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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/5/2025 has been entered.
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, 5 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawaguchi (US PG Pub No. 2022/0136745, a prior art having an effective filing date of Jul 16, 2019 earlier than the instant case) in view of Nyander (US Patent No. 10,024,602) and Kato (JP 11-325788 A).
Regarding claim 1, Kawaguchi discloses a heat exchanger (1, Fig. 1) for vehicles that performs heat exchange between a coolant and a refrigerant (that radiates heat from high pressure refrigerant and exchanges heat with cooling water in an in-vehicle air conditioner, paragraph 0152), comprising:
a plurality of first stacked plates forming a condensing portion (the stacked plates 72-75 in condensing portion 10A, Fig. 3) in which the refrigerant is condensed through heat exchange between the coolant and the refrigerant (paragraph 0154);
a receiver container (gas-liquid separator 20) for storing the refrigerant passing through the condensing portion (the gas-liquid separator 20 at least temporary stores the refrigerant as the refrigerant is passing through the separator 20);
a plurality of second stacked plates forming a subcooling portion (the stacked plates 73A and 74 in subcooling portion 10B, Fig. 3) for cooling the refrigerant through heat exchange between the coolant and the refrigerant discharged from the receiver container (paragraph 0154); and
an intermediate plate (76, Figs. 3 and 17) interposed between the plurality of the first stacked plates and the plurality of the second stacked plates (see Fig. 3) and comprising a first through hole (hole 92 of the plate 76) through which the refrigerant moves and a second through hole through which the coolant respectively moves (refrigerant through holes 92, 94; and water through holes 95, 96),
first (70) and second cover plates (78) respectively disposed outside the plurality of the first stacked plates and outside the plurality of the second stacked plates (see Fig. 3); and
a connecting block (receiver connector 50) fixing the receiver container to the second cover plate (see Figs. 2 and 3),
wherein the plurality of the second stacked plates form a refrigerant bypass passage (bypasses respectively formed by holes 92 and 93 in plates 73A, 74in the subcooling portion 10B, see Figs. 3, 13, 18 and 29) for bypassing the refrigerant passing through the condensing portion and the first through hole of the intermediate plate (the hole 92 of the plate 76) to the receiver container (the bypass formed by holes 92 bypasses the subcooling portion 10B and directs the refrigerant from the condensing portion 10A, through the hole 92 of the plate 76, to the separator 20),
wherein the refrigerant bypass passage is formed in the form of a sealed passage (a sealed joint at portion 94d, Fig. 29),
wherein the plurality of the second stacked plates form a through hole (holes 93 in plates 73A and 74, Figs. 3 and 29) through which the refrigerant returned from the receiver container moves (the holes 93 receive refrigerant from the separator 20),
wherein the refrigerant bypass passage and the through hole are disposed adjacent to each other in a lateral direction (hole 92 of the bypass and the hole 93 in plates 73A and 74 are adjacent in a lateral direction D3 in Figs. 13 and 18),
wherein the receiver container comprises an inlet through which the refrigerant is introduced (the inlet arrow in Fig. 3 indicates that the refrigerant is introduced into the separator 20) and an outlet that that is positioned to be lower than the inlet and through which the refrigerant is discharged (the outlet arrow in Fig. 3 indicates that the refrigerant is discharged from the separator 20, and when the orientation of Fig. 3 is viewed upside-down, the outlet is lower than the inlet),
wherein the connecting block is configured such that the refrigerant introduced from the refrigerant bypass passage moves upwardly and is then supplied to the inlet hole so that the refrigerant is introduced to the inlet hole positioned at a position higher than the outlet hole and is then discharged to the outlet hole (when the orientation of Fig. 3 is upside-down, the refrigerant in the bypass formed by holes 92 moves upwardly, and is then supplied to the inlet at a position higher than the outlet where the refrigerant discharges),
wherein the refrigerant bypass passage comprises:
a first bypass passage that is fluidly connected to the inlet hole and forms a channel through which the refrigerant flows from the subcooling portion to the receiver container (the bypass formed by holes 92 in plates 73A, 74, 77 and 78 in the subcooling portion 10B, see Figs. 3 and 29, supplying the refrigerant from the subcooling portion 10B into the separator 20); and
a second bypass passage that is fluidly connected to the outlet hole and forms a channel through which the refrigerant discharged from the receiver container flows into the subcooling portion (the bypass formed by holes 93 in plates 73A, 74, 77 and 78 in the subcooling portion 10B, see Figs. 3 and 29, receiving the refrigerant discharged from the separator 20 into the subcooling portion 10B), and
wherein the first bypass passage and the second bypass passage are arranged adjacent to each other at a same height (holes 92 of the first bypass on the plate 78 and the holes 93 of the second bypass on the plate 78 end at the same level of a second directionD2, see Fig. 3 or the annotated figure below).
