DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-13 of U.S. Patent Application No. 18/992,177, filed on 7 January, 2025, were presented for examination (as part of the WIPO submission). In the preliminary amendment also filed 7 January, 2025, claims 1-13 were canceled and new claims 14-28 were added. Claims 14-28 are currently pending in the application.
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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 30 January, 2025, was filed before the mailing date of this Office Action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
It is noted that the Examiner could not consider NPL citation no. 2, the German Office Action dated 2023-05-03, because the Examiner cannot read the German language. The references cited therein were considered, so no further action is required unless Applicant wishes to have this Office Action listed as a reference on the granted patent, in which case an English-language translation must be filed.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it contains in excess of 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
Claim Objections
Claims 15-28 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 15-26 all depend from now-canceled claim 1.
Claims 27-28 depend from now-canceled claim 11.
For examination on the merits the Examiner will examine dependent claims 15-26 as if they depended from independent claim 14, and dependent claim 18 will further be treated as if it depended from dependent claim 17.
Claim 21 is objected to because the word “the” should be inserted between “wherein” and “first”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 15-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "the limits" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination on the merits, the Examiner will interpret the “limits” as referring to the angular limits 135o and 225o.
Claim 16 recites the limitation “in opposite directions” in lines 2-3. A reader cannot be definitively sure of what the directions are opposite to. For examination on the merits, the Examiner will interpret the limitation to mean “in mutually opposite directions” to distinguish that the direction of the first cooling channel is opposite to the direction of the second cooling channel.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "the limits" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination on the merits, the Examiner will interpret the “limits” as referring to the angular limits 0o and 45o from claim 17. It is noted that if the dependency issue is remedied, the “limits” of this claim will need a further modifier to directly couple it to the angular range.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the inlet" in lines 1-2 and “the outlet” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 20 recites the limitation "the outlet" in lines 1-2 and “the inlet” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
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.
Claims 14-15 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsukagoshi (US 2024/0039361 A1).
With respect to claim 14, Tsukagoshi teaches a housing [inner housing 21] for an electric machine [first motor 20] (see fig. 1) of an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (¶ 0038 recites “the rotating electrical machine is used by being incorporated in a drive unit or the like that drives a vehicle…”) comprising:
a cylindrical first housing part (inner pipe 31) having an outer side (the side shown exposed in figs. 3-5 and which defines the channels);
a tubular second housing part [outer pipe 32] (see joint annotated excerpt of figs. 1 and 2 attached below) arranged on the cylindrical first housing part [31] and having an inner side (not described or shown, but if 32 did not have an inner side it would be a monolith and 31 could not fit inside it);
a housing cooling device [combined connecting pipe 40, inlet α, refrigerant flow path 24, outlet β, and coupling pipe 30], further comprising:
a first coolant connection [combined connecting pipe 40 and inlet α) arranged in the tubular second housing part [32];
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a second coolant connection [combined coupling pipe 30 and outlet β] arranged at a distance from the first coolant connection [40/α];
a cooling structure [combined refrigerant flow path 24 and top portions 43] formed on the inner side and/or the outer side [on the outer side of 31], the cooling structure [24/43] further comprising:
a first cooling channel {see joint annotated excerpt of figs. 4 and 5 below, wherein the Examiner has labeled the first cooling channel and the second cooling channel – it is noted that fig. 4 is an outer view (viewed from the right-hand side of fig. 1) and fig. 5 is an inner, opposite view (viewed from the left-hand side of fig. 1)};
a second cooling channel (also labeled below); and
a plurality of webs [top portions 43], each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part [31] and/or the tubular second housing part, each of the plurality of webs [43] being part of one of the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel;
wherein the first coolant connection [40/α] and the second coolant connection [30/β] are arranged offset from each other in the axial direction [Z-direction in figs. 4-5] and in the circumferential direction (see fig. 1) of the tubular second housing part [32]; and
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wherein each of the plurality of webs [43], relative to the circumferential direction (right-to-left in figs. 4 and 5), are arranged offset from and/or parallel to each other in the axial direction in a first portion (first portion labeled in both figs. 4 and 5 – the left side of fig. 4 is the right side of the other face shown in fig. 4), and run in the shape of a helix in a second portion (also labeled).
