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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status
This instant application No. 18/266230 has Claims 15-30 pending.
Priority /Filing Date
This application is a national stage filing of International Application No. PCT/EP2021/085007, filed on December 9, 2021, which claims priority to French Application No. 20 12926, filed December 9, 2020. The priority filing date of this application is December 9, 2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
As required by M.P.E.P. 609(C), the Applicant’s submissions of the Information Disclosure Statements dated January 30, 2024 is acknowledged by the Examiner and the cited references have been considered in the examination of the claims now pending. As required by M.P.E.P. 609 C(2), a copy of each of the PTOL-1449s initialed and dated by the Examiner is attached to the instant Office action.
Abstract
The abstract of the disclosure is objected due to repeating the claim. The abstract should be clear and concise reflective of the inventive concept. Note that in the abstract, Applicant cites claim 1 verbatim. Appropriate correction is required.
Additionally, the meaning of the word ‘apt’ is not fully understood. The abstract should be clear and concise reflective of the inventive concept and should not use abbreviated word. Appropriate correction is required.
Further, the abstract of the disclosure is objected due to use of legal phraseology. Note that in abstract, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided… See MPEP § 608.01(b). The applicant has used the term “said” two times in the abstract. 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.
5. Claims 15-30 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
i) As per Claim 1 (lines 3, 15, 16, 17, 18), Claim 23 (line 3) and Claim 29 (line 3), it is uncertain what the term ‘apt’ means. The examiner could not find any explanations of “apt” in the specification or in any other claims- The term is indefinite because scope of the term ‘apt’ is not limited in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
ii) As per Claim 1 (last limitation), the term ‘the gages’ does not have proper antecedent basis on the claims. Additionally, it is not clear from the claim language which gages the term is referring to (temperature gage, pressure gage and/or strain gage). Appropriate correction is required.
iii) As per Claims 18, 22 and 26 (last line) the term ‘substantially’ is indefinite because scope of ‘substantially’ is not limited in the claim and it causes ambiguity in the claim language. Appropriate correction is required.
As per other depended claims, they are rejected for incorporating the above errors from their respective parent claim by dependency.
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 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 of this title, 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.
6. Claims 15-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Kroner et al. hereafter Kroner (Pub. No.: US 2020/0103335 A1), in view of Victor et al. hereafter Victor (Pub. No.: US 2019/0101342 A1).
Regarding Claim 15, Krone disclose a heat exchanger including:
- a plurality of adjacent rectangular frames, each rectangular frame defining an inner volume wherein a fluid is apt to flow (Krone, Figure 1, [0041]: The plate-type heat exchanger has a cuboid central body),
- a partition wall arranged between each adjacent frame and separating the inner volumes from each other (Krone, Figure 1, [0044]: separating plates),
- a closing wall arranged on each rectangular end frame and intended for closing the inner volume of said rectangular end frames (Krone, Figure 1, [0044]: at its sides and under the central body 8, attachments 6 and 6a can be seen),
- a plurality of fluidic inlets, each in fluidic communication with an inner volume and a plurality of fluidic outlets, each in fluidic communication with an inner volume, said fluidic inlets and outlet being situated on the rectangular frames (Krone, Figure 1, [0042]: A fluid or process flow can be fed to the plate-type heat exchanger and removed again from it through connecting elements 7),
- at least one distributor of fluid arranged for distributing a fluid to at least a part of the fluid inlets (Krone, Figure 1, [0042]: The attachments 6 and 6a serve for distributing the fluid introduced through the connecting elements 7 and for collecting and concentrating the fluid to be removed from the plate type heat exchanger),
- at least one collector of fluid arranged for collecting a fluid coming out of at least a part of the fluidic outlets (Krone, Figure 1, [0042]: The attachments 6 and 6a serve for distributing the fluid introduced through the connecting elements 7 and for collecting and concentrating the fluid to be removed from the plate type heat exchanger),
- at least one temperature gage apt to measure a temperature of the fluid (Krone, Figure 1, [0049]: temperature sensors 10),
- at least one pressure gage apt to measure a pressure of the fluid (Krone, [0030]: pressure sensors),
- a communication device apt to receive the measurements from the gages and to send same to a computer processing unit (Krone, Figure 3, [0055]: a computing unit 20 which is coupled to the latter in a data-transmitting fashion and is preferably embodied as a single-board computer, and a remote computing unit 30 ("Cloud") which is coupled to the computing unit 20 in a data-transmitting fashion).
