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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 2/21/23, 3/22/23, 10/18/23, 9/12/24, and 5/15/25 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-7 and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito (US 2022/0209266) in view of Fukuda et al. (US 2023/0011420).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Ito teaches a system for a vehicle (Fig. 1, [0033]), comprising a first (10-1) and second (10-2) fuel cell system,
wherein each fuel cell system comprises at least one fuel cell (4) and a compressor (15) disposed in a cathode side and arranged upstream of the fuel cell ([0035]);
wherein each fuel cell system comprises a controllable flow control valve, or bypass valve (16), configured to control supply of compressed air from the compressor (15) to any one of the fuel cell (4) and a separate fluid conduit, or bypass pipe (13), and an exhaust outlet, or discharge pipe (12);
wherein the controllable flow control valves (16) are responsive to an operational state of the systems to control flow rate ([0040], [0047]).
With further regard to claims 1 and 11, and with regard to claim 7, Ito fails to teach the controllable flow control valves operable to control supply of compressed air to the separate fluid conduits in response to a determined need for dissipating electrical energy.
Fukuda teaches a cooling system including a fuel cell and a compressed air device in the form of a brake resistor (3), wherein flow of compressed air, via air pump (19) (air pumps are taught by Fukuda to compress and warms air [0126]), is directed to a separate fluid conduit, or second passage (17), in response to a determined need for dissipating electrical energy, or converting the electric power into heat energy when a braking operation is conducted to rotation of wheels mechanically connected to the electric motor ([0030]).
Fukuda further teaches that the resistor is desired for use when the electricity generated by braking cannot be supplied to the battery ([0059]). The skilled artisan will then understand that the resistor, and occasionally necessary dissipation of electrical energy, is desirable for a system which includes regenerative braking because such a system conserves energy by using regenerative braking to charge a battery.
Since the system of Ito is provided on a vehicle, which the skilled artisan will easily understand to inherently include a braking system, it would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to include the compressor and resistor of Fukuda in the system of Ito in order to respond to a determined need for dissipating electrical energy, and providing the resistor within the fuel cell system economizes on the size of the cooling system (Fukuda, [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to include a system by which the controllable flow control valve provides compressed air to a brake resistor via a separate fluid conduit in response to a determined need for dissipating electrical energy.
With further regard to claim 11 and with regard to claims 12 and 13, Ito teaches a method for controlling the system as described above, wherein the system includes a program, or flow chart, provided on a computer readable medium, or electronic control unit (3) (Figures 1 and 4-15, [0006]).
As for claim 2, Ito teaches that the controllable flow control valves, or bypass valve (16), are operable in response to a change in the load requirements, e.g. acceleration, of the load on the cells ([0047]-[0049]).
As for claims 3-4, Ito teaches controlling the supply of air to both the fuel cell and the separate fluid conduits via opening degree of bypass valve in response to a change in the load requirements, e.g. acceleration ([0047]-[0049]).
Regarding claims 5-6, Ito teaches control of the bypass valves based on non-operational, or idle operation, states according to load demands ([0042]).
With regard to claims 9-10, Ito teaches three-way flow controls (16), which the examiner finds are controllable selection valves as discussed above.
Regarding claim 14, Ito teaches a vehicle include the system discussed above in view of Fukuda ([0033]).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito in view of Fukuda as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Takasu (US 2015/0075885).
The teachings of Fukuda and Ito as discussed above are incorporated herein.
Ito in view of Fukuda teaches the system of claim 1 including a compressed air device but is silent on the compressed air device in the form of a compressed air storage tank.
Takasu teaches a system for a vehicle wherein compressed air is provided to a compressed air storage tank prior to being provided to other compressed air devices (Figure 1, [0031]).
It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan at the time of the invention to include a compressed air storage tank to store compressed air prior to providing the air to other compressed air devices in the system of Ito in view of Fukuda such as suggested by Takasu in order to ensure that sufficient compressed air is available when needed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALIX ECHELMEYER EGGERDING whose telephone number is (571)272-1101. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am - 4:30pm.
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/ALIX E EGGERDING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1729