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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 17854186, filed on 6/30/22.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the plurality of cooling channels arranged radially adjacently of claim 25 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: MOTOR HOUSING FOR AN AXIAL FLUX MOTOR HAVING COOLING CHANNEL WITH RIBS.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
On pg 3, paragraph [0009] should be amended to remove the specific claim number (claim 1, claim 14 and claim 15).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 18-24 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claims 18-24 “Claims” should not be capitalized, since the first word of a claim is the only word to be capitalized.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 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.
Claims 16-19 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao et al. (CN110417218, “Rao”, using machine translation) in view of Kasibhatla (WO2022008524. “Kasibhatla”, using machine translation).
Re claim 16, Rao discloses a motor housing for an axial flux motor comprising:
at least one housing portion which is of at least partially double-walled configuration (figs 1 & below), in order to configure an internal cooling channel 102 in the housing portion (figs 1-2c & below, [0045]),
the cooling channel 102 extending in a substantially annular manner in the circumferential direction between an inlet 16 and an outlet 17 (fig 2c, [0045]), the cooling channel 102 comprising a plurality of transverse ribs 8 (fig 2c, [0045]),
wherein the transverse ribs 8 extending along a rib width laterally with respect to the circumferential direction (figs 2c & below),
the transverse ribs 8 extending along their rib width at least partially between a radially inner channel wall and a radially outer channel wall of the cooling channel 102 (figs 1, 2c & below),
the plurality of transverse ribs 8 being configured and protruding into the cooling channel 120 so as, during operation, to produce a second cooling flow which flows through the cooling channel 120 in a laterally meandering manner (fig 2c).
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Rao discloses claim 16 except for:
a first cooling flow which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel; and
the second cooling flow which flows through the cooling channel in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow.
Kasibhatla discloses a first cooling flow S2/54 which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel 50 (figs 1-2, [0025-0027]);
the second cooling flow S1/52 which flows through the cooling channel 50 in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow S2/54 (figs 1-2, [0025-0027], has housing formed by 42 & 44 w/ S1/52 pressed outward); and
forming a space between the rib 54 and the housing portion 42, in order to cool the housing portion 43 directly adjacent to the rib 54 (figs 1-2, [0027-0028]) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the cooling channel of Rao to include a first cooling flow which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel; and the second cooling flow which flows through the cooling channel in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow, as disclosed by Kasibhatla, in order to cool the housing portion directly adjacent to the rib, as taught by Kasibhatla ([0028]).
It is pointed out that Kasibhatla discloses cooling for a radial gap motor but one in the art would recognize that configuring the radial gap cooling channel for the axial gap motor of Rao can be thought of as unrolling the radial gap cooling channel (see Kasibhatla, fig 2, dashed lines outlining S1/52 cooling flow) and then reconnecting the two sides of the cooling channel resulting in a cooling channel as shown by Rao (fig 2c).
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Re claim 17, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above. Rao further discloses the inlet 16 and the outlet 17 being arranged adjacently in the circumferential direction (fig 2c).
Re claim 18, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above and further discloses the housing portion comprising a first wall portion (Rao, figs 1, 2b & above for claim 16, portion of 1 indicated in annotated fig 1 above for claim 1) and a second wall portion 3 (Rao, figs 1 & 3a-b), the cooling channel 102 being formed between the first wall portion and the second wall portion 3 (Rao, fig 1), the transverse ribs 8 protruding from one of the first wall portion and/or the second wall portion 3 in the axial direction into the cooling channel 102 (Rao, fig 2b), with the result that a channel height of the cooling channel is reduced in the region of a respective transverse rib 54 (Kasibhatla, fig 1).
Re claim 19, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above. Rao further discloses a rib intermediate region being configured between in each case two adjacent transverse ribs 8 (figs 2c & below, rib intermediate region space formed by ribs & housing portion), and a flow guiding arrangement being configured in at least one rib intermediate region (figs 2c & below, since no structure is recited the flow guiding arrangement formed by ribs 8 to guide the flow in the radial direction).
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Re claim 21, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above. Rao further discloses the transverse ribs 8 extend partially between a radially inner channel wall and a radially outer channel wall of the cooling channel 102 (fig 2c & above for claim 1) such that the transverse ribs 8 are alternatingly spaced apart from the radially inner channel wall and the radially outer channel wall, respectively (fig 2c).