Krone donot explicitly disclose
- at least one strain gage apt to measure a deformation on the heat exchanger.
Victor discloses:
at least one strain gage apt to measure a deformation on the heat exchanger (Victor: [0117]: strain sensors may measure the strain on a part).
Krone and Victor are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They both relate to heat exchanger.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the above service life measurement application, as taught by Krone, and incorporating the use of deformation measurement technique, as taught by Victor.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to prolong equipment life or avoid equipment failure., as suggested by Victor (Victor: abstract).
Regarding Claim 16, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the rectangular frames define faces, the heat exchanger defining a longitudinal axis (X) and a transverse axis (Y) extending along a length (L) and a width (I), respectively, of said heat exchanger, each collector and each distributor being attached to the faces and defining an end junction between both said collector and/or distributor and the closing walls, at least one junction gage being arranged on the closing wall at a first gap distance (D1) from the end junction, comprised between 44 and 150 millimeters, the first gap distance (D1) being measured along the longitudinal axis (X) or the transverse axis (Y) (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Examiner’s Remark(ER): certain length of gap distance is a design choice-obvious to a person skilled in the art).
Regarding Claim 17, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 16, wherein a plurality of junction gages are arranged on the closing wall, the junction gages being spaced apart from each other by a first gap distance (D2) comprised between 10 and 500 millimeters (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Examiner’s Remark(ER): certain length of gap distance is a design choice-obvious to a person skilled in the art).
Regarding Claim 18, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 17, wherein the first gap distance (D2) is substantially equal to 50 millimeters (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Examiner’s Remark(ER): certain length of gap distance is a design choice-obvious to a person skilled in the art).
Regarding Claim 19, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the closing wall defines a rectangle, a central strain gage being arranged on said closing wall at an intersection of the diagonals (d) of said rectangle (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 20, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 19, wherein a plurality of strain gages are arranged on the closing wall, aligned along the longitudinal axis (X) of said heat exchanger (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 21, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 20, wherein the strain gages arranged on the closing wall are spaced apart by a second gap distance (D3) measured along the longitudinal axis (X), the second gap distance (D3) being comprised between 0.6 meter and 1.6 meter (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 22, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 21, wherein the second gap distance (D3) is substantially equal to 1 meter (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 23, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 16, further including at least one sealing bar intended for separating the inner volume of the frame into at least two subvolumes, each sub-volume being apt to accommodate a different fluid, said sealing bar extending along the transverse axis (Y) or the longitudinal axis (X), and wherein at least one of the at least one strain gage is arranged on the closing wall, being situated at a second gap distance (D4) from the sealing bar, comprised between 10 and 50 millimeters, the second gap distance (D4) being measured along the longitudinal axis (X) when the sealing bar extends along the transverse axis (Y) and along the transverse axis (Y) when the sealing bar extends along the longitudinal axis (X) (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 24, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 23, wherein a plurality of the at least one strain gage are arranged around the sealing bar on the closing wall, the plurality of strain gages being spaced apart by a third gap distance (D5) measured along the longitudinal axis (X) when the sealing bar extends along the transverse axis (Y) and along the transverse axis (Y) when the sealing bar extends along the longitudinal axis (X), said third gap distance (D5) being comprised between 10 and 500 millimeters(Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 25, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 23, wherein the at least one sealing bar defines sub-rectangles on the closing wall, each sub-rectangle corresponding, in a projection on said closing wall, to a sub-volume, and wherein a central strain gage is arranged on said closing wall at an intersection of the diagonals (d) of each sub-rectangle (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 26, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 25, wherein a plurality of the at least one strain gage are arranged on each sub-rectangle of the closing wall, aligned along the longitudinal axis (X) of said heat exchanger, and wherein said plurality of strain gages are spaced apart from each other by a fourth gap distance (D6) measured along the longitudinal axis, said fourth gap distance (D6) being comprised between 0.6 meter and 1.6 meter, and preferentially substantially equal to 1 meter (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 27, the combinations of Krone and Victor further an assembly comprising the heat exchanger according to claim 15 and a computer processing unit (Kroner: [0017], [0023]).
