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 statements (IDS) submitted on 01/23/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 10-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hishinuma (JP2013132151).
As to independent claim 10, Hishinuma teaches an electric machine (10, see figure 1) comprising: a rotor (16) arranged on a rotor shaft (18); a supporting ring (20) arranged on a front side of the rotor (16); and at least one routing duct (46) arranged in the supporting ring (20) that has a collecting structure (54) configured to route a fluid emitted from the rotor shaft (18) to a front side (see figure 5) of the supporting ring (20) as shown in figures 1 and 5.
As to independent claim 18, Hishinuma teaches a supporting ring (20) for an electric machine (10), wherein the electric machine (10) includes a rotor (16) arranged on a rotor shaft (18), wherein the supporting ring (20) is configured to be arranged on a front side of the rotor (16) of the electric machine (10), and wherein the supporting ring (20) comprises: at least one routing duct (46) arranged in the supporting ring (20) that has a collecting structure (54) configured to route a fluid emitted from the rotor shaft (18) to a front side of the supporting ring (20) as shown in figures 1-5.
As to claims 11/10 and 19/18, Hishinuma teaches wherein the supporting ring (20) is arranged on the rotor shaft (18) by a hub (52), and wherein the at least one routing duct (46) is arranged on the hub (52) of the supporting ring (20) as shown in figure 5.
As to claims 12/11 and 20/19, Hishinuma teaches wherein the at least one routing duct (46) is arranged in a region between the hub (52) and the front side (see figure 5) of the supporting ring (20) as shown in figures 5.
As to claims 13/10 and 21/18, Hishinuma teaches wherein the at least one routing duct (46) includes an acute angle (48) with an axis of the rotor (16) as shown in figures 4 and 5.
As to claim 14/10 and 22/18, Hishinuma teaches wherein the collecting structure (54) has a form of a depression in the supporting ring (20) as shown in figure 5.
As to claim 15/14 and 23/22, Hishinuma teaches wherein the depression (see figure 5) is arranged at a radially outer end of the at least one routing duct (46) as shown in figure 5.
As to claim 16/14 and 24/22, Hishinuma teaches wherein the depression (see figures 4 and 5) is arranged in an offset manner with respect to the at least one routing duct (46), contrary to a direction of rotation of the rotor (18) as shown in figures 2-5 and 7.
As to claims 17/10 and 25/22, Hishinuma teaches comprising: a plurality of routing ducts (46) arranged on the supporting ring (20) in a rotationally symmetrical manner as shown in figures 2-5.
As to claim 19/18, wherein the supporting ring is configured to be arranged on the rotor shaft by a hub, and wherein the at least one routing duct is arranged on the hub of the supporting ring.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7850. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:30-2:30 EST.
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/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 July 22, 2026
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