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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyazawa et al. (US 20160052380 A1) (hereinafter “Miyazawa”) in view of Ipposhi (US 20250083513 A1) and further in view of Furuta (JP 2006264473 A). [Note that prior art references are italicized and enclosed in brackets.]
Regarding Claim 1, Miyazawa teaches a hybrid electric vehicle comprising: an electric motor [Miyazawa Paragraph 0030: “A vehicle drive device 1 according to the embodiment is a vehicle drive device (hybrid vehicle drive device) configured to drive a vehicle (hybrid vehicle) that includes both an internal combustion engine E and a rotary electric machine MG as drive force sources for wheels W.”]; a power transmission device to which the electric motor is connected in a power transmittable manner [Miyazawa Paragraph 0037: “the speed change mechanism TM is a stepped automatic transmission that includes a plurality of gear mechanisms and a plurality of shifting engagement devices to switchably provide a plurality of shift speeds with different speed ratios.”]; first electrical equipment [Miyazawa Paragraph 0036: “The rotary electric machine MG is electrically connected to an electricity accumulation device B (such as a battery or a capacitor) via a first inverter 30.”]; first electrical equipment [Miyazawa Paragraph 0042: “The pump motor PM is electrically connected to the electricity accumulation device B via a second inverter 40.”]; a drive casing that houses a drive apparatus including the electric motor and the power transmission device [Miyazawa Fig. 6]; a first electrical casing that houses the first electrical equipment; and a second electrical casing that houses the second electrical equipment [Miyazawa Fig. 5; Miyazawa Paragraph 0057: “the first case portion 21 has, in the outer peripheral portion thereof, the first accommodation portion P1 which accommodates the first inverter 30 and the second inverter 40 and the second accommodation portion P2 which accommodates the smoothing capacitor 36.”], wherein the drive casing, the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing are integrally arranged, and cooperate to constitute a mechanical-electrical integrated unit [Miyazawa Fig. 5], the hybrid electric vehicle further comprises: a first water-cooling passage that is provided in the first electrical casing for cooling the first electrical equipment; a second water-cooling passage that is provided in the second electrical casing for cooling the second electrical equipment [Miyazawa Paragraph 0059: “A space defined by the recessed portions 25a between the separation wall 25 and the base plate 32 functions as a cooling water path F that allows circulation of cooling water (an example of a cooling liquid). In the embodiment, in this way, the cooling water path F is formed in the separation wall 25 which separates between the first accommodation portion P1 and the second accommodation portion P2. The cooling water path F is formed along the first inverter 30. In addition, the cooling water path F is disposed on the speed change mechanism TM side (gear mechanism C side) with respect to the first inverter 30.”]; but does not teach a water-cooling oil cooler.
Ipposhi teaches a water-cooling oil cooler configured to cool an oil for cooling the electric motor [Ipposhi Paragraph 0004: “the cooling water is supplied from the external-water-cooled system to the oil cooler, and the high-temperature oil circulating in the oil-cooled system undergoes heat exchange with the cooling water at the oil cooler”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the hybrid electric vehicle of Miyazawa to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, a water-cooling oil cooler in view of Ipposhi. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Miyazawa and Ipposhi because this would have achieved the desirable result of enabling the maintaining of a desired oil temperature, as recognized by Ipposhi [Ipposhi Paragraph 0004: “lowered-temperature oil can be supplied to the heat generation portion”].
Miyazawa further teaches the drive casing has a first wall surface, a second wall surface, a third wall surface, a fourth wall surface, a fifth wall surface and a sixth wall surface that cooperate to define a space in which the drive apparatus is housed [Miyazawa Fig. 5], wherein the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing are separately disposed on respective two of the first wall surface, the second wall surface, the third wall surface, the fourth wall surface, the fifth wall surface and the sixth wall surface [Miyazawa Fig. 5], but does not teach an oil cooler being disposed in an electrical casing.
Furuta teaches the water-cooling oil cooler is disposed in one of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing [Furuta Fig. 12, Reference Characters 294 and "34,36"; Furuta Paragraph 0108: “the cooling element 294 that cools the cooling water supplied to the cooler 210 is disposed inside the inverter case”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the hybrid electric vehicle of Miyazawa to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, an oil cooler disposed in one of the electrical casings in view of Furuta. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Miyazawa and Furuta because this would have achieved the desirable result of improving the cooling efficiency of the cooling element, as recognized by Furuta [Furuta Paragraph 0108: “since the cooling element 294 that cools the cooling water supplied to the cooler 210 is disposed inside the inverter case, the wiring of the cooling element 294 can be easily handled. In addition, the cooling efficiency of the cooling element 294 is improved.”].
Miyazawa teaches a hybrid electric vehicle comprising first and second electrical casings but does not teach communicating water-cooling passages. Ipposhi teaches that the one of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing is provided with a cooler water-cooling passage for cooling the water-cooling oil cooler, such that the cooler water-cooling passage is in communication with one of the first water-cooling passage and the second water-cooling passage which is provided in the one of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing [Ipposhi Fig. 9, Reference Characters 32, “34,36”, and C2; Ipposhi Abstract: “An inverter device 110 is composed of: a power converter section including a boosting converter 32 and inverters 34, 36, a cooling device 210 and a radiator.”; Ipposhi Paragraph 0090: “a cooling element 274 for cooling the cooling water is provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the cooler 210. Then, the cooling water supplied from the refrigerant path 142 is cooled by the cooling element 274 to a temperature necessary and sufficient for cooling the boost converter 32, the inverters 34 and 36, the MG-ECU 60, and the capacitor C2, and is supplied to the cooler 210.”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the hybrid electric vehicle of Miyazawa to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, communicating water-cooling passages in view of Ipposhi. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Miyazawa and Ipposhi because this would have achieved the desirable result of thermally protecting the inverter, as recognized by Ipposhi [Ipposhi Paragraph 0058: “since the radiator 220 for cooling the cooling water is uniquely provided in the inverter device 110, the inverter device can be used even when the cooling water of the engine 24 is used for cooling the load driving device 110. 110 is thermally protected.”; Ipposhi Paragraph 0092: “according to the second embodiment, since the cooling element 274 is used for cooling the cooling water supplied to the cooler 210, the same effect as that of the first embodiment is obtained while the first embodiment is obtained. Further space saving can be realized.”]
