DETAILED ACTION
Application 18/228,049, “FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT METHOD THEREOF”, was filed with the USPTO on 7/31/2023 and has a foreign priority document of KR10-2022-0103333 filed on 8/18/2022.
This office action is in response to communication filed on 7/31/2023.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-8 in the reply filed on 5/26/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 9-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention Group II there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/26/2026.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 18/228,049, filed on 9/4/2023.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “130” in Fig. 2A has been used to designate both first connection line and second connection line . Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to because the last word in S200 in Fig. 8 is a typo, “STARTW” should read “START”, no “W” at the end. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because the recitation “cold start” in the last line of claim 1. The Examiner suggests changing the aforementioned recitation to “a cold start”.
Claims 2 and 3 are objected to because the recitation “smaller than”. The Examiner suggests changing the aforementioned recitation to “lower than” or “less than” or “below”.
Claims 9-11 are objected to because they do not have the correct status identified. To overcome the objection, Examiner suggests that they should be withdrawn not amended. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Won et al. (CN 213242608 U, citations see machine translation) in view of Procter et al. (US 20160372768 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Won et al. teaches a fuel cell system (entire Fig. 1) comprising:
a fuel cell stack (10, Fig. 1);
a control valve (40/20, Fig. 1) configured to control cooling water (first coolant; note: cooling water in the art is typically a coolant with antifreeze, e.g. water/ethylene glycol mixture) to flow to (see [n0058]) at least one of a first cooling line (110, Fig. 1) including the fuel cell stack (10, Fig. 1) and a radiator (61, Fig. 1) and a bypass line (140, Fig. 1) different from the first cooling line (110, Fig. 1);
a heater (50, Fig. 1) configured to increase a temperature of the cooling water (to heat a first coolant flowing through, see [n0042]);
an ion filter (95, Fig. 1) configured to remove ions included in the cooling water (the ion filter 95 is configured to remove ions contained in the first coolant, see [n0119]); and
a controller (device; note: during a cold start, the second port of the first valve is closed and first coolant circulates via the heater, see [n0120], therefore there has to be a device operates the first valve and the heater (e.g. by human/robot hands, a thermal management system (TMS), a controller) and reads or receives output of temperature sensors 112, 114 and 116, for mapping purposes, Examiner calls it “a device”) configured to:
the temperature of the cooling water at an inlet of the fuel cell stack (by 112, see Fig. 1), and
determine an opening angle (when the supply of the first coolant to the fuel cell stack 10 is cut off, see [n0120]; note: during a cold start, first coolant circulates along 150 while circulating via the heater 50 in 130, see [n0120]) of the control valve (20/40, Fig. 3) and an operation of the heater (circulating via the heater 50, [n0120]) based on the temperature of the cooling water (measured by 114, Fig. 3) passing through the control valve (40/20, Fig. 1) and the temperature of the cooling water (measured by 114, Fig. 3) passing through a first connection line (150, Fig. 1) including the ion filter (95, Fig. 1) and connected to the first cooling line (110, Fig. 1) and the bypass line (140, Fig. 1) (interpretation see 112b rejection above) when the starting method is cold start (cold start, see [n0120]).
Won et al. does not teach a controller configured to:
determine a starting method of a fuel cell based on an outside air temperature and the temperature of the cooling water at an inlet of the fuel cell stack.
Procter et al. teaches a controller (12, Fig. 1) configured to:
determine a starting method of a fuel cell (512, Fig. 5) based on an outside air temperature (ambient temperature, [0039]-[0040]; note: ambient temperature determined from the output of a temperature sensor installed in the vehicle, see [0039]) and the temperature of the cooling water at an inlet (temperature output of 128 at the inlet of 108, see Fig. 2 and [0039]) of the fuel cell stack (108, Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to add the temperature sensor installed in the vehicle taught by Procter et al. to sense the ambient temperature (see Procter et al. [0039]) and to modify the device taught by Won et al. to proceed step 512 (cold-startup conditions met?) taught by Procter et al. to determine if cold start-up conditions of the fuel cell stack are met (see Procter et al. [0040]).
Regarding claim 2, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. teaches wherein the controller (device of Won modified by Procter) determines the starting method as the cold start (512, Procter Fig. 5) in response to a determination (cold start-up conditions met if, see Procter [0040]) that the outside air temperature (ambient temperature, see Procter [0039]-[0040]) is smaller than or equal to a first temperature (below an ambient temperature threshold, see Procter [0040]) and the temperature of the cooling water at the inlet of the fuel cell stack is smaller than or equal to a second temperature (below a coolant temperature threshold, see Procter [0040]).
Regarding claim 8, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. teaches wherein the ion filter (95, Won Fig. 1) and the control valve (40/20, Won Fig. 1) include a temperature sensor (114, Won Fig. 3) configured to obtain the temperature of the cooling water (see Won [n0128]).
Claims 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Won et al. (CN 213242608 U, citations see machine translation) in view of Procter et al. (US 20160372768 A1) in view of Chen et al. (CN 110828866 A, citations see machine translation).
Regarding claim 3, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. teaches wherein the controller (device of Won modified by Procter) controls the opening angle of the control valve (40/20, Won Fig. 1) to a first range (when the supply of the first coolant to the fuel cell stack 10 is cut off, see [n0120]), controls the cooling water to flow to a first path (see bold lines with arrows in Won Fig. 3; also see heating loop, Won [n0120]);
the temperature of the cooling water (measured by 114, Won Fig. 3) passing through the control valve (40/20, Won Fig. 1), and the temperature of the cooling water (measured by 114, Won Fig. 3) passing through the first connection line (150, Won Fig. 1).
