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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/05/2026,12/29/2025,12/03/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claim 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lung et al. (US PG Pub 20080024020 hereinafter “Lung”) in view of Johnsen (US PG Pub 20030030333 hereinafter “Johnsen”).
Re-claim 1, Lung discloses a motor cooling system (70,66,60,14) that supplies an oil for cooling to each part of a motor (16b), characterized in that the system comprises: a cooling means (heat exchanger,20, or 70,72,76,60) for cooling an oil (oil cooled, see P[0014]), a stator (fig.2,46 with coils) having a cylindrical stator core (56) on which a stator coil (62) is mounted, a rotor (44) having a rotor core (50) disposed inside the stator core (see fig.2), a stator side oil passage (96), capable of supplying the oil that has passed through the cooling means (74,72,70) to the stator, and a rotor side oil passage (83,81,87) capable of supplying the oil (fluid, see claim 1) that has passed through the cooling means (70,66,60,14) to the rotor (44); and the stator (46) is configured such that at least a portion of the oil (arrow of fluid from 96) that has passed through the stator side oil passage (thru 96) is supplied to at least a coil end (annotated fig.2) on one side in an axial direction of the stator coil (annotated fig.2) without flowing inside the stator core (nothing goes in 56), and the rotor is configured such that at least a portion of the oil (fluid via 83,48, see arrows, or thru 78) that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied from radially inner side (inside of 80) to at least the coil end on one side in the axial direction without flowing inside the rotor core (annotated fig.2, fluid is going to coils form all sides).
Lung fails to explicitly state the rotor core is cylindrical rotor core.
However, Johnsen teaches cylindrical rotor core (P[0023], core 24 made of cylinder).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to show that the core of lung is cylindrical rotor core as suggested by Johnsen since it fits inside the cylindrical round stator core, it is known in the art to have a cylindrical rotor inside a cylindrical stator.
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655
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826
797
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Re-claim 2, Lung as modified discloses the motor cooling system according to claim 1, characterized in that: the stator is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage (95) is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction (annotated fig.2), and the rotor is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction (ANNOTATED FIG.2).
Lung as fails to teach that at least a portion of remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the stator core, and the remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the rotor core.
However, Johnsen shows that at least a portion of remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the stator core (annotated fig.1), and the remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the rotor core (annotated fig.1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to show that the core of Lung wherein at least a portion of remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the stator core, and the remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the rotor core as suggested by Johnsen to provide further cooling of the device and reduce hot spots inside device, and not reduce structural integrity of device with sufficient cooing (Johnsen, P[0010-0012]).
Re-claim 3, Lung as modified discloses the motor cooling system according to claim 2,
Lung fails to explicitly teach the stator is configured such that a portion of the remaining oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied into the stator core, and another portion of the remaining oil is supplied to the coil end on an other side in the axial direction without flowing through the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that the oil supplied into the rotor core reaches the end on the other side in the axial direction of the rotor core and then is supplied from the radially inner side to the coil end on the other side in the axial direction.
However, Johnsen suggests and shows that the stator is configured such that a portion of the remaining oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage (60, up into inside of stator) is supplied into the stator core (see fig.1 fluid goes into stator), and another portion of the remaining oil (annotated fig.1) is supplied to the coil end on an other side in the axial direction without flowing through the stator core (ANNOTAED FIG.1) , and the rotor is configured such that the oil supplied into the rotor core reaches the end on the other side in the axial direction of the rotor core and then is supplied from the radially inner side to the coil end on the other side in the axial direction (ANNOTATED FIG.1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to show that the core of Lung wherein the stator is configured such that a portion of the remaining oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied into the stator core, and another portion of the remaining oil is supplied to the coil end on an other side in the axial direction without flowing through the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that the oil supplied into the rotor core reaches the end on the other side in the axial direction of the rotor core and then is supplied from the radially inner side to the coil end on the other side in the axial direction as suggested by Johnsen to provide further cooling of the device and reduce hot spots inside device, and not reduce structural integrity of device with sufficient cooing (Johnsen, P[0010-0012]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Re-claim 4, recites “inter alia” with claim 2 and claim 1: 1. A motor cooling system that supplies an oil for cooling to each part of a motor, characterized in that the system comprises: a cooling means for cooling an oil, a stator having a cylindrical stator core on which a stator coil is mounted, a rotor having a cylindrical rotor core disposed inside the stator core, a stator side oil passage capable of supplying the oil that has passed through the cooling means to the stator, and a rotor side oil passage capable of supplying the oil that has passed through the cooling means to the rotor; and the stator is configured such that at least a portion of the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied to at least a coil end on one side in an axial direction of the stator coil without flowing inside the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that at least a portion of the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied from radially inner side to at least the coil end on one side in the axial direction without flowing inside the rotor core.
2. The motor cooling system according to claim 1, characterized in that: the stator is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction, and at least a portion of remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction, and the remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the rotor core.
4. The motor cooling system according to claim 2, characterized in that: the stator is configured such that the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage passes through an annular space formed concentrically with the stator core in an oil plate attached to the end on one side in the axial direction of the stator core, and is distributed to the coil end on one side in the axial direction and into the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage passes through an annular space formed concentrically with the rotor core in an end plate attached to the end on one side in the axial direction of the rotor core, and is distributed to the coil end on one side in the axial direction and into the rotor core.”
The combination as indicated above is unique and is not possible to keep combining references to come up with the combined claim limitations above as indicated.
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487
665
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515
567
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828
698
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Re-claim 5, recites “inter alia” with claim 2 and claim 1: A motor cooling system that supplies an oil for cooling to each part of a motor, characterized in that the system comprises: a cooling means for cooling an oil, a stator having a cylindrical stator core on which a stator coil is mounted, a rotor having a cylindrical rotor core disposed inside the stator core, a stator side oil passage capable of supplying the oil that has passed through the cooling means to the stator, and a rotor side oil passage capable of supplying the oil that has passed through the cooling means to the rotor; and the stator is configured such that at least a portion of the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied to at least a coil end on one side in an axial direction of the stator coil without flowing inside the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that at least a portion of the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied from radially inner side to at least the coil end on one side in the axial direction without flowing inside the rotor core.
2. The motor cooling system according to claim 1, characterized in that: the stator is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the stator side oil passage is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction, and at least a portion of remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the stator core, and the rotor is configured such that a portion of the oil that has passed through the rotor side oil passage is supplied to the coil end on one side in the axial direction, and the remaining oil is supplied in the axial direction into the rotor core.
5. The motor cooling system according to claim 2, characterized in that: the rotor core has a plurality of axially extending magnet holes formed into which permanent magnets are embedded, the stator is configured such that the oil supplied into the stator core flows in the axial direction through a space between a slot formed in the stator core and the stator coil inserted into the slot, and the rotor is configured such that the oil supplied into the rotor core flows in the axial direction through the magnet holes.”
The combination as indicated above is unique and is not possible to keep combining references to come up with the combined claim limitations above as indicated.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure in PTO892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAGED M ALMAWRI whose telephone number is (313)446-6565. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher M. Koehler can be reached on 5712723560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAGED M ALMAWRI whose telephone number is (313)446-6565. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher M. Koehler can be reached on 5712723560. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MAGED M ALMAWRI/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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