/battery internal would have been an obvious design choice and an obvious rearrangement of parts that involves only routine skill in the art noting that making the back-up power supply internal does not change how or why it operates-i.e., to provide back-up supply when the grid is unavailable.
Regarding Claim 17,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and further teaches wherein the external power supply is an engine generator (Zhang, 201, par [65] and related discussion; engine generator read on by the diesel generator).
Regarding Claim 18,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and further teaches the external power
supply is a diesel generator (Zhang, 201, par [65] and related discussion).
The combination does not explicitly disclose the external power supply is a renewable power source.
AAPA, however, teaches it is known in the art for the external power supply to be a renewable power
source (par [5]; it is known to use diesel generator or solar panels as an external power supply).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the
claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Zhang in view of Williams to that of AAPA. The motivation would have been because AAPA teaches the obviousness of using solar panels/renewable power source as an alternative to diesel generators for the external power supply and one skilled in the art would have readily realized that selecting a renewable source for the external power supply is well-within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 19,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and further teaches wherein the internal back-up power supply comprises one or batteries (Zhang, 202, par [67] and related discussion, AAPA, par [5]) or one or more ultracapacitors.
Regarding Claim 20,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and further teaches wherein the internal back-up power supply is configured to provide back-up power to a yaw system of the wind turbine (Zhang, pars [3, 62, 70, 72, 79, 82] and related discussion, AAPA, pars [5, 7]).
Regarding Claim 21,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and further teaches wherein a power of the external power supply is lower than a power of the main power supply line (Zhang, pars [79, 91] and related discussion; Zhang teaches an instance in which the external power supply 17 and the back-up battery supply 202 are together supplying power to the main power supply line- thus, the power from the external power supply is lower than a power of the main power supply line that is both the external power supply and backup power supply power).
Regarding Claim 22,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 16 and the combination teaches further comprising a second converter (Zhang, fig.2, 206) to convert the power supplied to the internal back-up power supply by the external power supply (Zhang, fig.2, 206, pars [65-66] and related discussion, Williams, par [62], AAPA, par [7]; Zhang teaches second converter 206 converts the power supplied by the external power supply/diesel generator 201 and Williams teaches the generator supplies power to the battery. AAPA also teaches the diesel generator replenishes the internal back-up power supply-therefore, the combination teaches the second converter converts the power supplied by the diesel generator/external power supply to supply it to the internal back-up power supply/battery).
Regarding Claim 31,
Zhang (figs.1-2) teaches a back-up power supply system for a wind turbine (“for” is a recitation of intended use), wherein the wind turbine includes a hub (103) rotationally driven by a plurality of rotor blades (104, par [62]), and an electric generator (par [62]; “…rotation of the rotor of the power generator relative to a stator…”) coupled to the hub that generates power (par [62]; “…drive a rotor arranged in the hub… rotation of the rotor of the power generator relative to a stator will cause electrical energy to be generated…”), an electric grid (208), the back-up power supply system comprising:
a back-up power supply (202);
an external power supply (201; diesel generator 201 is external to 202 and other illustrated components) separate from the electric generator (par [62]; diesel generator 201 is a standby backup power supply to power wind turbine components separate from the electric/power generator of the wind turbine) and the back-up power supply (202); and
wherein the external power supply (201) is switched on while the back-up power supply (202) is supplying power to a main power supply line of the wind turbine to power wind turbine components when power from the grid (208) for the wind turbine components is unavailable (pars [72, 79] and related discussion; when the grid is unavailable, the first switch 203 and/or second switch 204 are closed- when there is an “and”, the external power supply is switched on while the backup power supply 202 is supplying power to a main power supply line that is the bus that includes 210 that is inside the load network of the wind turbine at the end or a main power supply line at the output of inverter of the wind turbine to power wind turbine components 209 when power from the grid is unavailable).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose that the external power supply (i.e., the diesel generator) is configured to charge the back-up power supply (i.e., battery) while the back-up power supply is supplying power.
