DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This Office Action is responsive to the Applicant's communication filed 12 December 2024. In view of this communication, claims 1-15 are now pending in the application.
Disclosure
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 217002324 U), hereinafter referred to as “He”, in view of Tsuchida et al. (US 2020/0400157 A1), hereinafter referred to as “Tsuchida”.
Regarding claim 1, He discloses a heat dissipation structure for blower motors, comprising a motor [3] and a fan assembly [1] (fig. 2-5; ¶ 0039-0041), wherein:
the motor [3] includes a motor housing [31] enclosing an electric machine [3] and an output shaft [32] driven by the electric machine [3], with at least one end of the output shaft [32] extending through the motor housing [31] wall (fig. 5; ¶ 0041); and
the fan assembly [1] includes at least one impeller [2] mounted on the end of the output shaft [32], each impeller [2] comprising a fan disc [24] with multiple blades [23] arranged equidistantly around its periphery, the blades [23] forming an internal annular chamber corresponding to the motor [3] and an external annular chamber opposite the motor [3] on both sides of the fan disc [24] surface (fig. 5-7; ¶ 0040; the blades extend on either axial side of the “central disk 24”, both towards and away from the motor, creating interior spaces on both sides);
wherein at least one of the impellers [2] is equipped with an airflow directing assembly [71] positioned within the internal annular chamber of the impeller fan disc [24] adjacent to the motor [3], the airflow directing assembly [71] having multiple airflow directing vanes [71] arranged radially at equal angles, and each airflow directing vane [71] having a cross-section at the end consisting of a thinner vane leading edge near the motor [3] and a thicker vane trailing edge adjoining the fan disc [24] surface (fig. 6-7; ¶ 0043-0044; the guide vanes are shown tapering towards their distal ends).
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He does not disclose the motor housing [31] having multiple ventilation holes formed on both side walls.
Tsuchida discloses a heat dissipation structure for blower motors [200] comprising a motor [100] and fan assembly [30-32], wherein the motor [100] includes a motor housing [4] having multiple ventilation holes [42] formed on both side walls (fig. 8; ¶ 0041-0042, 0073-0074, 0106; air flow [F2] enters the motor housing through openings [42] on its left axial side and exits the motor housing through openings between frame members [49] on its right axial side).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the motor housing of He having multiple ventilation holes on either axial side wall as taught by Tsuchida, in order to dissipate heat generated by the motor (¶ 0106 of Tsuchida).
Regarding claim 4, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 1, as stated above, wherein the airflow directing assembly [71] forms a circular mounting ring [25] on the fan disc [24] surface adjacent to the motor housing [31], the circular mounting ring [25] being concentric with the fan disc [24], with the airflow directing vanes [71] arranged along the outer circumference of the circular mounting ring [25] (fig. 5; ¶ 0040, 0048).
Regarding claim 5, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 4, as stated above, wherein the center of the fan disc [24] is equipped with a hub protrusion [hp] (fig. 5; ¶ 0040, 0048; the center of the fan disc is offset axially), which enables the fan disc [24] to be mounted securely on the output shaft [32] of the motor [3] via the hub protrusion [hp] (this statement of the intended use of the fan disc does not imply any additional limitations).
Regarding claim 6, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claims 1, as stated above, wherein the blades [23] of each impeller [2] are arcuately curved in a direction opposite to the rotation of the output shaft [32], and the airflow directing vanes [71] are also arcuately curved with their concave sides facing in the opposite direction to the blades [23] (fig. 5-7; ¶ 0043), creating a multi-angle guide surface on the concave surface of each airflow directing vane [71] (fig. 3-5; the vanes are curved in the radial direction).
Regarding claim 9, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 4, as stated above, wherein the blades [23] of each impeller [2] are arcuately curved in a direction opposite to the rotation of the output shaft [32], and the airflow directing vanes [71] are also arcuately curved with their concave sides facing in the opposite direction to the blades [23] (fig. 5-7; ¶ 0043), creating a multi-angle guide surface on the concave surface of each airflow directing vane [71] (fig. 3-5; the vanes are curved in the radial direction).
Regarding claim 10, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claims 5, as stated above, wherein the blades [23] of each impeller [2] are arcuately curved in a direction opposite to the rotation of the output shaft [32], and the airflow directing vanes [71] are also arcuately curved with their concave sides facing in the opposite direction to the blades [23] (fig. 5-7; ¶ 0043), creating a multi-angle guide surface on the concave surface of each airflow directing vane [71] (fig. 3-5; the vanes are curved in the radial direction).
