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 .
Status of the Claims
This is a non-final rejection in response to the communication filed 03/14/2024. Claims 1-12 are currently pending.
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 1-12 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the side channel" in line 6. It is unclear if reference is being made to the “at least one side channel” earlier in the claim or if a new channel is being introduced. It appears the limitation should read --the at least one side channel--.
The term “substantially” in claim 4 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “substantially” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear the metes and bounds of the term.
Claims 2-12 are indefinite based on their dependency on claim 1.
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) 1-4 and 6-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE 10 2017 215 731 to Wieland et al. (Wieland, and based on English Machine Translation) in view of US Patent 5,449,269 to Frank et al. (Frank).
In Reference to Claim 1
Wieland discloses a side channel compressor (abstract) for a fuel cell system (abstract) for delivering and/or compressing a gaseous medium (¶ [0001]), the side channel compressor (Fig. 1, 1 for instance) comprising
a housing (Fig. 1, 3 for instance) and an impeller wheel (2 for instance) which can be driven by an electric motor (6 for instance) and which is accommodated in the housing, thus forming at least one side channel (19 for instance) disposed axially in relation to the impeller wheel (2), wherein the side channel (19) is connected, via an axial gap (Fig. 7, see flow V for instance) remaining between the housing (3) and the impeller wheel (2), to an annular channel (34) which is disposed radially in relation to the impeller wheel (2),
wherein the annular channel (34) and at least one housing bore (46 for instance).
Wieland does not teach the annular channel “... is connected to an outlet of the side channel compressor via at least one housing bore ....”
Frank is related to a side channel compressor (Fig. 1, 12 for instance), as the claimed invention and teaches wherein an annular channel (Fig. 2, 66 for instance) is connected to an outlet (Fig. 6, 32 for instance, see also outlet in figure 1) of the side channel compressor (12) via at least one housing bore (70 for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Wieland wherein the annular channel (of Wieland) is connected to an outlet (as taught by Frank) of the side channel compressor (of Wieland) via at least one housing bore (of Wieland and as modified as taught by Frank for instance), so as to use an art known technique (of the disposition of an annular channel and the connecting an annular channel of a side channel compressor to an outlet as taught by Frank) into the system of Wieland and predictably control flow through the system and form an outlet for the system.
In Reference to Claim 2
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the annular channel (34 of Wieland and as modified by 66 of Frank) has a flow cross-section that varies in a circumferential direction (as taught by Frank, see 66 of figure 2 leading to 70).
In Reference to Claim 3
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the impeller wheel (12 of Wieland for instance) is configured to be closed on an outer peripheral side (Wieland, by structure 11 for instance).
In Reference to Claim 4
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the at least one housing bore (70 as taught by Frank for instance) is configured as a blind hole (see figure 6 of Frank for instance) and/or is substantially radially or tangentially aligned in relation to the impeller wheel (these limitations satisfied as being in the alternative, relative to and/or).
In Reference to Claim 6
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the at least one housing bore (46 of Wieland for instance) is disposed at a geodetically lowest point of the housing in a use layer (Wieland, ¶ [0044]).
In Reference to Claim 7
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein side channels (Wieland Fig. 6, 19 for instance) disposed on both sides of the impeller wheel (Wieland, 2 for instance) are connected to the annular channel (Wieland Fig. 7, 34 for instance) via a respective axial gap (Wieland, as seen relative to flow V for instance).
In Reference to Claim 8
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the impeller wheel (Wieland Fig. 1, 2 for instance) is connected to a rotor of an electric motor (Wieland, 6 for instance, see also ¶ [0002] and [0021]).
In Reference to Claim 9
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses a fuel cell system (Wieland Fig. 1, 37 for instance) having a side channel compressor (Wieland, 1 for instance) according to claim 1, wherein the side channel compressor (Wieland, 1 for instance) is disposed in a recirculation path (Wieland, ¶ [0026]) of the fuel cell system for delivering and/or compressing anode exhaust gas of a fuel cell stack (Wieland, 39 for instance) of the fuel cell system (see ¶ [0026]).
In Reference to Claim 10
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses a use of a side channel compressor (Wieland, 1 for instance) according to claim 1 as a recirculation fan in a fuel cell system (Wieland, see ¶ [0026]).
In Reference to Claim 11
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor (Wieland, 1 for instance) according to claim 1, wherein the gaseous medium is hydrogen or a gas containing hydrogen (Wieland, see ¶ [0005]).
In Reference to Claim 12
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 2, wherein the flow cross-section (66 as taught by Frank for instance, see figure 1) increases continuously in a rotational direction of the impeller wheel (of 66 in a clockwise direction of figure 2 as taught by Frank for instance) and decreases abruptly in a region of the at least one housing bore (Frank, 66 decreases abruptly at 70 for instance).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE 10 2017 215 731 to Wieland et al. (Wieland, and based on English Machine Translation) in view of US Patent 5,449,269 to Frank et al. (Frank) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DE 10 2019 003 386 to Mutschele et al. (Mutschele, and based on English Machine Translation).
In Reference to Claim 5
Wieland, as modified by Frank, discloses the side channel compressor according to claim 1, wherein the at least one housing bore is connected to the outlet (70 as taught by Frank for instance and connected to the outlet of Wieland) but does not teach “... via a further housing bore having a reduced diameter compared to the at least one housing bore ....”
Mutschele is related to at least one bore (Fig. 2, 25 for instance) connected to an outlet (19 for instance) of a compressor (12), as the claimed invention, and teaches wherein the at least one housing bore (Fig. 2, 25 for instance) is connected to the outlet (19 for instance) via a further housing bore (26 for instance) having a reduced diameter compared to the at least one housing bore (diameter of 25 in housing 17 about 19 as compared to 26 for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Wieland wherein the at least one housing bore (of Wieland) is connected to the outlet via a further housing bore (as taught by Mutschele) having a reduced diameter compared to the at least one housing bore (as taught by Mutschele), so as to use an art known technique (of the use of a series of bores for routing unwanted constituents out of the compressor as taught by Mutschele) into the system of Wieland and predictably provide a configuration to route unwanted constituents from the compressor.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, as cited in the Notice of References Cited, are cited to show side channel compressors including bores connected to annular channels, and configuration of the compressor.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE A LAMBERT whose telephone number is (571)270-3516. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9 am - 7 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E Wiehe can be reached at (571)272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WAYNE A LAMBERT/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745