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 .
This is the First Office Action on the merits of Application No. 18/939392, filed on 11/06/2024. Claims 1-20 are still pending in the application.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-11, 13, 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2016/030570 to Vakkamaki et al (henceforth referred to as Vakkamaki).
Regarding claims 1-11, 13, 15-18, Vakkamaki discloses a safety gear arrangement for an elevator (i.e. Fig. 1), the safety gear arrangement comprising:
a gripping mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 5) having a gripping position and an inactive position wherein the gripping mechanism is configured in the gripping position for gripping a rail (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 17) for providing braking;
an electric actuator (i.e. Fig. 3a);
a coupling mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 26) between the electric actuator and the gripping mechanism, wherein the coupling mechanism is adapted to arrange the gripping mechanism into the gripping position by the operation of the electric actuator; and
an overspeed governor (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 2) comprising at least an electrical energy source (i.e. page 11, lines 27-28: “In this case current supply…. takes place from an external power source, such as a battery”) arranged to provide electrical power to the electric actuator at least in an overspeed situation of the elevator,
wherein the gripping mechanism is arranged to the gripping position in response to determining, based on the operation of the overspeed governor, that there is the overspeed situation (i.e. Page 1, lines 13-19: “Elevator car overspeed is observed when rotating speed of the governor sheave exceed a preset threshold….This has the effect that safety gear turns into gripping position and stops movement of the elevator car”).
Wherein the overspeed governor comprises a speed sensor (i.e. page 10, lines 13-14: “To calculate the threshold values, control unit 11 receives position information.. from car position sensors…” wherein speed is a function of distance/location) for determining overspeed of an elevator car, and wherein the electrical energy source comprises a battery (i.e. page 11, lines 27-28: “In this case current supply…. takes place from an external power source, such as a battery”).
Wherein the electrical energy source comprises an electric generator (i.e. page 7, lines 24-25: “magnetic field generated by permanent magnets 9 runs from permanent magnet rotor 3 to the stator 4”) for determining an overspeed of the elevator car and arranged to be operated to generate electrical power, when the electrical energy source is moving relative to the rail.
Wherein the electric generator is arranged to be rotated by a driving element (i.e. Fig. 3a) of the overspeed governor.
Wherein the driving element is arranged to be in a non-contact electromagnetic interaction (i.e. Fig. 3a, ref. 3, 4, 28) with the rails.
Wherein the driving element comprises permanent magnets (i.e. Fig. 3a, ref. 9) for producing eddy currents in the rail to cause the rotation of the driving element.
Wherein the electric actuator is a DC motor/generator (i.e. page 9, lines 19-21: “permanent magnet rotor 3… and other electronic components of the control unit 11 receive power supply voltage from DC link 29”).
Wherein the electrical energy source is a DC generator (i.e. page 9, lines 19-21: “permanent magnet rotor 3… and other electronic components of the control unit 11 receive power supply voltage from DC link 29”), and wherein the DC generator is coupled to the DC motor via a controllable power switch (i.e. Fig. 4a, ref. 10A-C).
Wherein the overspeed situation is configured to be determined based on an output voltage of the electric generator (i.e. page 10, lines 2-10: “control unit 11 measures output voltage of the winding 8… caused by source voltage… When voltage of any of the terminals… sped of elevator car exceeds… threshold value, control unit 11 activates the safety gear 5”).
Further comprising a position or proximity sensor for determining a position of a safety gear wedge of the arrangement (i.e. page 10, lines 13-14: “To calculate the threshold values, control unit 11 receives position information.. from car position sensors…” wherein position sensors can determine location of car, thus location of wedge brakes)
Wherein the coupling mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 26) is adapted to arranged the gripping mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 5) into the gripping position by means of the force generated by the electric actuator (i.e. Fig. 3a) to the gripping mechanism via the coupling mechanism (i.e. Page 7, lines 3-11: “Activation of the safety gear 5 starts when the transmission means 26… pulls the roller along the track 25 upwards to grip the guide rail… The overspeed governor 1 comprises a permanent rotor 3 and a stator 4”).
Wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a rope (i.e. Page 6, line 12: “A safety rope 7”), a wire, or a belt for transmitting force generated by the electric actuator to the gripping mechanism.
Wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a counterweight (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 15) for balancing mass of a safety gear wedge of the arrangement.
Wherein the counterweight (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 15) is arranged to the rope (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 7), wire, or belt.
An elevator (i.e. Fig. 1), comprising:
an elevator car (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 6) movable in an elevator shaft;
at least one rail (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 17) extending along the elevator shaft; and
a safety gear arrangement (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 5) of claim 1 coupled to the elevator car and arranged to provide braking in relation to the at least one rail.
Regarding claims 19, Vakkamaki discloses a method of operation of a safety gear arrangement of an elevator (i.e. Fig. 1), the method comprising the steps of:
determining an overspeed situation based on operation of an overspeed governor (i.e. Page 1, lines 13-19: “Elevator car overspeed is observed when rotating speed of the governor sheave exceed a preset threshold….); and
providing electrical power generated by (i.e. page 7, lines 24-25: “magnetic field generated by permanent magnets 9 runs from permanent magnet rotor 3 to the stator 4”) or stored in the overspeed governor to an electric actuator (i.e. Fig. 3a) in response to the determining of the overspeed situation to move a gripping mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 5) of the arrangement to a gripping position for providing braking in relation to a rail (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 17), wherein the electric actuator is mechanically coupled to the gripping mechanism of the arrangement by a coupling mechanism (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 26) of the arrangement.
Wherein the electric actuator is a DC motor (i.e. page 9, lines 19-21: “permanent magnet rotor 3… and other electronic components of the control unit 11 receive power supply voltage from DC link 29”).
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) 12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2016/030570 to Vakkamaki et al in view of CN 109693987 to Ni et al (henceforth referred to as Ni).
Regarding claims 12 and 14, Vakkamaki did not specifically teach two gripping mechanism provides bidirectional braking. However, Ni teaches a similar elevator (i.e. Fig. 1) comprising a governor (I.E. Fig. 1, ref. 21), a coupling mechanism (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 33) and at least two safety gripping mechanism (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 3) wherein Ni further teaches a bidirectional safety braking device (i.e. Fig. 3) to brake the elevator during emergency ascending over speed situations (i.e. Machine Translation Abstract: “elevator bi-directional safety braking device… capable of protecting the elevator ascending over speed and downlink overspeed”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a bidirectional braking mechanism as taught in Ni in the safety gear arrangement as taught in Vakkamaki to protect from both ascending and descending overspeed in high rise buildings and there would have been reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 108217381 to Hu teaches a safety gear arrangement with electric actuation;
WO 2013/050660 to Hytti et al teaches a governor actuated safety gear arrangement;
KR 10-2012-0060237 to Okada teaches a bidirectional safety gear arrangement;
EP 1783085 to Ando teaches a governor actuated safety gear arrangement.
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/DIEM M TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3654