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 § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (KR101616201 (see attached Machine Translation)).
Considering Claim 1, Lee discloses a system for controlling a fuel cell (fuel cell system and purge control method thereof [0001]), the system comprising:
the fuel cell (fuel cell stack [0009]);
a hydrogen purge valve (hydrogen purge valve [0008]) connected between the fuel cell and a hydrogen tank (hydrogen purge valve 175 controls opening and closing of hydrogen circulating through the hydrogen supply pipe 125, second water separator 162 [0009, Figure 1], hydrogen circulated from second water separator [0024], valve connected between separator and fuel cell stack 110 [Figure 1]) and configured to supply or cut off hydrogen to the fuel cell (hydrogen purge valve 175 controls opening and closing of hydrogen circulating through the hydrogen supply pipe 125, second water separator 162 [0009, Figure 1]); and
a controller (fuzzy control method [0013], controller known component [0003]) configured to adjust an opening degree of the hydrogen purge valve (opening or closing of hydrogen purge valve [0010]) based on an accumulated current value of the fuel cell calculated in advance (hydrogen purge valve is set to maintain the valve open state for a certain period of time when the accumulated current of the fuel cell stack exceeds a set value [0027]) and control a flow rate of hydrogen (controls circulating of hydrogen [0010]).
Claims 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Son (PGPub 2016/0079620).
Considering Claim 11, Son discloses a method of controlling a fuel cell (hydrogen purging method for a fuel cell system [Abstract]), the method comprising:
accumulating, by a controller, currents of the fuel cell to calculate an accumulated current value (controller configured to obtain every predetermined accumulation period, a variable purge charge amount that corresponds to a current stack operating state from a map [0020], purge period based on current accumulation of the stack [0011, 0020, 0055]);
adjusting, by the controller, an opening degree of a hydrogen purge valve based on the calculated accumulated current value (hydrogen purge valve is opened or closed based on a purge charge amount depending on the determined operating state [Abstract] of current accumulation in real time [0055]); and
controlling, by the controller, a flow rate of hydrogen (purge of hydrogen (flow) is controlled by controller [Abstract]).
Considering Claim 20, Son discloses further calculating, by the controller, a purge duration of the hydrogen purge valve based on the calculated accumulated current value (opening time of hydrogen purge valve determined by controller based on calculated state [Abstract] of current accumulation in real time [0055]),
wherein the controller includes adjusting, by the controller, the hydrogen purge valve for the calculated purge duration of the hydrogen purge valve and controlling, by the controller, the opening degree and an opening time for opening the hydrogen purge valve (opening time and open/close state determined by the controller [Abstract]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10 and 12-19 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:
Regarding claim 2, cited reference Lee only discloses a general valve open state for when the accumulated current of the fuel cell stack exceeds a set value [0027, 0046]. There is no motivational teaching or configuration of an added duty ratio calculation unit configured to calculate a duty ratio of a pulse width modulation signal based on the calculated accumulated current value as required by the claim.
Regarding claim 10, Lee discloses that a predetermined amount of time may be set to various for the open state such as the time needed for fresh fuel supply or to effectively remove moisture [0027]. However, there is no configuration or motivational teaching of an added time calculation unit of the controller configured to calculate a purge duration in response to the exceeded threshold.
Regarding claim 12, Son only discloses that the hydrogen purge valve is opened or closed based on a purge charge amount depending on the determined operating state [Abstract] of current accumulation in real time [0055] from a map [0020]. There is no motivational teaching or configuration of an added method of calculating a duty ratio of a pulse width modulation signal based on the calculated accumulated current value as required by the claim.
Further regarding Son, the purge valve 40 only serves as an exhaust purge through the rear end [0010, Figure 1], so there is no connection between the known hydrogen tank and the fuel cell as required by claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P DOMONE whose telephone number is (571)270-7582. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30 PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER P DOMONE/ Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1725