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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11/08/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okochi (US PG Pub 2017/0012503).
As to independent claim 1, Okochi teaches a rotary electric machine comprising: a rotor (10) including a permanent magnet (16); a shaft (50) configured to rotatably support the rotor (10); a shaft passage (52) provided inside the shaft (50); and a rotor passage (24) into which a liquid coolant flows from the shaft passage (52) through a flow inlet that is an opening on an inner circumferential surface of the rotor (10), wherein the rotor passage (28) includes an upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) extending radially outwardly from the flow inlet (28), and a downstream passage (22) connecting to the upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) and extending in an axial direction, the upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) includes a first upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) and a second upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) arranged in a circumferential direction of the rotor (10), and a radial position of an outer circumferential end of the first upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) is defined radially outwardly or radially inwardly of a radial position of an outer circumferential end of the second upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) as shown in figure 1.
As to claim 2/1, Okochi teaches wherein the first upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) extends along a q-axis direction, and the second upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) extends along a d-axis direction as shown in figure 1.
As to claim 3/1, Okochi teaches wherein the first upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) and the second upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) are provided alternately in the circumferential direction of the rotor (10) as shown in figure 1.
As to claim 4/1, Okochi teaches wherein an outer circumferential portion of the upstream passage (see annotated figure 1) has an elliptical shape in axial cross-section as shown in figure 1.
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) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okochi (US PG Pub2017/0012503) as applied in claim 1 above, and further in view of Ying (CN114844253).
As to claim 6/1, Okochi teaches further comprising: a stator (62) provided radially outside the rotor (10), a coil end (66) provided in an axial end portion of the stator (62) as shown in figure 2,
However Okochi teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except an end plate (provided in an axial end portion of the rotor, and a flow outlet passage provided in the end plate and extending in a radial direction, wherein the flow outlet passage includes an inner circumferential portion connecting to the downstream passage, and an outer circumferential end including a flow outlet oriented toward the coil end.
Ying teaches an end plate (44) provided in an axial end portion of the rotor (4), and a flow outlet passage (442) provided in the end plate (44) and extending in a radial direction, wherein the flow outlet passage (442) includes an inner circumferential portion connecting to the downstream passage (431a), and an outer circumferential end including a flow outlet (442) oriented toward the coil end (321) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing a motor with parallel oil cooling structure, using the motor stator and rotor parallel oil cooling structure, effectively improving the cooling radiating efficiency of the motor, realizing high power and miniaturization of the motor.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Okochi by using an end plate provided in an axial end portion of the rotor, and a flow outlet passage provided in the end plate and extending in a radial direction, wherein the flow outlet passage includes an inner circumferential portion connecting to the downstream passage, and an outer circumferential end including a flow outlet oriented toward the coil end, as taught by Ying, to provide a motor with parallel oil cooling structure, using the motor stator and rotor parallel oil cooling structure, effectively improving the cooling radiating efficiency of the motor, realizing high power and miniaturization of the motor.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okochi (US PG Pub2017/0012503) as applied in claim 1 above, and further in view of Patterson (2,524,269).
As to claim 7/1, Okochi teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the rotor and the shaft are fixed by means of shrink-fitting.
However Patterson teaches the rotor (34) and the shaft (38) are fixed by means of shrink-fitting (see column 2, lines 44-47), for the advantageous benefit of improving compactness.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Okochi by using the rotor and the shaft are fixed by means of shrink-fitting, as taught by Patterson, to improve compactness.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7850. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:30-2:30 EST.
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/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 July 10, 2026
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