With respect to claim 15/14, Tsukagoshi teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the offset of the first coolant connection and the second coolant connection in the circumferential direction is greater than 135o and less than 225o (see fig. 6 below and ¶ 0044 which recites “the angular positions of the inlet α and the outlet β are separated by 180 degrees…”.
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With respect to claim 28/14, Tsukagoshi teaches the housing of claim 14 (see rejection of claim 14 above), Tsukagoshi further teaches a motor vehicle with an electric machine of claim 14 (¶ 0038 recites “the rotating electrical machine is used by being incorporated in a drive unit or the like that drives a vehicle…”).
Claims 14, 17-20, 23, and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo (CN 114598107 A, provided with machine translation).
With respect to claim 14, Guo teaches a housing [combined water shell 1, shell water inlet 11, inlet 21, shell water outlet 12, water outlet 22, and inner water jacket 2] for an electric machine of an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (see ¶ 0002 of the provided translation, which locates the disclosure among the background art of “motorization of automobiles….”), comprising:
a cylindrical first housing part [2] having an outer side (labeled by the Examiner in the joint annotated excerpt of figs. 2 and 5 below);
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a tubular second housing part [water shell 1] arranged on the cylindrical first housing part [2] and having an inner side (see figs. 2/3 above);
a housing cooling device [combined elements 11, 12, 21, 22, 25, 26], further comprising:
a first coolant connection [combined shell water inlet 11 and inlet 21] arranged in the tubular second housing part 1];
a second coolant connection [combined shell water outlet 12 and outlet 22] (11 and 12 are shown in fig. 2 above and 21 and 22 are shown in fig. 4 below) arranged at a distance from the first coolant connection [11/21];
a cooling structure [combined ribs 25 and 26 and the channels formed thereby and therebetween] formed on the inner side and/or the outer side [on the outer side of 2], the cooling structure [25/26] further comprising:
a first cooling channel (labeled by the Examiner in the joint annotated excerpt of figs. 3 and 4 attached below);
a second cooling channel (also labeled below by the Examiner); and
a plurality of webs [ribs 25/26], each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part [in the first housing part 2] and/or the tubular second housing part, each of the plurality of webs [25/26] being part of one of the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel;
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wherein the first coolant connection [11/21] and the second coolant connection [12/22] are arranged offset from each other in the axial direction (up-to-down in fig. 4 and left-to-right in fig. 2) and in the circumferential direction (left-to-right in fig. 4 and up-to-down in fig. 2) of the tubular second housing part [1] (see figs. 2 and 4); and
wherein each of the plurality of webs [25/26], relative to the circumferential direction, are arranged offset from and/or parallel to each other in the axial direction in a first portion, and run in the shape of a helix in a second portion (the Examiner has labeled the first portion and second portion in the fig. 3-4 excerpt above).
With respect to claim 17/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein, in a region of the second coolant connection [12/22], the first cooling channel and the second cooling channel converge at an angle.
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With respect to claim 18/17/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 17, and further teaches wherein the angle is between 0o and 45o (see fig. 4 above – the angle appears to be approximately 20-30o), wherein the limits are inclusive.
19. With respect to claim 19/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the first coolant connection [11/21] is an inlet and the second coolant connection [12/22] is an outlet (as shown in fig. 4 below, the layout of the channel structure is more-or-less symmetrical – if pressure is applied to 11/21, the coolant will move-from left-to-right as shown in fig. 4 by arrows, and rise toward 12/22, making 11/21 the inlet and 12/22 the outlet – in other words, since the claim is just to the housing, 11/21 and 12/22 can each be an inlet and an outlet, depending on which one receives pressurized fluid.
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20. With respect to claim 20/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the first coolant connection [11/21] is an outlet and second coolant connection [12/22] is an inlet (as shown in fig. 4 below, the layout of the channel structure is more-or-less symmetrical – if pressure is applied to 12/22, the coolant will move from right-to-left, opposite to the arrows, and drop toward 11/21, making 11/21 the outlet and 12/22 the inlet – in other words, since the claim is just to the housing, 11/21 and 12/22 can each be an inlet and an outlet, depending on which one receives pressurized fluid.
21. With respect to claim 23/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the length of the first cooling channel corresponds substantially to a length of the second cooling channel (according to fig. 4, their lengths are substantially equal).
