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 01/09/2025 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1,3, and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yazaki et al. (US PG Pub 20240063691) in view of Long et al. (US PG Pub 20220042458).
As to independent claim 1, Yazaki et al. teaches a rotating electric machine system (10) comprising: a rotating electric machine (12) including a rotating electric machine body (14) provided with a rotor (34) and a stator (36), and a bearing portion (74, 84) rotatably supporting the rotor (34); a supply pump (308) configured to deliver oil in a liquid state; an oil flow path configured to guide the oil delivered from the supply pump (308), to the rotating electric machine (12), wherein the rotating electric machine (12) is equipped with: a rotor cooling flow path (354) configured to allow the oil to flow into the rotor (34); a stator cooling flow path (see figure 1) configured to allow the oil to flow into the stator (36); and a lubricant flow path (176) see figure configured to supply the oil to the bearing portion (34, 36) and flows separately into the rotor cooling flow path (354) and the stator cooling flow path as shown n figure 1,
Yazaki et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except a heat exchanger provided in the oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger and the oil flowing through the stator cooling flow path is blown from the lubricant flow path to the bearing portion by pressure of the supply pump.
Long et al. teaches a heat exchanger (210) provided in the oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger (210) and the stator cooling flow path and the oil flowing through the stator cooling flow path is blown from the lubricant flow path to the bearing portion by pressure of the supply pump (212) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of improving cooling of heat-generating components while permitting a common fluid circuit to provide both cooling and lubrication.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Yazaki et al. by using a heat exchanger provided in the oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger and the oil flowing through the stator cooling flow path is blown from the lubricant flow path to the bearing portion by pressure of the supply pump, as taught by Long et al., to provide a composite member whose residual magnetic flux density of a bonded magnet does not decrease even when being exposed in a presence of high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor.
As to claim 3/1, Yazaki et al. teaches wherein the stator cooling flow path is a flow path not open to atmosphere as shown in figure 1, see paragraph [0094, 0240-0244].
As to independent claim 6, Yazaki et al. teaches a rotating electric machine system (10) comprising: a rotating electric machine (12) including a rotating electric machine body (14) provided with a rotor (34) and a stator (36), and a bearing portion (74, 84) rotatably supporting the rotor (34); a first oil flow path through which oil in a liquid state flows as shown in figure 1.
However Yazaki et al. teaches the claimed limitation as dissed above except a heat exchanger provided in the first oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and a second oil flow path branching from a portion of the first oil flow path on an upstream side of the heat exchanger, wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger is guided into the rotating electric machine body, and the oil flowing through the second oil flow path is guided to the bearing portion.
Long et al. teaches a heat exchanger (210) provided in the first oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and a second oil flow path branching from a portion of the first oil flow path on an upstream side of the heat exchanger (210) ad wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger (210) is guided into the rotating electric machine body (226), and the oil flowing through the second oil flow path is guided to the bearing portion (220) as shown in figure 2, see paragraph [0025-0034], for the advantageous benefit of for the advantageous benefit of improving cooling of heat-generating components while permitting a common fluid circuit to provide both cooling and lubrication.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Yazaki et al. by using a heat exchanger provided in the first oil flow path and configured to cool the oil and a second oil flow path branching from a portion of the first oil flow path on an upstream side of the heat exchanger, wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger is guided into the rotating electric machine body, and the oil flowing through the second oil flow path is guided to the bearing portion, as taught by Long et al., to provide a composite member whose residual magnetic flux density of a bonded magnet does not decrease even when being exposed in a presence of high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor.
As to claim 7/6, Yazaki et al. teaches wherein the rotating electric machine (12) includes: a rotor (34) cooling flow path configured to allow the oil to flow into the rotor (34); a stator cooling flow path configured to allow the oil to flow into the stator (36), and wherein the oil that has been cooled and flows separately into the rotor cooling flow path (354) and the stator cooling flow path as shown in figure 1.
Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger.
Long et al. teaches the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger (210) as shown in figure 2, see paragraph [0025-0034], for the advantageous benefit of for the advantageous benefit of improving cooling of heat-generating components while permitting a common fluid circuit to provide both cooling and lubrication.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. by using the oil that has been cooled by the heat exchanger, as taught by Long et al., to provide a composite member whose residual magnetic flux density of a bonded magnet does not decrease even when being exposed in a presence of high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor.
As to claim 8/7, Yazaki et al. teaches further comprising a supply pump configured to supply the oil to the first oil flow path, wherein the first oil flow path, and the second oil flow path is connected to the supply flow path as shown in figure 1.
However Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except a supply flow path connecting the supply pump and the heat exchanger.
Long et al. teaches a supply flow path connecting the supply pump (212) and the heat exchanger (210) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of for the advantageous benefit of improving cooling of heat-generating components while permitting a common fluid circuit to provide both cooling and lubrication.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. by using a supply flow path connecting the supply pump and the heat exchanger, as taught by Long et al., to provide a composite member whose residual magnetic flux density of a bonded magnet does not decrease even when being exposed in a presence of high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yazaki et al. (US PG Pub 20240063691) and Long et al. (US PG Pub 20220042458) as applied in claim 2 above, and further in view of List (EP1892511).
As to claim 2/1, Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. teaches the claimed limitation as dissed above except wherein the rotor cooling flow path is a flow path open to atmosphere.
However List the rotor cooling flow path (8) is a flow path open to atmosphere (see paragraph [0012], lines 45-54), for the advantageous benefit of providing discharge of the cooling medium from the rotor after absorbing heat therefrom and thereby provide effective rotor cooling.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Yazaki et al. in view of Long et al. by using the rotor cooling flow path is a flow path open to atmosphere, as taught by List, to provide discharge of the cooling medium from the rotor after absorbing heat therefrom and thereby provide effective rotor cooling.
Claims 4 and 5 and 9-11 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. Note claim 4 depends claim 2, claim 5 depends claim 4, claim 9 depends claim 8, claim 10 depends claim 9, and claim 11 depends claim 10.
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.
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, OLUSEYE 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.
/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 August 11, 2026
Prosecution Insights