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 statement filed 3/20/23 has 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reeder (US 2023/0121336) in view of Naganuma et al. (US 2013/0040219).
Reeder teaches an energy recovery system for a fuel cell vehicle ([0007]) comprising:
a first cooling fluid, or radiant fluid, circulation path, or circuit (150), for allowing circulation of the fluid to supply the fluid to a fuel cell (110) (Figure 1, [0024]);
a first radiator, or second thermal contact region (144), in thermal contact with the cooling fluid circulation path, that absorbs a portion of the waste heat from the fuel cell from the radiant fluid (Figure 2, [0027]);
and a first thermoelectric converter, or thermoelectric generator TEG (141), that converts heat radiated from the first radiator (144) into electricity, or electric power, the thermoelectric converter being provided in the radiator (Figure 2, [0026]-[0027]).
Reeder is silent on the fluid used as the radiant fluid.
Naganuma teaches an energy recovery system for a fuel cell vehicle (Figure 1, [0028]) including a first cooling fluid circulation path, or first coolant recirculation path (R1), that circulates pure water as the coolant to release heat generated during power generation of the fuel cell stack by the radiator (33) (Figure 1, [0035]).
It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan at the time of the invention to use the known cooling fluid of pure water as taught by Naganuma in order to release heat generated during power generation of the fuel cell stack in the system of Reeder and the results of the substitution, i.e. providing a cooling fluid for an energy recovery system of a fuel cell vehicle, would have been predictable. MPEP 2143 I B
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reeder in view of Naganuma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tang et al. (US 2015/0053491).
The teachings of Reeder and Naganuma as discussed above are incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 2, Reeder in view of Naganuma teaches the energy recovery system according to claim 1, and further teaches a first cooling water pump, or first coolant pump (48)that circulates the cooling water, a second cooling water circulation path (R2), and a second radiator, or power0driven fan (37), that cools the second cooling water (Naganuma Fig. 1).
With further regard to claim 2, Reeder in view of Naganuma fails to teach that the first cooling water pump includes a drive motor and that the second cooling water circulation path allows for circulation of the second cooling water to supply the second cooling water to the first cooling water pump drive motor.
Tang teaches an energy recovery system, or thermal management system, for a fuel cell vehicle, wherein the system includes liquid pumps (2, 3), through which cooling liquid flows, and liquid pump cooling systems (4, 5) for cooling the heat generated by the pump motors (Figures 4-5, [0058], [0063]).
It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan at the time of the invention to use the second coolant loop of Reeder in view of Naganuma to cool the pump motors such as suggested by Tang in order to ensure that the pump motors do not overheat and therefore function properly.
Further regarding claim 2, Reeder in view of Naganuma fails to teach a second thermoelectric converter provided in the second radiator. However, it would have been obvious to the skilled artisan at the time of the invention to provide an additional thermoelectric generator in the second radiator, as it is provided in the first radiator, in order to convert heat from the second radiator to electric power. It has been held that mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced. MPEP 2144.04 VI B
As for claim 3, Naganuma teaches a second cooling water pump (49) (Figure 1). Tang further teaches a second pump motor that is cooled by coolant from the path through which the coolant passes (see, e.g., 3 and 5 of Figure 4 of Tang).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reeder in view of Naganuma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Cao et al. (US 2023/0213005).
The teachings of Reeder and Naganuma as discussed above are incorporated herein.
Reeder in view of Naganuma teaches the energy recovery system of claim 1 but fails to teach an exhaust gas supply path as required by claim 4.
Cao teaches an emission control system of a fuel cell vehicle including an exhaust gas supply path, or exhaust pipe (21) connected to intercooler (9) to electric air compressor (8) to high pressure gas cylinder (7), for supplying compressed exhaust gas discharged from the fuel cell (3) to an air brake, i.e. meeting vehicle braking demands (Figure 1, [0033]).
It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan at the time of the invention to use fuel cell exhaust from the system of Reeder in view of Naganuma such as suggested by Cao in order to provide compressed exhaust gas to meet vehicle braking demands.
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
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