Kawaguchi fails to disclose wherein the refrigerant bypass passage is formed in the form of a sealed passage by male-female coupling of male and female flanges respectively provided on adjacent second stacked plates,
wherein the receiver container comprises an inlet hole through which the refrigerant is introduced and an outlet hole that is formed at a position lower than the inlet hole and through which the refrigerant is discharged, and
wherein the inlet hole and the outlet hole are formed on a cylindrical lateral surface of the receiver container.
Nyander discloses a passage (Fig. 10) is formed in the form of a sealed passage by male-female coupling (lap joints 22) of male and female flanges (overlapping edges 23) respectively provided on the adjacent second stacked plates (heat exchanger plates A and B).
Therefore, the portions 94d that forms the bypass passage shown in Fig. 29 of Kawaguchi may be replaced by the lap joints 22 of Nyanger.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein the refrigerant bypass passage is formed in the form of a sealed passage by male-female coupling of male and female flanges respectively provided on the adjacent second stacked plates in Kawaguchi as taught by Nyander in order to remove a lap joint that extends in circumferential direction and causes unevenness in the passage (shown in Fig. 9 and col. 11, lines 1-15 of Nyander and Fig. 29 of Kawaguchi) and smoothening the surface to reduce flow resistance.
Kato discloses wherein the receiver container (2, Fig. 2) comprises an inlet hole through which the refrigerant is introduced (inlet through hole 24) and an outlet hole that is formed at a position lower than the inlet hole and through which the refrigerant is discharged (outlet through hole 25 lower than the hole 24 shown in Fig. 2), and
wherein the inlet hole and the outlet hole are formed on a cylindrical lateral surface of the receiver container (the inlet 24 and outlet holes 25 are formed on a cylindrical surface of the receiver tank 2).
Therefore, the receiver 20 of Kawaguchi may be replaced by the receiver 2 of Kato. As a result, the inlet hole 24 of receiver 2 of Kato may be coupled to the inlet of receiver connector 50 of Kawaguchi to supply refrigerant into the receiver 2; and the outlet hole 24 of receiver 2 of Kato may be coupled to the outlet of the receiver connector 50 of Kawaguchi to receive refrigerant from the receiver 2, see annotations of a cropped Fig. 3 below. Note that “an outlet hole that is formed at a position lower than the inlet hole and through which the refrigerant is discharged” may be understood as a position differential along a second direction D2. The outlet 25 of the receiver 2 in Kato may be lower than the inlet hole 24 when the orientation Fig. 3 is upside down.
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein the receiver container comprises an inlet hole through which the refrigerant is introduced and an outlet hole that is formed at a position lower than the inlet hole and through which the refrigerant is discharged in Kawaguchi as taught by Kato in order to provide a removable joint for easier maintenance/replacement of the receiver/separator; and wherein the inlet hole and the outlet hole are formed on a cylindrical lateral surface of the receiver container in Kawaguchi as taught by Kato in order to modify the orientation of the receiver for fitment in different installations.