Regarding Claim 2, Miyazawa teaches the hybrid electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the one of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing is located on one of opposite sides of the drive casing which are opposite to each other in a horizontal direction of the hybrid electric vehicle and in a direction of an axis of the electric motor, and wherein the other of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing is located on an upper side of the drive casing in a vertical direction of the hybrid electric vehicle [Miyazawa Fig. 5, Reference Characters P1 and P2; Miyazawa Paragraph 0057: “the first case portion 21 has, in the outer peripheral portion thereof, the first accommodation portion P1 which accommodates the first inverter 30 and the second inverter 40 and the second accommodation portion P2 which accommodates the smoothing capacitor 36.”].
Regarding Claim 3, Miyazawa teaches the hybrid electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an engine that is connected to the power transmission device in a power transmittable manner, wherein the engine is located on one of opposite sides of the drive casing which are opposite to each other in a horizontal direction of the hybrid electric vehicle, and is disposed on one of the first wall surface, the second wall surface, the third wall surface, the fourth wall surface, the fifth wall surface and the sixth wall surface, which is opposed to the engine in a direction of an axis of the electric motor, wherein the one of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing is located on the other of the opposite sides of the drive casing in the horizontal direction, and wherein the other of the first electrical casing and the second electrical casing is located on an upper side of the drive casing in a vertical direction of the hybrid electric vehicle [Miyazawa Figs. 5 and 6, Reference Characters “E”, “TM”, P1, and P2].
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Miyazawa and Ipposhi teaches a hybrid electric vehicle comprising a second electrical equipment but does not teach a boost converter having a reactor. Furuta teaches the hybrid electric vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the second electrical equipment further include a reactor included in a boost converter that is configured to boost the DC power supplied from the high voltage battery and to supply the boosted DC power to the inverter [Furuta Paragraph 0037: “Boost converter 32 includes a reactor L”; Furuta Paragraph 0041: “boost converter 32 boosts the DC voltage from battery 31 by accumulating current flowing in accordance with the switching operation of power transistor Q2 as magnetic field energy in reactor L.”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the hybrid electric vehicle of the combination of Miyazawa and Ipposhi to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, a boost converter and a reactor in view of Furuta. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Miyazawa, Ipposhi, and Furuta because this would have achieved the desirable result of enabling charging the battery by reducing DC voltage received from the inverters to the needed voltage level of the battery, as recognized by Furuta [Furuta Paragraph 0041: “Boost converter 32 charges battery 31 by reducing the DC voltage received from inverters 34 and/or 36 via power supply line PL 2 to the voltage level of battery 31 based on signal PWC from MG-ECU 60.”].
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyazawa et al. (US 20160052380 A1) (hereinafter “Miyazawa”) in view of Ipposhi (US 20250083513 A1), further in view of Furuta (JP 2006264473 A), and further in view of Andres et al. (CN 110234853 A) (hereinafter “Andres”). [Note that prior art references are italicized and enclosed in brackets.]
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Miyazawa, Ipposhi, and Furuta teaches a hybrid electric vehicle comprising a high-voltage battery and a low-voltage battery, wherein the first electrical equipment includes an inverter that is configured to convert a DC power supplied from the high-voltage battery, into an AC power that is to be supplied to the electric motor [Miyazawa Paragraph 0042: “A battery at a higher voltage (100 [V] or more) than an auxiliary battery (e.g. at 12 [V]) provided in the vehicle to serve as the electric power source for auxiliaries such as a compressor of an air conditioner and audio devices is used as the electricity accumulation device B. The pump motor PM may be driven using the low-voltage auxiliary battery as the electric power source.”], but does not teach charging the low voltage battery.
Andres teaches the hybrid electric vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a high-voltage battery and a low-voltage battery, wherein the first electrical equipment includes an inverter that is configured to convert a DC power supplied from the high-voltage battery, into an AC power that is to be supplied to the electric motor, and wherein the second electrical equipment includes a DC-DC converter that is configured to lower a voltage of the high-voltage battery and to charge the low voltage battery [Andres Paragraph 0080: DC/DC converter makes it possible {to charge} through the high-voltage battery 18 to {the} rechargeable 12V battery”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the hybrid electric vehicle of the combination of Miyazawa, Ipposhi, and Furuta to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, the ability to charge a low-voltage battery using a high-voltage battery in view of Andres. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Miyazawa, Ipposhi, Furuta, and Andres because this would have achieved the desirable results enabling recharging the low-voltage battery when necessary and also of enabling the activation the vehicle power supply to charge the high voltage battery, as recognized by Andres [Andres Paragraph 0080: “turn on when the power consumption by activating the vehicle power supply and charger that can be adapted by the energy distribution trunk supply to 18 and then charging the high voltage battery].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T WALSH whose telephone number is 303-297-4351. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm ET.
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/MICHAEL T. WALSH/Examiner, Art Unit 3613
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