Williams, however, teaches it is known for a generator to be configured to charge the battery while the battery is supplying power (par [62]; “As the batteries discharge to the load, the engine/generators will continuously supply power to the batteries.”). Examiner Note: Williams is only being relied upon for the capability of having Zhang’s external power supply/diesel generator (201) to be “configured to”/capable of charging Zhang’s back-up power supply (202) while Zhang’s back-up power supply supplies power to the main power supply line.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Zhang to that of Williams in order for Zhang’s external power supply to replenish the back-up power supply/battery for continued use of the components during the grid outage.
Zhang in view of Williams, in particular Zhang teaches the wind turbine system is connected to the electricity grid (208)-thus, it is implied that the power generated by the electric generator (par 62) would go to the grid (208).
The combination, however, does not explicitly disclose that the power generated by the electric generator is supplied to the electrical grid in the preamble (even though these limitations are recited in the preamble and not in the body of the claim and thus should not be given patentable weight), and the back-up power supply is internal and arranged in the wind turbine.
AAPA, however, teaches it is generally known and obvious in the art for power generated by the electric generator to be supplied to the electrical grid (par [2], see rejection of claim 16), and that the back-up power supply is internal and arranged in the wind turbine (par [5]; “if the wind turbine is for any reason prevented from obtaining power… it is known to use batteries or ultracapacitors as internal back-up power supplies”. Also, see Hansen (2020/0166017), figs.1-2, internal back-up power supply 21 arranged in the wind turbine). The examiner further notes that, similar to Williams, AAPA teaches the external power supply (i.e., the diesel generator) is configured to charge the internal back-up power supply while the internal back-up power supply is supplying power (par [7]; “storage devices used for supplying back-up power to the wind turbine yaw systems… while diesel generators may be used to replenish the back-up power supply…”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Zhang in view of Williams to that of AAPA. The motivation would have been because the generated power from the electric generator in Zhang’s system (which is connected to grid 208) has to go somewhere and it is well-known and well-desired in the art to supply it to the electric grid. Further, making the back-up power supply/battery internal and arranged in the wind turbine would have been an obvious design choice and an obvious rearrangement of parts that involves only routine skill in the art noting that locating the back-up power supply internal to the wind turbine does not change how or why it operates-i.e., to provide back-up power supply when the grid is unavailable.
Examiner Note: The broad language of claim 31 does not positively recite the components in the preamble in the body of the claim, the claim only positively recites “an internal back-up power supply” and “an external power supply”. The last wherein clause is narrative/descriptive language and does not further narrow the structure of the claim. Applicant is strongly encouraged to structurally narrow the claim to advance prosecution.
Regarding Claim 32,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 31 and further teaches wherein the external power supply comprises a diesel generator (Zhang, 201, par [65] and related discussion; diesel generator).
Regarding Claim 33,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 31 and further teaches the external power
supply is a diesel generator (Zhang, 201, par [65] and related discussion).
The combination does not explicitly disclose the external power supply comprises solar panels.
AAPA, however, teaches it is known in the art for the external power supply to comprise solar panels (par [5]; it is known to use diesel generator or solar panels as an external power supply).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the
claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Zhang in view of Williams to that of AAPA. The motivation would have been because AAPA teaches the obviousness of using solar panels as an alternative to diesel generators for the external power supply and one skilled in the art would have readily realized that selecting solar panels for the external power supply is well-within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding Claim 34,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 31 and teaches further comprising a power converter (Zhang, fig.2, 206) to adapt a power supplied to the internal back-up power supply by the external power supply (Zhang, fig.2, 206, pars [65-66] and related discussion, Williams, par [62], AAPA, par [7]; Zhang teaches second converter 206 converts the power supplied by the external power supply/diesel generator 201 and Williams teaches the generator supplies power to the battery. AAPA teaches the diesel generator replenishes the internal back-up power supply-therefore, the combination teaches the second converter to “adapt” a power supplied by external power supply/diesel generator to replenish the internal back-up power supply).
Regarding Claim 35,
The combination teaches the claimed subject matter in claim 31 and teaches further comprising a switch (Zhang, 203) to selectively connect the external power supply (201) to the main power supply line (Zhang, fig.2, pars [72, 78] and related discussion; Zhang’s switch 203 selectively connects the external power supply 201 to the main power supply line).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RASEM MOURAD whose telephone number is (571)270-7770. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barnie can be reached at (571)272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RASEM MOURAD/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
/REXFORD N BARNIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2836