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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 1-2, 7-10, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okamoto (US 2010/0287964) in view of Nagai (US 5,436,547), Bittner (US 2011/0167847), and Otake (US 2007/0199337).
As to claim 1, Okamoto teaches a refrigeration system comprising:
a refrigeration circuit including a compressor 52/62 driven by an electric motor 54/64 operable at multiple different speeds (paragraph 15), a first heat exchanger 40, an expansion device 49, and a cooling unit 44 in fluid communication using a refrigerant as a first working fluid;
a cooling circuit 20 including a pump 21 and a second heat exchanger 26 in thermal communication with the first heat exchanger 40 using a second working fluid such that the first heat exchanger 40 is liquid-cooled;
a reclaim heat circuit 24 in fluid communication with the cooling circuit 20; and
a floor heating system 27 coupled to the heat reclaim circuit 24 as reclaim heat load (Fig. 1).
The first heat exchanger 40 comprising a housing containing a first fluid passage 41 in fluid communication with the first working fluid and a second fluid passage 42 in fluid communication with the second working fluid, wherein the passages 41-42 are configured to transfer heat between the first and second working fluids (Fig 1).
The second heat exchanger 26 is separate from the first heat exchanger 40 and comprises a third fluid passage that is in fluid communication with the second working fluid such that heat is transferred between the second working fluid and air (Fig. 1; paragraph 47).
Okamoto is silent regarding a specific type of compressor motor, and thus does not explicitly teach that the motor 54/64 is a brushless DC motor. However, Nagai teaches that it is known to drive an air conditioner compressor with a variable speed brushless DC motor to reduce power consumption (col. 2, lines 3-9). Therefore it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify the system of Okamoto by utilizing a brushless DC motor to drive the compressor 52/62 as claimed and taught by Nagai because it would reduce the operating costs of the system.
Okamoto teaches the cooling unit 44 being used as an evaporator to heat the working fluid and thus cool air (paragraphs 11 and 14), but does not explicitly teach the cooling unit being positioned within a housing of a temperature controlled commercial storage device to cool food products. However, Bittner teaches that it is known to utilize cooling units 22/32 arranged to cool temperature controlled storage devices 24/34 comprised of refrigerator and freezer display cases (paragraph 18). Therefore it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify Okamoto to use the cooling unit 44 to cool a temperature controlled storage device as claimed and taught by Bittner in order to provide a more versatile system capable of cooling stored items.
Okamoto does not explicitly teach that the second heat exchanger 26 comprises an airflow passage. However, Otake teaches that it is known to provide an airflow passage in such a heat exchanger 80 (paragraph 79). Therefore it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify the second exchanger 26 of Okamoto to include an airflow passage as claimed and taught by Otake in order to maximize the heat exchange of the exchanger 26.
As to claim 2, Okamoto teaches the floor heating system 27 comprising a third heat exchanger installed within a flooring material (paragraphs 46-47).
As to claims 7-8, the floor heating system 27 of Okamoto is capable of performing the intended use of being installed at an entrance to a building and/or at a loading dock of a building.
As to claim 9, the modified system of Okamoto teaches the limitations of the claim for the same reasons as discussed in the rejections above.
As to claim 10, Okamoto discloses exchangers 26-27 arranged to heat air and heat a floor of a room, respectively. Thus the system meets the limitations of the claim as the exchanger 27 can be considered as a third heat exchanger in thermal communication with primary heating system 26 and configured to preheat a fluid prior to the fluid flowing to the primary heating system 26.
As to claim 16, Okamoto teaches the exchanger 27 as an air heater, and thus the exchanger 27 heats the air in the room via floor heating and is capable of performing the intended use of being a pre-heater for an air heating system as claimed.
Claims 3, 11, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the prior art as applied above, and further in view of Yamagishi (US 5,088,646).
As to claims 3, 11, and 18, Okamoto does not explicitly teach a valve arranged to control a flow of fluid to the floor heating system as claimed. However, Yamagishi teaches utilizing a valve 30 to control a flow of working fluid to a floor heating exchanger 29 (Fig. 1). As such it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify the system of Okamoto to be configured with a valve arranged to control a flow of fluid to the floor heating system 27 as taught by Yamagishi because it would improve the flow control capabilities of the system for providing flow between the floor heater 27 and radiator 26.
