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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen (US Patent No.: 6727609) in view of Taniyama et al. (US Patent No.: 7812501).
For claim 1, Johnsen discloses the claimed invention comprising: a shaft (reference numeral 14) having a hollow portion (see figure 1); a rotor core (reference numeral 24) fixed to the shaft (see figure 1); and a rotor coil (reference numeral 52, figure 3) wound around the rotor core (see figure 3), wherein the rotor core includes: a cylindrical back yoke (i.e. portion of rotor core 24 surrounding shaft 14, see figure 3); a plurality of teeth (reference numerals 38, 40, 42, 44, see figure 3) that extends radially outward from an outer peripheral surface of the back yoke (see figure 3) and around which the rotor coil is wound (see figure 3). Johnsen however does not specifically disclose cooling holes provided in the teeth and extending along an axial direction.
Taniyama et al. disclose cooling holes (reference numeral 31, figure 6) provided in the teeth (reference numeral 33) and extending along an axial direction (Taniyama et al. disclose the through hole 31 being vertically formed in a tooth 33 of the rotor core 30, see column 5, lines 50-52).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the cooling holes as disclosed by Taniyama et al. for the teeth of Johnsen for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating cooling purposes within the rotor.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen in view of Taniyama et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kunatharaju et al. (US Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2023/0299642 A1).
For claim 2, Johnsen in view of Taniyama et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the cooling holes including ejection ports that are provided along a circumferential direction alternately on an upper end side or a lower end side of the teeth, and configured to eject refrigerant. Taniyama et al. further disclose the through holes 31 discharging coolant (see column 6, lines 25-30), i.e. cooling holes including ejection ports configured to eject refrigerant, and Kunatharaju et al. disclose ports provided along a circumferential direction alternately on an upper end side or a lower end side (ports 413, 414 in figure 4 are provided alternately in the circumferential direction), which when combined with the teeth of Johnsen in view of Taniyama et al. and the ports of Taniyama et al. would disclose ejection ports being provided along a circumferential direction alternately on an upper end side or a lower end side of the teeth. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the ejection ports disclosed by Taniyama et al. and the alternating ports as disclosed by Kunatharaju et al. for the cooling holes of Johnsen in view of Taniyama et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating cooling purposes within the rotor.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following references disclose embodiments of pole/teeth cooling configurations: US 11418080 B2 (Tsutsui; Takahiro), US 11196308 B2 (Seguchi; Masahiro), US 10826363 B2 (Huang; Hao et al.), US 9755483 B2 (Yamada; Eiji et al.), US 9627943 B2 (Tokunaga; Hiroyuki et al.), US 9203284 B2 (Kaiser; Edward L. et al.), US 6628020 B1 (Tong; Wei), US 6346754 B1 (Kieda; Shigekazu et al.), US 6271613 B1 (Akemakou; Dokou et al.), US 5866959 A (Le Flem; Graham), US 5397975 A (Syverson; Charles D.), US 20230137883 A1 (LEE; Byung Sam et al.), US 20210194313 A1 (Kanada; Takuya et al.), US 20180131245 A1 (HSU; Chia-Hao et al.), US 20170310178 A1 (JÄKEL; Christian et al.), US 20170133911 A1 (TAKAYAMA; Yoshinori et al.), US 20150015104 A1 (Kataoka; Takashi et al.), US 20120223600 A1 (TONOGI; Kazuki et al.), US 20120161556 A1 (MIZUTANI; Ryoji et al.), US 20100259136 A1 (Hiramoto; Kenji et al.), US 20070252473 A1 (Taniyama; Yoshihiro et al.).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX W MOK whose telephone number is (571)272-9084. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-4pm.
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/ALEX W MOK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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