Regarding claim 3, Kawaguchi as modified further discloses wherein the female flange (the flange 21 and edge 23 in bottom plate A in Fig. 10 of Nyander) comprises a protruding contact portion (flange 21 in bottom plate A) configured to be in contact with the facing second stacked plate (the flange 21 is in contact with adjacent plate B), and an insertion portion (edge 23) extending from the protruding contact portion (from upper end of the flange 21), and wherein the male flange is inserted into the insertion portion (the edge 23 in upper plate A is inserted into the edge 23 of the bottom plate A).
Regarding claim 5, Kawaguchi as modified further discloses wherein the refrigerant bypass passage and the through hole through which the refrigerant returned from the receiver container moves are formed on flanges connected to each other (the modified bypass passage are formed on male-female flanges; and the holes 93 on flanges 90e in Fig. 31 and 32, and the flanges are connected to each other by adjacent plates).
Regarding claim 6, Kawaguchi as modified further discloses wherein the intermediate plate is configured to block at least a portion of the flow of the refrigerant flowing through the first stacked plates to change a direction of the flow and then to transfer the flow to the second stacked plates (the plate 76 blocks a refrigerant through flow in holes 91 in the condenser portion 10A and directs the refrigerant to holes 92 in subcooling portion 10B through the hole 92 in the intermediate plate 76).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawaguchi (US PG Pub No. 2022/0136745) in view of Nyander (US Patent No. 10,024,602) and Kato (JP 11-325788 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kawaguchi ‘638 (WO 2020/110638, a prior art published before the effective filing date of the instant case).
Regarding claim 4, Kawaguchi as modified further discloses wherein the second cover plate (78) comprises a through hole (114, Fig. 20 of Kawaguchi) connected to the refrigerant bypass passage (92).
Kawaguchi as modified fails to disclose wherein the connecting block comprises:
a recessed groove communicating with the through hole of the second cover plate; a guide groove that is connected to the recessed groove and extends upwardly; and a through hole that extends toward the inlet hole of the receiver container at an upper end of the guide groove.
Kawaguchi ‘638 discloses wherein the connecting block (connection portion 40 and seat plate 70, Figs. 13-16) comprises:
a recessed groove (recessed groove 74, Fig. 15) communicating with the through hole of the second cover plate (communicating with a discharge port 28 of the second cover plate 23b); a guide groove (F1) that is connected to the recessed groove and extends upwardly (the groove F1 connects to the concave groove 74 and extends upwardly according to the orientation of Fig. 15); and a through hole (44) that extends toward the inlet hole of the receiver container at an upper end of the guide groove (the hole 44 extend from an upper end of the groove F1 in Fig. 15 toward the inlet hole of the separator 30).
Therefore, the connection between the receiver connector 50 and the second cover plate 78 of Kawaguchi may be replaced with the connection portion 40 and seat plate 70 in Kawaguchi ‘638 in order to relocate/rearrange the refrigerant inlet/outlet over the planar area (in directions D1-D3 in Figs. 19-20 of Kawaguchi) of the plate.
It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a recessed groove communicating with the through hole of the second cover plate; a guide groove that is connected to the recessed groove and extends upwardly; and a through hole that extends toward the inlet hole of the receiver container at an upper end of the guide groove in Kawaguchi as taught by Kawaguchi ‘638 through rearranging parts in order to relocate the refrigerant inlet/outlet dependent on the different installations.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/5/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that the cited references fail to disclose features in amendment claim 1, it is noted that lower ends (based on the orientation of Fig. 3) of the bypass passages formed by holes 92 and 93 in the subcooling portion 10B end at the plate 78. The lower ends are on the same level in the second direction D2 to connect the receiver connector 50.
In response to applicant’s argument regarding Kato, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). The modification of Kawaguchi in view of Kato discloses different positions of the inlet 24 and outlet 25 based upon the second direction D2, and the inlet 24 is lower than the outlet 25 when the Fig. 3 is viewed upside down.
Conclusion
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763