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22. With respect to claim 26/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches an electric machine [motor] (see ¶ 0031 which recites “the present application provides a double-spiral cooling structure, which is specifically described in conjunction with an application example of a motor…”) with the housing of claim 14.
23. With respect to claim 27/14, Guo teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches a method for cooling an electric machine of claim 14, the method comprising the steps of:
supplying a cooling medium to the first cooling channel and the second cooling channel via the first coolant connection [11/21] or the second coolant connection (see ¶ 0036-0037 and the arrows shown in fig. 4 – and ¶ 0038 describes the parallel flow such that the arrows for the first coolant channel are replicated but not shown in fig. 4);
discharging the cooling medium from the housing via the other coolant connection [12/22] (fig. 4 actually shows the arrow depicting the discharging – see ¶ 0037).
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Claims 14, 22, 24, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fatemi (US 2020/0161938 A1).
With respect to claim 14, Fatemi teaches a housing for an electric machine [100] (see title) of an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (see ¶ 0017) comprising:
a cylindrical first housing part [inner shell 132] having an outer side [surface 131];
a tubular second housing part [outer shell 140] arranged on the cylindrical first housing part [132] and having an inner side (see ¶ 0046-0047];
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a housing cooling device [combined elements 160, 162, 142], further comprising:
a first coolant connection [inlet 160] arranged in the tubular second housing part [140];
a second coolant connection [outlet 162] arranged at a distance from the first coolant connection;
a cooling structure [combined elements 142, 130] formed on the inner side and/or the outer side [131], the cooling structure further comprising:
a first cooling channel (labeled by the Examiner in the joint annotated excerpt of figs. 3-4 attached below);
a second cooling channel (also labeled); and
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a plurality of webs [ribs 142] (see ¶ 0051-0052), each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part [132] and/or the tubular second housing part, each of the plurality of webs [142] being part of one of the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel (see fig. 3);
wherein the first coolant connection [160] and the second coolant connection [162] are arranged offset from each other in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction of the tubular second housing part (see fig. 3); and
wherein each of the plurality of webs [142], relative to the circumferential direction, are arranged offset from and/or parallel to each other in the axial direction in a first portion, and run in the shape of a helix in a second portion.
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With respect to claim 22/14, Fatima teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the first cooling channel [130] or the second cooling channel [130] further comprising:
a groove shaped contour [combined secondary ribs 150 and the space between them) between he webs [142];
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wherein he groove-shaped contour is, at least in portions, parallel to the webs [142] (referring back to the fig. 3 excerpt above, where the secondary ribs 150 are shown parallel to the main ribs 142).
With respect to claim 24/14, Fatima teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the cylindrical first housing part [132] is a cast component (see ¶ 0062 which recites “the inner shell 132 and the outer shell 140, which are made from aluminum. The shells may be cast…”).
With respect to claim 25/14, Fatima teaches the housing of claim 14, and further teaches wherein the tubular second housing part [140] is an extruded component {see MPEP 2113 (I), Product-by-Process Claims – the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from the prior art, the process of manufacturing it is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process – the full text of the MPEP section is as follows:
"[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process." In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (citations omitted) (Claim was directed to a novolac color developer. The process of making the developer was allowed. The difference between the inventive process and the prior art was the addition of metal oxide and carboxylic acid as separate ingredients instead of adding the more expensive pre-reacted metal carboxylate. The product-by-process claim was rejected because the end product, in both the prior art and the allowed process, ends up containing metal carboxylate. The fact that the metal carboxylate is not directly added, but is instead produced in-situ does not change the end product.). Furthermore, "[b]ecause validity is determined based on the requirements of patentability, a patent is invalid if a product made by the process recited in a product-by-process claim is anticipated by or obvious from prior art products, even if those prior art products are made by different processes." Amgen Inc. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., 580 F.3d 1340, 1370 n. 14, 92 USPQ2d 1289, 1312, n. 14 (Fed. Cir. 2009). See also Biogen MA Inc. v. EMD Serono, Inc., 976 F.3d 1326, 1334, 2020 USPQ2d 11129 (Fed. Cir. 2020) ("Biogen is certainly correct that the scope of composition and method of treatment claims is generally subject to distinctly different analyses. But where, as here, the novelty of the method of administration rests wholly on the novelty of the composition administered, which in turn rests on the novelty of the source limitation, the Amgen analysis will necessarily result in the same conclusion on anticipation for both forms of claims."); United Therapeutics Corp. v Liquidia Techs., Inc., 74 F.4th 1360, 1373, 2023 USPQ2d 862 (Fed. Cir. 2023) (the court held that product-by-process claims were properly rejected as "anticipated by a disclosure of the same product irrespective of the processes by which they are made."); and Purdue Pharma v. Epic Pharma, 811 F.3d 1345, 117 USPQ2d 1733 (Fed. Cir. 2016). However, in the context of an infringement analysis, a product-by-process claim is only infringed by a product made by the process recited in the claim. Id. at 1370 ("a product in the prior art made by a different process can anticipate a product-by-process claim, but an accused product made by a different process cannot infringe a product-by-process claim").
