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 Objections
Claims 3, 10 and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 3 and 10 should read, “wherein the individual fuel cells are turned off one by one” to make it clearer. Line 7 should have a semicolon instead of a period between “decrease” and “and”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-16 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.
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, it is unclear how the stack potential decreases are measured and compared. These claims do not include specifics about the stack potential decrease being measured each time a cell is turned off, such as in claims 3 and 10, or if the cell is turned back on before turning off another cell and measuring the stack potential.
As to claims 2 and 9, an antecedent basis issue is created because line 1 uses a singular form of the individual fuel cell, while line 2 uses a plural form of one or more individual fuel cells.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the highest measured stack potential decrease" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 8 uses the phrase, “expected stack potential decrease”.
Regarding claim 15, the identifying paragraph is a method step and does not recite a component of the fuel cell stack.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Murakami (U.S. Patent Publication 2009/0029213) teaches a process of detecting abnormality in a unit cell of a fuel cell by comparing a change in voltages in each unit cell; however, Murakami teaches that the entire fuel cell stack is turned off prior to measuring voltage changes in each unit cell. Kreitmeier (U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0277866) teaches turning off individual fuel cells while maintaining current and using electrical potential to identify the degraded cell; however, the cells that are deactivated are already determined to be degraded and the process is used for repairing the fuel cell stack. Additionally, Kreitmeier does not teach how the potential is used to determine the degraded cell.
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BRITTANY L. RAYMOND
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1722
/BRITTANY L RAYMOND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722