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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of species (i) in the reply filed on October 21, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the species can be searched and examined together without undue burden. This is not found persuasive because the species are mutually exclusive and require different searches; thus a search burden exists.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 6 and 7 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 6 recites “a high output mode.” The term “high” is considered a relative term as there is no relative basis provided in the specification. Correction is required.
Claim 7 recites the limitation “normal times.” It is unclear what constitutes a “normal” time.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-8 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2005-123073 in view of Watanabe et al (US 20180034087).
Regarding claim 1, JP ‘073 is directed to a fuel cell and thermal management system thereof. The structure comprises a fuel cell stack (10), a radiator (22) configured to exchange heat with a coolant discharged from the stack, a coolant supply pump (21) configured to supply the coolant to the stack, and an electric heater (30) disposed in parallel with the radiator. The electric heater may be supplied with power from the fuel cell ([0035]). Thus, it is a cathode oxygen depletion (COD) heater as claimed. The system further comprises a heater core (31) disposed in series with the COD heater and configured to heat an interior of a vehicle ([0035]) and a temperature adjustment valve (25) coupled to the radiator, the pump and the core and configured to control a flow of the coolant. Regarding claim 2, the valve is configured to restrict a flow of the coolant to the radiator and allow the coolant to flow to the COD heater and core during a cold start of the system ([0054]). Regarding claim 6, the valve is configured to prevent the coolant discharged from the stack to flow to the core and COD heater and to allow the coolant to flow to the radiator in a high output mode of the system ([0030]-[0033]). Regarding claim 8, the valve is configured to prevent the coolant from flowing to the radiator and to allow the coolant discharge from the stack to flow to the COD heater and core in a heating mode of the system ([0054]). Regarding claim 15, an inlet manifold (shown near 201, Fig. 3) is disposed at an upstream side of the stack, an outlet manifold (shown near 201a, Fig. 3) is disposed at a downstream side of the stack, and the outlet manifold distributes the coolant to the COD heater and the radiator.
JP ‘073 does not expressly teach a reservoir disposed between a downstream side of the fuel cell stack and a front end of the pump and configured to adjust a pressure of the coolant, as recited in claim 1. It is further not disclosed that the system has a bypass valve disposed between the upstream side of the stack and the pump, or an ion filter disposed between the bypass valve and the downstream side of the stack as recited in claim 3.
Watanabe et al. is directed to a fuel cell system and a method of controlling. The system comprises a cooling loop (109) comprising, among other elements, an expansion tank (112) immediately upstream of a coolant pump (104), the fuel cell stack inlet (48a) downstream of the pump, and a branch junction between the pump and the fuel cell inlet wherein an ion filter (116) is provided in a branch pipe (115) which bypasses the fuel cell and connects to the downstream side of the stack (Fig. 1). A reserve tank (114) is connected to the expansion tank.
Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of filing because the artisan would have been motivated to use the ion filter, branch pipe, expansion tank and reserve tank of Watanabe in the system of JP ‘073. Regarding the ion filter, it is disclosed that the ion exchanger prevents liquid junction of the stack 12 by removing ions contained in the coolant. Further, with respect to the tanks 112 and 114, it is disclosed that when necessary, coolant can be supplied to tank 114 from tank 112 and vice verse ([0043]) and that pressure can be released outside the tank 112 via a pressure release valve ([0068]). Therefore, the artisan would have used these elements in the system of JP ‘073. Accordingly, claim 1 is rendered obvious including the limitation that the reservoir is “configured to adjust a pressure of the coolant.” Regarding the recitation of a bypass valve, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to use a valve in the location where the branch junction is located in Watanabe to precisely control flow to the fuel cell and the ion exchanger. As such, this limitation in claim 3 is also rendered obvious.
Regarding claims 4 and 5, such a bypass valve would be fully capable of performing the claimed functions and thus the limitations are rendered obvious.
Regarding claim 7, the system of modified JP ‘073 would be capable of performing the claimed function (“a part of the coolant discharged from the fuel cell stack flows to the reservoir at normal times”).
Regarding claim 15, the outlet manifold of the fuel cell also would distribute coolant to the reservoir in the system of modified JP ‘073.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-12 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 9 recites that the system further comprises a controller that is configured to calculate available heating power in a heating mode based on a target temperature of the interior of the vehicle inputted by a user and a temperature measured by temperature sensors respectively disposed at upstream and downstream sides of the fuel cell stack. JP ‘073, applied above, and Koyama (US 20140342260) are considered the closest prior art. Koyama teaches a fuel cell vehicle air conditioning system comprising a heat creation unit and a heating power generation amount calculation unit which calculates a required heating amount based on variables which can include a target temperature of the cabin interior (claims 1 and 7 of the reference). The method also calculates of the amount of heat stored in the fuel cell using the fuel cell temperature as measured at sensor 56 in the coolant passage downstream of the fuel cell ([0058]). However, the reference does not teach or fairly suggest using an upstream fuel cell temperature in the method in addition to the downstream temperature as claimed. The upstream temperature would be substantially different than downstream temperature (the coolant having just exchanged heat with radiator 55 or core 61) and is not representative of fuel cell temperature. As such, claim 9 contains allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jonathan Crepeau whose telephone number is (571) 272-1299. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9:30 AM - 6:00 PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Nicole Buie-Hatcher, can be reached at (571) 270-3879. The phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 272-1700. Documents may be faxed to the central fax server at (571) 273-8300.
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/Jonathan Crepeau/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
January 22, 2026