Regarding Claim 28, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose a method for estimating a service life of a heat exchanger by means of the assembly according to claim 27, the heat exchanger having a predetermined initial service life, wherein the method comprises:
- continuously measuring the temperature of the fluid by means of the temperature
Gage (Kroner: [0011], [0012]),
- continuously calculating a mechanical stress by means of measurement of the
temperature of the fluid (Kroner: [0011], [0012]),
- storing the calculated mechanical stresses in memory (Kroner: [0017]),
- continuously measuring a fluid pressure by means of the pressure gage (Kroner: [0030], claim 3),
- calculating a mechanical stress by means of measuring the fluid pressure (Kroner: [0011], [0012]),
- storing the calculated mechanical stresses in memory (Kroner: [0017]),
- continuous measuring a mechanical stress by means of the strain gage (Victor: [0117]),
- storing in memory the measured mechanical stresses (Victor: [0113], [0115], [0016]),
- determining a series of ranges of mechanical stress values (Kroner: [0061]-[0064]),
- counting the occurrences wherein the stored mechanical stresses fall within a
range of values established in the determining of the series of ranges of values (Kroner: [0014]-[0016], [0021], [0053]), and
- calculating an estimate of a service life by comparing the occurrences with a
Database (Kroner: [0014]-[0016], [0021], [0053]).
Regarding Claim 29, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 18, further including at least one sealing bar intended for separating the inner volume of the frame into at least two subvolumes, each sub-volume being apt to accommodate a different fluid, said sealing bar extending along the transverse axis (Y) or the longitudinal axis (X), and wherein at least one of the at least one strain gage is arranged on the closing wall, being situated at a second gap distance (D4) from the sealing bar, comprised between 10 and 50 millimeters, the second gap distance (D4) being measured along the longitudinal axis (X) when the sealing bar extends along the transverse axis (Y) and along the transverse axis (Y) when the sealing bar extends along the longitudinal axis (X) (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Regarding Claim 30, the combinations of Krone and Victor further disclose the heat exchanger according to claim 24, wherein the at least one sealing bar defines sub-rectangles on the closing wall, each sub-rectangle corresponding, in a projection on said closing wall, to a sub-volume, and wherein a central strain gage is arranged on said closing wall at an intersection of the diagonals ( d) of each sub-rectangle (Krone, Figure 1, Figure 3, [0041]-[0044], [0049], [0055]; Victor: [0101], [0113], [0117], [0164]).
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Steinbauer et al. (Pub. No.: US 2021/0341402 A1) relates to a method for calculating the strength and the service life of a process apparatus through which fluid flows, by using temperature measurement values at different points apparatus of as constraints in a finite element method in order to determine mechanical stresses existing at a plurality of different points in the material of the apparatus as stress values.
Streeter et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210071959 A1) teaches an additively manufactured heat exchanger configured to transfer heat between a first fluid and a second fluid includes a first channel with a first wall configured to port flow of a first fluid and a second channel with a second wall configured to port flow of a second fluid.
Zager et al. (Pub. No.: US 2020/0300551 A1) conceptually presents a closure bar adapted for use in a heat exchanger core includes a center void region configured to be partially filled with a phase-changing material and sealed, thereby containing the phase-changing material.
Parfenov et al. (Pub. No.: US 2019/0164364 A1) defines a motor vehicle heat exchanger that includes multiple first flow channels of a coolant medium arranged one over another, second flow channels of a process medium arranged between the first flow channels and provided at their ends with collection boxes, multiple sensors for detecting operating parameters and elongations of the heat exchanger and also a memory are arranged on and/or in the heat exchanger.
7. Examiner’s Remarks: Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Correspondence Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IFTEKHAR A KHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 9:00AM-6:00PM (CST). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Emerson Puente can be reached on (571)272-3652. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IFTEKHAR A KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2187
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