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
Claim 1 requires the first phase and a second phase of powering-up. Each phase is followed by a parenthetical naming of the phase. Examiner recommends adding these phase names as a positive limitation and not in parentheses.
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.
Claim 4 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.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the jet pump" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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(s) 1, 2, and 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Heidrich (DE 102007026004).
Regarding claim 1, Heidrich discloses a fuel cell system (see figure 2) and a method for operating the fuel cell system, which method has two different operating phases (0035). In operating phase 1, the first valve 8A is opened. After a certain period of time after the opening of the first valve 8A, a decrease of the volume flow at the ejector inlet 2A occurs when the pressure in the partial line portion 6A' that is situated between the valves 8A and 8B of the partial line 6A has already fallen to close to a final value as a result of the action of the ejector 2. Here, the ejector 2 generates a vacuum in the gas container 9 or in the partial line portion 6A. As the volume flow at the ejector inlet 2A progressively decreases, the power of the recirculation blower 3 is gradually increased in order that as constant a volume flow as possible prevails at the anode inlet 4A of the fuel cell unit 4 (0037). In the subsequent purge mode, the first valve 8A is closed, and the second valve 8B is directly subsequently opened. Here, the negative pressure stored in the partial line portion 6A' causes a brief intensive purge in the anode return line 6 and in the fuel cell unit 4, such that liquid water is discharged from the fuel cell unit 4 (purging effect) (0038). During a shutdown phase of the fuel cell system, a vacuum/negative pressure can be maintained in the partial line portion 6A', such that, during a standstill period or during the next starting operation, the anode circuit can be passively purged or recirculated without the need to operate the hydrogen reservoir and the fuel cell system (0042).
Regarding claim 2, Heidrich teaches the second phase to follow the first operating phase, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 5, Heidrich teaches the configurations as discussed above wherein each phase includes similar equipment.
Regarding claim 6, Heidrich teaches the valve as discussed above which is closed during the first phase and opened during the second phase.
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) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heidrich (DE 102007026004) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Formanski et al (DE 102017208544).
Regarding claim 3, Heidrich teaches the method as discussed above.
Heidrich does not explicitly teach the use of a jet pump.
Formanski discloses a method for recirculating fuel in an anode subsystem, the method comprising the step in which fuel is drawn out of the bypass flow path (218) by means of a recirculation jet pump (234), and a step in which the recirculation conveying means (236) conveys at least a proportion of the fuel that is present in the recirculation flow path (216) into the anode inflow path (215). According to this method, at a first operating point of the fuel cell system, the recirculation conveying means (236) and the recirculation jet pump (234) simultaneously convey fuel into the anode inflow path (215), and at a second operating point of the fuel cell system, only the recirculation conveyor (236) or only the recirculation jet pump (234) convey fuel into the anode inflow path (215) (see claims 4-8 and figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to utilize the jet pump as in Formanski with the method of Heidrich as it is a well known type of recirculation pump and would have been well within the purview of an ordinarily skilled artisan without undue experimentation and with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 4, Heidrich does not teach the pump to include suction, as claimed.
Conclusion
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/SARAH A. SLIFKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759 October 14, 2025