Re claim 22, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above. Rao further discloses the transverse ribs 8 extend partially between a radially inner channel wall and a radially outer channel wall of the cooling channel 102 (fig 2c & above for claim 1) such that the transverse ribs 8 alternatingly form a window or cut-out at a radially inner rib portion and a radially outer rib portion, respectively (fig 2c).
Re claim 23, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 16 as discussed above. Rao further discloses an axial flux motor comprising:
a motor housing (fig 1) according to claim 16,
a shaft 4 which is mounted rotationally in the motor housing (fig 1),
at least one rotor 7 which is arranged fixedly on the shaft 4 in the motor housing for conjoint rotation (fig 1),
at least one stator 6 which is arranged axially adjacently with respect to the rotor 7 in the motor housing (fig 1).
With respect to the limitation of the axial flux motor is for a fan, if the body of a claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and the preamble merely states, for example, the purpose or intended use of the invention, rather than any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention’s limitations, then the preamble is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction (see MPEP 2111.02, II.). Additionally the axial flux motor of Rao in view of Kasibhatla would be capable of driving a fan since it is an axial motor that discloses all the claim structure of claims 16 and 23.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Kasibhatla and in further view of Kobus et al. (WO2019215290. “Kobus”, using machine translation).
Re claim 20, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 19 as discussed above, but are silent with respect to the flow guiding arrangement comprising an undulating surface.
Kobus discloses the flow guiding arrangement 78 comprising an undulating surface (figs 20-23, [0082-0083]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the flow guiding arrangement of Rao in view of Kasibhatla to comprise an undulating surface, as disclosed by Kobus, in order to increase cooling by increasing the surface area of the cooling channel, as taught by Kobus ([0084]).
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Kasibhatla and in further view of Moore et al. (US20190245405 “Moore”).
Re claim 24, Rao in view of Kasibhatla discloses claim 23 as discussed above and further discloses an axial flux motor according to claim 23, but is silent with respect to a high-voltage fan for an electric vehicle comprising: the axial flux motor according to claim 23, and a fan impeller which is arranged fixedly on the shaft outside the motor housing for conjoint rotation.
Moore discloses a high-voltage fan (compared to fans with lower voltage than Moore) for an electric vehicle ([0041-0042]) comprising an axial flux motor 10, and a fan impeller which is arranged fixedly on the shaft 18 the shaft outside the motor housing for conjoint rotation (figs 1-5, [0041-0042], motor housing inherent for motor when driving fan for electric aircraft in order to avoid outside debris & provide the fan in the outside air to drive the aircraft).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the axial motor of Rao in view of Kasibhatla as a high-voltage fan for an electric vehicle comprising: the axial flux motor according to claim 23, and a fan impeller which is arranged fixedly on the shaft outside the motor housing for conjoint rotation, as disclosed by Moore, in order to employ the axial flux motor in other applications known to use axial flux motors, as demonstrated by Moore.
Claims 25-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Li et al. (CN109378938 “Li”, using machine translation).
Re claim 25, Rao discloses a motor housing for an axial flux motor comprising:
at least one housing portion which is of at least partially double-walled configuration (figs 1 & above for claim 16), in order to configure an internal cooling channel 102 in the housing portion (figs 1-2c & above for claim 1, [0045]),
the cooling channel 102 extending in a substantially annular manner in the circumferential direction between an inlet 16 and an outlet 17 (fig 2c, [0045]), in order, during operation, to produce a first cooling flow which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel 102, the cooling channel comprising a plurality of transverse ribs 8 (fig 2c, [0045]),
Rao discloses claim 25 except for:
a plurality of internal cooling channels;
the plurality of internal cooling channels are arranged radially adjacently;
each cooling channel extending in a substantially annular manner in the circumferential direction between the inlet and the outlet; and
each cooling channel comprising a plurality of transverse ribs.