The structure implied by the process steps should be considered when assessing the patentability of product-by-process claims over the prior art, especially where the product can only be defined by the process steps by which the product is made, or where the manufacturing process steps would be expected to impart distinctive structural characteristics to the final product. See, e.g., In re Garnero, 412 F.2d 276, 279, 162 USPQ 221, 223 (CCPA 1979) (holding "interbonded by interfusion" to limit structure of the claimed composite and noting that terms such as "welded," "intermixed," "ground in place," "press fitted," and "etched" are capable of construction as structural limitations). See also In re Nordt Dev. Co., 881 F.3d 1371,1375-76, 125 USPQ2d 1817, 1820 (Fed. Cir. 2018)(holding "the specification demonstrates that ‘injected molded’ connotes an integral structure," and discussing several cases since Garnero that held "limitations to convey structure even when they also describe a process of manufacture").}
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.
Claims 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 210327236 U, provided with machine translation) in view of Fatemi (already applied above to claims 14, 22, and 24-25).
With respect to claim 14, Chen teaches a housing for an electric machine of an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (see abstract which recites “cooling structure of a driving motor of an electric automobile…” and ¶ 0008 of the translation which recites “the utility model relates to an electric automobile driving motor cooling structure, electric automobile driving motor cooling structure include motor housing…”) comprising:
a housing cooling device, further comprising:
a first coolant connection [4];
a second coolant connection [5] arranged at a distance from the first coolant connection [4];
the cooling structure further comprising:
a first cooling channel (labeled by the Examiner in the joint annotated excerpts of figs. 1-2 attached below);
a second cooling channel (also labeled); and
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a plurality of inter-channel interstices (also labeled), each of the plurality of webs being part of one of the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel (they form walls between them – the figures show the channels only, having left out the solid bodies surrounding and defining them);
wherein the first coolant connection [4] and the second coolant connection [5] are arranged offset from each other in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction of the tubular second housing part; and
wherein each of the plurality of interstices, relative to the circumferential direction, are arranged offset from and/or parallel to each other in the axial direction in a first portion, and run in the shape of a helix in a second portion (the examiner has labeled the portions in the new annotated joint excerpt of fig. 1 attached below).
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Chen only shows the empty space of the channels and the inlet and outlet, and therefore omits explicitly teaching a cylindrical first housing part having an outer side; a tubular second housing part arranged on the cylindrical first housing part and having an inner side; the first coolant connection arranged in the tubular second housing part; the cooling structure formed on the inner side and/or the outer side, wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs, each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part and/or the tubular second housing part.
Fatemi was discussed in great detail in the rejections of claims 1, 22, and 24-25 above, and is deemed analogous art.
Fatemi teaches:
a cylindrical first housing part [inner shell 132] having an outer side [surface 131];
a tubular second housing part [outer shell 140] arranged on the cylindrical first housing part [132] and having an inner side (see ¶ 0046-0047];
the first coolant connection [inlet 160] arranged in the tubular second housing part [140];
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the cooling structure [combined elements 142, 130] formed on the inner side and/or the outer side [131],
wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs [ribs 142] (see ¶ 0051-0052), each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part [132] and/or the tubular second housing part.
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It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the housing of Chen, while incorporating a cylindrical first housing part, a tubular second housing part, with the first coolant connection arranged in the tubular second housing part, the cooling structure formed on the outer side, wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs, as taught by Fatemi, in order to provide the solid structures that bound the open channels and inlets/outlets of figs. 1-2 of Chen – it is clear that Chen has omitted the typical inner and outer shells and the webs between them in order to illustrate the inventive concept, which is the arrangement of and relationships between the channels.