Won et al. in view of Procter et al. does not teach wherein the controller controls the opening angle of the control valve to a first range, controls the cooling water to flow to a first path, and turns on the heater when the temperature of the cooling water passing through the control valve is smaller than a threshold temperature and the temperature of the cooling water passing through the first connection line is smaller than the threshold temperature.
Chen et al. teaches wherein the controller (14, Fig. 1 and [0106]) controls the opening angle of the control valve (3/8, Fig. 1) to a first range (S106: fully open the second outlet of 3, see Fig. 2 with google image translate; also see [0106]), controls the cooling water to flow to a first path (), and turns on (S106: and turn on the electric heater, see Fig. 2 with google image translate; also see [0106]) the heater (7, Fig. 1) when the temperature of the cooling water (step 104, temperature by 15, Fig. 1; note: temperature of cooling water passing through 3 is same as temperature by 15 because of circulation 1-2-3-7-6-1, see Fig. 1) passing through the control valve (3, Fig. 1) is smaller than a threshold temperature (second temperature threshold in S101 and 105, see Fig. 2 with google image translate) and the temperature of the cooling water (step 104, temperature by 15, Fig. 1) passing through the first connection line (pipe between 6 and 1, see Fig. 1) is smaller than the threshold temperature (second temperature threshold in S101 and 105, see Fig. 2 with google image translate) (S105: determine if temperature of cooling water at the inlet of fuel cell is less than second temperature threshold, see Fig. 2 with google image translate).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the device taught by Won et al. in view of Procter et al. to include and perform S101, S104, S105 and S106 as taught by Chen et al. to enter the cold start mode (see Chen et al. [0105]) and to ensure that the cooling water heats up quickly, so as to improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst in the fuel cell electrode, accelerate the redox reaction, and promote the successful cold start of the battery stack in cold weather (see Chen et al. [0107]).
Regarding claim 4, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. in view of Chen et al. teaches wherein the first path (see bold lines with arrows in Won Fig. 3; also see heating loop, Won [n0120]) includes the first connection line (150, Won Fig. 1), a second connection line (130, Won Fig. 1) including the heater (50, Won Fig. 1), and the bypass line (140, Won Fig. 1) and does not include the first cooling line (110, Won Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 5, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. teaches wherein the controller (device of Won modified by Procter) controls the opening angle of the control valve (40/20, Won Fig. 1) to a second range (when 22 opens and 23 closed, see Won [n0111] and Fig. 1 and when 43 opens; note: valve 40 is a typical four-way valve, see Won [n0126] and Fig. 1), and controls the cooling water to flow to a second path (the path when 22 opens and 23 closed, see Won [n0111] and Fig. 1 and when 43 opens);
the temperature of the cooling water (measured by 112, Won Fig. 3) passing through the control valve (40/20, Won Fig. 1) or the temperature of the cooling water passing through the first connection line.
Won et al. in view of Procter et al. does not teach wherein the controller turns off the heater, controls the opening angle of the control valve to a second range, and controls the cooling water to flow to a second path in response to a determination that the temperature of the cooling water passing through the control valve is greater than or equal to a threshold temperature or the temperature of the cooling water passing through the first connection line is greater than or equal to the threshold temperature.
Chen et al. teaches wherein the controller (14, Fig. 1 and [0106]) turns off the heater (S107: and turn off the electric heater, see Fig. 2 with google image translate; also see [0145]; note: in steps S108 through S109, the electric heater 7 stays off, see Fig. 2 with google image translate), controls the opening angle of the control valve (3/8, Fig. 1) to a second range (S109: turn on the solenoid valve 8, see Fig. 2 with google image translate; also see [0155]), and controls the cooling water to flow to a second path (5-9-8, Fig. 1) in response to a determination (S108: determine if temperature of cooling water at inlet of fuel cell is greater than first temperature threshold, see Fig. 2 with google image translate) that the temperature of the cooling water passing through the control valve is greater than or equal to a threshold temperature or the temperature of the cooling water (by 15, Fig. 1) passing through the first connection line (pipe between 6 and 1, see Fig. 1) is greater than or equal to (S108, see Fig. 2 with google image translate) the threshold temperature (first temperature threshold in S102 and 108, see Fig. 2 with google image translate).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the device taught by Won et al. in view of Procter et al. to include and perform S107, S108 and S109 as taught by Chen et al. to have the unheated cooling water in the large circulation loop where the heat exchanger and radiator are located to mix with the heated cooling water in the small circulation loop when the actual temperature of the cooling water is too high, therefore to control the actual temperature of the cooing water at the cooling water inlet to decrease (see Chen [0160]).
Regarding claim 6, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. in view of Chen et al. teaches wherein the second path (the path when 22 opens and 23 closed, see Won [n0111] and Fig. 1 and when 43 opens) includes the first connection line (150, Won Fig. 1) and the first cooling line (110, Won Fig. 1) and does not include a second connection line (130, Won Fig. 1) including the heater (50, Won Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 7, Won et al. in view of Procter et al. in view of Chen et al. teaches wherein the controller (device of Won modified by Procter and Chen) operates the fuel cell stack (10, Won Fig. 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(Won): KR 20230016906 A, Figs 1-7 identical to Figs 1-5B of the instant application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NING CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1163. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tiffany Legette can be reached at (571) 270-7078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NING CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 /TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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