Li discloses a plurality of internal cooling channels 31 (figs 1-2, [0039]);
the plurality of internal cooling channels 31 are arranged axially adjacently;
each cooling channel extending in a substantially annular manner in the circumferential direction between the inlet 4 and the outlet 5 (fig 2, [0041]); and
each cooling channel 31 comprising a plurality of transverse ribs 8 (fig 2, [0044]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the at least one housing portion of Rao to comprise a plurality of internal cooling channels; each cooling channel extending in a substantially annular manner in the circumferential direction between the inlet and the outlet; and each cooling channel comprising a plurality of transverse ribs, as disclosed by Li in order to avoid excessive temperature difference as compared to a housing portion with a single cooling channel, as taught by Li ([0050])..
It is pointed out that Rao in view of Li discloses the plurality of internal cooling channels are arranged radially adjacently since; Rao discloses the cooling channel 102 runs circumferentially along the back of the axial flux stator 6 (figs 1 & below); and Li discloses the cooling channels 31 run circumferentially along the back of the radial flux stator (figs 2 & below), resulting in the plurality of internal cooling channels arranged radially adjacent on the axial flux stator (see above discussion above for claim16 about radial to axial gap reconfiguration).
Re claim 26, Rao in view of Li disclose claim 25 as discussed above and further disclose the plurality of internal cooling channels 31 in each case having a dedicated inlet 4 and outlet 5 (Li, fig 2).
Re claim 27, Rao in view of Li disclose claim 26 as discussed above and further disclose the dedicated inlet 4 and the dedicated outlet 5 of each of the plurality of cooling channels 31 are arranged such that the first cooling flow of the cooling channels 31 extends in opposite circumferential directions (fig 2, [0043]).
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Li and in further view of Oshita (DE102022107108, “Oshita”, using machine translation).
Re claim 28, Rao in view of Li disclose claim 26 as discussed above but are silent with respect to the dedicated inlet of one of the plurality of cooling channels is arranged adjacently in a fluidically connected manner with the dedicated outlet of an adjacent cooling channel.
Oshita discloses the dedicate inlets of one of the plurality of cooling channels is arranged adjacently in a fluidically connected manner with the dedicated outlet of an adjacent cooling channel (fig 5, [0050], teaches providing 3rd cooling channel to right in fig 5 of cooling channel 51 & connecting the three cooling channels in series to form one singular path).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the cooling channels of Rao in view of Li so the dedicate inlets of one of the plurality of cooling channels is arranged adjacently in a fluidically connected manner with the dedicated outlet of an adjacent cooling channel, as disclosed by Oshita, in order to form one singular cooling channel, as taught by Oshita ([0050]).
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Li and in further view of Kasibhatla.
Re claim 29, Rao in view of Li disclose claim 25 as discussed above and further disclose the plurality of transverse ribs 8 of each cooling channel 31 being configured and protruding into the respective cooling channel so as, during operation, to produce a second cooling flow which flows through the respective cooling channel 31 in a laterally meandering manner and the second cooling flow is the same as the first cooling flow (Li, fig 2).
Rao in view of Li disclose claim 29 but does not disclose the second cooling flow flows through the respective cooling channel in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow. Rao in view of Li discloses either the first or the second cooling flow, but does not disclose the first cooling flow channel which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel.
Kasibhatla discloses a first cooling flow S2/54 which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel 50 (figs 1-2, [0025-0027]);
the second cooling flow S1/52 which flows through the cooling channel 50 in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow S2/54 (figs 1-2, [0025-0027], has housing formed by 42 & 44 w/ S1/52 pressed outward); and
forming a space between the rib 54 and the housing portion 42, in order to cool the housing portion 43 directly adjacent to the rib 54 (figs 1-2, [0027-0028]) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the cooling channel of Rao in view of Li to include a first cooling flow which flows substantially in the circumferential direction through the cooling channel; and the second cooling flow which flows through the cooling channel in a laterally meandering manner with respect to the first cooling flow, as disclosed by Kasibhatla, in order to cool the housing portion directly adjacent to the rib, as taught by Kasibhatla ([0028]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Krais et al. (US11515755, figs 2 & 4, connection channels 10a-d) and Minamiura et al. (JP2014068513, fig 6, circumferential channel 34) have both meandering and circumferentially flowing paths.
An obviousness double patenting rejection of claim 16 can be applied using claim 3/1 of US12184151 in view of Rao et al. (CN110417218).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5715. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:30-5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached on (571)270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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