Claims 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the prior art as applied above, and further in view of Saito (JP 2005-164202, see attached English translation).
As to claims 4 and 12, Okamoto, as modified, does not explicitly teach a controller as claimed. However, Saito teaches a floor heating system configured to be operated by controller 81/83. Specifically, Saito teaches the controller 81/83 operating a valve 72 to control the flow of working fluid to the floor heating system (see the description of the operation of floor heating set forth on page 5). In light of the teaching of Saito, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to further modify Okamoto to utilize a controller configured to operate a valve of the floor heating system 27 to control the flow of the second working fluid to the system 27 in order to provide an automated and reliable floor heating operation.
Claims 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the prior art as applied above, and further in view of Wang (CN 201209911, see attached English Translation).
As to claims 5-6 and 13-14, Okamoto, as modified, does not explicitly teach temperature based valve control as claimed. However, Wang teaches that it is known to control flow of fluid to a floor heat exchanger based on inlet temperature, outlet temperature, and a difference therebetween as detected by sensors 8 and 12 (see second paragraph of page 4). Therefore it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify Okamoto to be configured in the manner as claimed in order to further ensure that desirable temperatures can be achieved.
Claims 9-13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2011/0289952) in view of Nagai (US 5,436,547).
As to claim 9, Kim teaches a refrigeration system comprising:
a refrigeration circuit including a compressor 121, a first heat exchanger 103, an expansion device 123, and a cooling unit 102 capable of cooling a temperature controlled storage device (Fig. 1);
a cooling circuit including a pump 131, and a second heat exchanger 151 in fluid communication with the first heat exchanger 103 using a second working fluid such that the first heat exchanger 103 is liquid-cooled by the second working fluid;
a reclaim heat circuit 155 in fluid communication with the cooling circuit; and
an auxiliary heating system 14 coupled to the heat reclaim circuit as a reclaim heat load;
wherein he first heat exchanger 103 comprises a housing containing a first fluid passage in fluid communication with the first working fluid and a second fluid passage in fluid communication with the second working fluid, and wherein the passages are configured to transfer heat between the first and second working fluids (Fig. 1); and
wherein the second heat exchanger 151 is separate from the first heat exchanger 103 and comprises a third fluid passage that is in fluid communication with the second working fluid such that heat is transferred between the second working fluid and air (Fig. 1; paragraph 34).
Kim is silent regarding a specific type of compressor motor, and thus does not explicitly teach that the compressor 121 is driven by a brushless DC motor operable at multiple different speeds. However, Nagai teaches that it is known to drive an air conditioner compressor with a variable speed brushless DC motor to reduce power consumption (col. 2, lines 3-9). Therefore it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to modify the system of Kim by utilizing a brushless DC motor to drive the compressor 121 as claimed and taught by Nagai because it would reduce the operating costs of the system.
As to claim 10, Kim teaches that the auxiliary heating system 14 comprises a third heat exchanger 142 in thermal communication with a primary heating system 143 and configured to preheat a fluid prior to the fluid flowing to the primary heating system 143.
As to claim 11, Kim teaches a valve 135 to control the flow to the auxiliary heating system 143.
As to claims 12-13, Kim teaches a controller 195 configured to operate the valve 135 to control flow to the auxiliary system 14 based on temperature sensor 191.
As to claim 15, Kim teaches the auxiliary system being installed as a pre-heater for a water heating system, the third exchanger 142 configured to transfer heat from the second working fluid to water in the water heating system (paragraph 48).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, filed 9/22/2025, with respect to the interpretation of limitations under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Specifically, the examiner agrees that the discussed terms are used in common parlance by persons of skill in the pertinent art to designate structure. Therefore said interpretation has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see page 8, filed with respect to the rejection of claims 1 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues that the cited references do not teach or suggest a cooling unit positioned within a housing of a temperature controlled commercial storage device to cool food products. The examiner respectfully disagrees. Bittner teaches use of cooling units 22/32 arranged within refrigerator and freezer display cases (paragraph 18) Such cases are capable of use for commercial food storage, and thus it is maintained that the combination of references teaches the limitations of the claims.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-9, filed with respect to the rejection of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Yamagishi (US 5,088,646).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JONATHAN BRADFORD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763