With respect to claim 16/14, Chen in view of Fatemi teaches the housing of claim 14, Chen further teaches wherein starting from the first coolant connection [4], the first cooling channel and the second cooling channel run in mutually opposite {see rejection of claim 16 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b)} directions [D1 and D2] (arrows drawn and labeled by the Examiner – see ¶ 0016 which recites “cooling water gets into the spiral water course I of a direction, and another part of cooling water gets into the spiral water course II of another direction…”).
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Claims 14 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (CN 113497513 A, provided with machine translation) in view of Fatemi (already applied above to claims 14, 16, 22, and 24-25).
With respect to claim 14, Chen teaches a housing (channel structure, see abstract) for an electric machine of an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (see ¶ 0002) comprising:
a housing cooling device, further comprising:
a first coolant connection [7];
a second coolant connection [6] arranged at a distance from the first coolant connection [7];
the cooling structure further comprising:
a first cooling channel (labeled by the Examiner in the annotated excerpt of figs. 2-4) attached below);
a second cooling channel (also labeled); and
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a plurality of inter-channel interstices (also labeled), each of the plurality of interstices being part of one of the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel (they form walls between them – the figures show the channels only, having left out the solid bodies surrounding and defining them);
wherein the first coolant connection [7] and the second coolant connection [6] are arranged offset from each other in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction; and
wherein each of the plurality of interstices, relative to the circumferential direction, are arranged offset from and/or parallel to each other in the axial direction in a first portion, and run in the shape of a helix in a second portion (the examiner has labeled the portions in the new annotated joint excerpt of fig. 1 attached below).
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Li only shows the empty space of the channels and the inlet and outlet, and therefore omits explicitly teaching a cylindrical first housing part having an outer side; a tubular second housing part arranged on the cylindrical first housing part and having an inner side; the first coolant connection arranged in the tubular second housing part; the cooling structure formed on the inner side and/or the outer side, wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs, each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part and/or the tubular second housing part.
Fatemi was discussed in great detail in the rejections of claims 1, 22, and 24-25 above, and is deemed analogous art.
Fatemi teaches:
a cylindrical first housing part [inner shell 132] having an outer side [surface 131];
a tubular second housing part [outer shell 140] arranged on the cylindrical first housing part [132] and having an inner side (see ¶ 0046-0047];
the first coolant connection [inlet 160] arranged in the tubular second housing part [140];
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the cooling structure [combined elements 142, 130] formed on the inner side and/or the outer side [131],
wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs [ribs 142] (see ¶ 0051-0052), each of which is formed in the radial direction of one of the cylindrical first housing part [132] and/or the tubular second housing part.
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It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the housing of Li, while incorporating a cylindrical first housing part, a tubular second housing part, with the first coolant connection arranged in the tubular second housing part, the cooling structure formed on the outer side, wherein the inter-channel interstices are webs, as taught by Fatemi, in order to provide the solid structures that bound the open channels and inlets/outlets of figs. 2-4 of Li – it is clear that Li has omitted the typical inner and outer shells and the webs between them in order to illustrate the inventive concept, which is the arrangement of and relationships between the channels.
With respect to claim 21/14, Li in view of Fatemi teaches the housing of claim 14, Li further teaches wherein the first cooling channel is directed through 180o in a region.
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 109546786 A appears to teach much of the inventive concept of the instant application, or at least a close variant on it. Although the Examiner might suspect that there could be an inlet on the unseen side of the housing that feeds coolant in opposite directions to first and second cooling channels, he could find no actual evidence of it. Because the next reference below (CN 209233633 U) appears to show the same configuration, while including arrows that show it does not have the inlet on the unseen side of the housing that feeds coolant in opposite directions to first and second cooling channels and also showing the inlet and outlet not circumferentially offset, this reference is only worth mentioning and will not be used in the prosecution.
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Figs. 3-4 of CN 209233633 U are relevant to the claims.
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Fig. 3 of US 2015/0308456 A1 is relevant to claim 16.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL K SCHLAK whose telephone number is (703)756-1685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 6:00 pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270 - 5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Daniel K Schlak/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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