Claim(s) 11 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He and Tsuchida as applied to claims 6, 9, and 10 above, respectively, and further in view of Ko (US 2022/0082109 A1), hereinafter referred to as “Ko”.
Regarding claim 11, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 6, as stated above. He does not disclose that the motor [3] is a dual-shaft motor, and the output shaft [32] is a double-ended output shaft extending through both side walls of the motor housing [31].
Ko discloses a heat dissipation structure for blower motors comprising a motor [21] with an output shaft [210] extending through its motor housing, wherein the motor [21] is a dual-shaft motor [21], and the output shaft [210] is a double-ended output shaft [210] extending through both side walls of the motor housing (fig. 1; ¶ 0002).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the blower motor and fan assembly of He having a dual-shaft and dual-fan structure as taught by Ko, in order to increase the volume of air displaced by the blower. Further, it has been held that the mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 PSQ 8.
Regarding claim 14, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 9, as stated above. He does not disclose that the motor [3] is a dual-shaft motor, and the output shaft [32] is a double-ended output shaft extending through both side walls of the motor housing [31].
Ko discloses a heat dissipation structure for blower motors comprising a motor [21] with an output shaft [210] extending through its motor housing, wherein the motor [21] is a dual-shaft motor [21], and the output shaft [210] is a double-ended output shaft [210] extending through both side walls of the motor housing (fig. 1; ¶ 0002).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the blower motor and fan assembly of He having a dual-shaft and dual-fan structure as taught by Ko, in order to increase the volume of air displaced by the blower. Further, it has been held that the mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 PSQ 8.
Regarding claim 15, He, in view of Tsuchida, discloses the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 10, as stated above. He does not disclose that the motor [3] is a dual-shaft motor, and the output shaft [32] is a double-ended output shaft extending through both side walls of the motor housing [31].
Ko discloses a heat dissipation structure for blower motors comprising a motor [21] with an output shaft [210] extending through its motor housing, wherein the motor [21] is a dual-shaft motor [21], and the output shaft [210] is a double-ended output shaft [210] extending through both side walls of the motor housing (fig. 1; ¶ 0002).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the blower motor and fan assembly of He having a dual-shaft and dual-fan structure as taught by Ko, in order to increase the volume of air displaced by the blower. Further, it has been held that the mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 PSQ 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2-3, 7-8, and 12-13 is/are 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:
Regarding claim 2, and all claims dependent thereon, the prior art does not disclose, inter alia, the heat dissipation structure for blower motors according to Claim 1, wherein the airflow directing vanes of the airflow directing assembly are formed on the outer circumference of a circular mounting base, the circular mounting base having an axial hole at the center concentric with the fan disc, and multiple coupling through-holes arranged around the axial hole; the fan disc forms multiple corresponding coupling screw holes, enabling the circular mounting base of the airflow directing assembly to be secured to a fan disc surface adjacent to the motor housing using multiple fasteners.
While the prior art discloses the impeller comprising both blades and airflow directing vanes oriented oppositely to one another, the blades and vanes mounted via a fan disc and a circular mounting base, it does not disclose the specific arrangement as recited above and shown in figure 2 of the application. Specifically, the separable mounting base having the airflow directing vanes on its outer perimeter has not been found. Thus, the invention recited above is neither anticipated nor rendered obvious by the prior art.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Prior art:
Teramoto et al. (US 2023/0135727 A1) discloses a blower motor comprising an impeller with blades forming both internal and external annular chambers, the motor including a housing having multiple ventilation holes formed in its axial side walls.
McDonald (US 3,469,772) discloses a blower motor comprising an impeller with blades forming both internal and external annular chambers, the motor including a housing having multiple ventilation holes formed in its axial side walls, the motor being a dual-shaft motor with impellers mounted to the shaft extending from either axial side of the motor.
Busch (US 2,823,852) discloses a blower motor comprising an impeller with blades forming both internal and external annular chambers, the motor being a dual-shaft motor with impellers mounted to the shaft extending from either axial side of the motor.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Andrews whose telephone number is (571)270-7554. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-3:00pm.
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/Michael Andrews/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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