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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was filed on 06/19/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
“A controller” in Claims 2-13, Line 1 should read “The controller”.
“claim 1” in Claim 5, Line 1 should read “Claim 1” to be consistent with the rest of the claims.
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.
Claims 4-13 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.
The term “high turbulence level” in Claim 4 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “high turbulence level” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear what makes a particular turbulence level a “high turbulence level”, since the disclosure has not defined what is meant by a “high” turbulence level.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the one or more tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control modules" in Line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 5 fails to disclose a tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control module prior to the recitation of "the one or more tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control modules" in Line 3 (Claim 2 discloses a tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control module, but Claim 5 depends upon Claim 1, not Claim 2).
Claims 6-13 are rejected due to their dependence upon Claim 5.
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) 1, 5, 15, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nagasaki (US Patent No: 8,523,520).
Regarding Claim 1: Nagasaki discloses a controller for a wind turbine (Figure 1, No. 10) having a rotor (18) and two or more rotor blades (20), the controller being for adjusting pitch of the rotor blades (Column 1, Lines 15-17), the controller comprising a collective pitch control module for determining a collective pitch reference for the rotor blades (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); and one or more pitch offset control modules (Column 3, Lines 56-59); the controller being configured to receive a collective pitch signal indicative of collective pitch angle of the rotor blades (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); receive a power signal indicative of power output of the wind turbine (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); and, for each of the one or more pitch offset control modules, determine a respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value based on the received collective pitch signal and on the received power signal (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2; Column 8, Lines 18-23), wherein each pitch offset control module is configured to determine a respective pitch reference offset value in accordance with the respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value (Column 8, Lines 24-30), the controller being configured to determine an overall pitch reference based on the collective pitch reference and the one or more pitch reference offset values, and to transmit a control signal to adjust the pitch of the rotor blades in accordance with the overall pitch reference (Column 8, Lines 31-33).
Regarding Claim 5: Nagasaki discloses the controller according to Claim 1, wherein the one or more pitch offset control modules comprise one or more further pitch offset control modules, different from a one or more tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control modules, each for mitigating loads experienced by one or more components of the wind turbine (Column 6, Lines 16-27 & 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2).
Regarding Claim 15: Nagasaki discloses a method for a wind turbine (10) having a rotor (18) and two or more rotor blades (20), the method being for adjusting pitch of the rotor blades (Column 1, Lines 15-17), the method comprising determining a collective pitch reference for the rotor blades (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); receiving a collective pitch signal indicative of collective pitch angle of the rotor blades (Column 3, Lines 56-59); receiving a power signal indicative of power output of the wind turbine (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); for each of one or more pitch offset control modules of a controller of the wind turbine, determining a respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value based on the received collective pitch signal and on the received power signal Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2; Column 8, Lines 18-23), and determining a respective pitch reference offset value in accordance with the respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2; Column 8, Lines 18-23); and determining an overall pitch reference based on the collective pitch reference and the one or more pitch reference offset values, and transmitting a control signal to adjust the pitch of the rotor blades in accordance with the overall pitch reference (Column 8, Lines 31-33).
Regarding Claim 16: Nagasaki discloses a wind turbine (10) comprising a tower (14), a nacelle (16), a rotor (18) extending from the nacelle and having a plurality of rotor blades (20); a controller configured for adjusting pitch of the plurality of rotor blades (Column 1, Lines 15-17), the controller comprising a collective pitch control module for determining a collective pitch reference for the rotor blades (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); and one or more pitch offset control modules (Column 3, Lines 56-59); the controller being configured to receive a collective pitch signal indicative of collective pitch angle of the rotor blades (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); receive a power signal indicative of power output of the wind turbine (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2); and, for each of the one or more pitch offset control modules, determine a respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value based on the received collective pitch signal and on the received power signal (Column 6, Lines 62-67; Column 7, Lines 1-2; Column 8, Lines 18-23), wherein each pitch offset control module is configured to determine a respective pitch reference offset value in accordance with the respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value (Column 8, Lines 24-30), the controller being configured to determine an overall pitch reference based on the collective pitch reference and the one or more pitch reference offset values, and to transmit a control signal to adjust the pitch of the rotor blades in accordance with the overall pitch reference (Column 8, Lines 31-33).
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.
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagasaki in view of Atzler (US Patent No: 9,835,137).
Regarding Claim 2: Nagasaki discloses the controller according to Claim 1; however, Nagasaki fails to disclose the one or more pitch offset control modules comprising one or more tilt-yaw individual pitch offset control modules each for mitigating loads experienced by one or more components of the wind turbine, and comprising one or both of a 1P pitch offset control module configured to: receive an out-of-plane load signal, from a sensor of one or more of the rotor blades, indicative of out-of-plane loading on each of the respective rotor blades; and, determine a 1P pitch reference offset value for each respective rotor blade, based on the received out-of-plane load signals, to target 1P frequency content in the received out-of-plane load signal; and, a 2P pitch offset control module configured to: receive the out-of-plane load signals; and, determine a 2P pitch reference offset value for each respective rotor blade, based on the received out-of-plane load signals, to target 2P frequency content in the received out-of-plane load signal.
Atzler teaches a pitch control system for a wind turbine (Figure 2, No. 100) (Column 2, Lines 10-22), wherein an individual pitch offset value is added to a collective pitch value (Column 3, Lines 12-41), wherein one or more tilt-yaw modules are determined based on blade load signals (Figure 4; Column 6, Lines 23-30), and wherein a 2P pitch offset control module configured to receive the out-of-plane load signals (Column 6, Lines 45-58); and, determine a 2P pitch reference offset value for each respective rotor blade, based on the received out-of-plane load signals, to target 2P frequency content in the received out-of-plane load signal (Column 6, Lines 45-58).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the controller of Nagasaki with one or more tilt-yaw modules, as taught by Atzler, for the purpose of balancing the cyclic pitching of the wind turbine blades (Column 1, Lines 51-54).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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, and Claims 4 and 6-13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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: The prior art fails to disclose a controller as claimed in Claim 2, the controller being configured to determine, based on the received out-of-plane load signals, a statistical dispersion parameter of out-of-plane loading for each of the rotor blades, the statistical dispersion parameters being indicative of a turbulence level in a wind field in which the wind turbine operates; and, for each of the one or more pitch offset control modules, determine the respective dynamic maximum pitch amplitude value based on the determined statistical dispersion parameters indicative of the turbulence level; or a controller as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the one or more further pitch offset control modules comprise a whirling mode pitch offset control module configured to determine a whirling mode pitch reference offset value for each respective rotor blade to mitigate a whirling mode caused by edgewise vibrations of the rotor blades, the determination being based on at least one of: a received tower dynamics signal indicative of dynamics of a tower of the wind turbine; and, an edgewise load signal, from a sensor of one or more of the rotor blades, indicative of edgewise loading on each of the respective rotor blades. Barth (US Patent No: 9,062,656) discloses a pitch control system for a wind turbine (Figure 2, No. 200) with rotor blades (192); however, Barth fails to disclose a statistical dispersion parameter of out-of-plane loading for each of the rotor blades or the one or more further pitch offset control modules comprising a whirling mode pitch offset control module. The prior art fails to disclose a controller as claimed in Claims 3 and 6; therefore, Claims 3-4 and 6-13 contain allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL L SEHN whose telephone number is (571)270-3564. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 AM-6 PM, every other Friday off.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Courtney Heinle can be reached at 571-270-3508. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL L SEHN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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