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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 7/21/2026 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) 13, 14, 16, 17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 102231448 A) in view of Hong (US PGPub No. 2008/0302998) and Hayashi (US PGPub No. 2016/0273852).
Regarding claim 13, Wang discloses a battery thermal management system (Figs. 1 and 2), comprising:
a battery container (body 5 that contains battery cells 6);
a pulsating heat pipe disposed in the battery container (pulsating heat pipe 1); and
a heat transfer fluid provided in the pulsating heat pipe (working fluid 2).
Wang fails to disclose the heat transfer fluid comprising:
a liquid carrier; and
a gas generation substance distributed in the liquid carrier, wherein the gas generation substance comprises nanomaterial.
wherein the gas generation substance comprises a first nanomaterial and a second nanomaterial, and wherein the first nanomaterial comprises at least one of graphene and carbon black, the second nanomaterial is metal oxide nanomaterial or silicon nanomaterial, and a mass percentage concentration of the first nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid is greater than a mass percentage concentration of the second nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid.
Hong discloses a heat transfer fluid (a hydrophilic nanofluid in Example 2, paragraph 0094) comprising:
a liquid carrier (deionized water); and
a gas generation substance (SWNT and MgO nanoparticles, they are the “gas generation substance” as taught by Hayashi below) distributed in the liquid carrier, wherein the gas generation substance comprises nanomaterial (the nanoparticles);
wherein the gas generation substance comprises a first nanomaterial (SWNT) and a second nanomaterial (MgO), and wherein the first nanomaterial comprises at least one of graphene and carbon black (the SWNT has a structure of a single graphene sheet rolled into a seamless cylinder, paragraph 0004), the second nanomaterial is metal oxide nanomaterial or silicon nanomaterial (the MgO is a metal oxide), and a mass percentage concentration of the first nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid is greater than a mass percentage concentration of the second nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid (the weight percentage is 0.033% of the SWNT more than 0.017% of the MgO).
Hyashi discloses a mixed working fluid circulating in the fluid loop in Fig. 3 evaporates and condenses. The mixed working fluid has a pure water and additives mixed, and the additives are, for example, SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, and other ceramic nanoparticles, Au, Ag, Cu, Ti, and other metal nanoparticles, and graphene, fullerene, carbon nanotubes, and other nanoparticles (paragraph 0039). The additive particles (solidification nuclei) act as boiling nuclei and an effect of promotion of heat conduction is obtained (paragraph 0045 of Hayashi).
Therefore, the hydrophilic nanofluid of Hong may be used as the working fluid 2 in Wang’s pulsating heat pipe 1. The hydrophilic nanofluid of Hong has a gas generation substance (the SWNT and MgO nanoparticles) that as boiling nuclei as taught by Hyashi to improve evaporative performance and to increase heat conduction of the working fluid.
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 the heat transfer fluid comprising:
a liquid carrier; and
a gas generation substance distributed in the liquid carrier, wherein the gas generation substance comprises nanomaterial.
wherein the gas generation substance comprises a first nanomaterial and a second nanomaterial, and wherein the first nanomaterial comprises at least one of graphene and carbon black, the second nanomaterial is metal oxide nanomaterial or silicon nanomaterial, and a mass percentage concentration of the first nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid is greater than a mass percentage concentration of the second nanomaterial in the heat transfer fluid
in Wang as taught by Hong and Hayashi in order to act as boiling nuclei as a result of adding the nanoparticles (of Hong) to improve evaporative performance and to increase heat conduction (paragraph 0045 of Hayashi).
Regarding claim 14, Wang as modified in claim 13 further discloses wherein an evaporation section of the pulsating heat pipe is located in the battery container (evaporating end of the heat pipe 1 is set in the box body 5, see paragraph 0017 of the translation), and the evaporation section is submerged in a coolant in the battery container (evaporating end is submerged in phase change material 3 in the body 5).
Regarding claim 16, Wang as modified in claim 13 further discloses wherein the pulsating heat pipe is located between two inner side walls of the battery container (left and right side inner walls of the box 5 in Figs. 1 and 2), and an evaporation section of the pulsating heat pipe is located in the battery container (evaporating end of the heat pipe 1 is set in the box body 5, see paragraph 0017 of the translation);
wherein a dimensionless spacing between the two inner side walls is L', which is defined as a ratio of a distance between the two inner side walls to a diameter of the pulsating heat pipe (a ratio between the left and right side inner walls; and a diameter of the heat pipe shown in Fig. 2),
a number of bend at the evaporation section is Ne (Ne = 3 for 3 turns in the evaporating end), and the following condition is satisfied: Ne<= L'/2 (the number Ne of 3 turns is vastly smaller than half of the L’, since the L’ is very large as a result of a very small diameter of the heat pipe 1 shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 17, Wang as modified in claim 13 further discloses wherein the pulsating heat pipe is located between two inner side walls of the battery container (left and right side inner walls of the box 5 in Figs. 1 and 2), and a condensation section of the pulsating heat pipe protrudes out of the battery container (condensing end of the heat pipe 1 passes through outside a cover 4 of the box body 5, see paragraph 0017 of the translation and Fig. 1);
wherein a dimensionless spacing between the two inner side walls is L', which is defined as a ratio of a distance between the two inner side walls to a diameter of the pulsating heat pipe (a ratio between the left and right side inner walls; and a diameter of the heat pipe shown in Fig. 2), a number of bend at the condensation section is Nc (Nc = 3 for 3 U turns or bends in the condensing end), and the following condition is satisfied: Nc<= L'/2 (the number Nc of 3 turns is vastly smaller than half of the L’, since the L’ is very large as a result of a very small diameter of the heat pipe 1 shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 19, Wang as modified in claim 13 further discloses wherein a mass percentage concentration of the gas generation substance in the heat transfer fluid for thermal management ranges from 0.05 wt% to 1.2 wt% (the SWNT and MgO weight percentage in the Example 2 of Hong is 0.033+0.017=0.05%).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 102231448 A) in view of Hong (US PGPub No. 2008/0302998) and Hayashi (US PGPub No. 2016/0273852) as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Jeong (KR 10-2012-0042403 A).
Regarding claim 15, Wang fails to explicitly disclose a heat sink in thermal contact with the pulsating heat pipe.
Jeong discloses a heat sink (heat dissipation unit 40) in thermal contact with the pulsating heat pipe (in thermal with the condensing portion 21c of the heat pipe 21).
Therefore, a heat dissipation unit 40 may be provided to the condensing portion of the heat pipe external the body 5 in Wang.
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 heat sink in thermal contact with the pulsating heat pipe in Wang as taught by Jeong in order to dissipate heat from the condensation portion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 13 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument (the teaching of relative proportions of the first and second nanomaterials in the new reference, Hong US 2008/0302998).
Conclusion
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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