DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-15 are pending.
Claim 15 is withdrawn from consideration.
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 1-14 in the reply filed on 12 June 2026 is acknowledged. Claim 15 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “the cell unit have any” may be more appropriately written as “the cell unit has any”. 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wuillemin (US 2015/0176140) in view of Goto et al. (WO 2020/241211).
Goto et al. (US 2022/0045348) is herein cited as the English equivalent to (WO 2020/241211).
Regarding claim 1, Wuillemin discloses a solid oxide fuel cell or solid oxide electrolyzing cell (title), comprising:
a stack of fuel cell units [0003] (= a plurality of stacked cell units)
Including a cathode-anode-electrolyte (CAE) (abstract) (= comprising a cell layer comprising an active cell area),
A metal interconnect between the CAE units (abstract) (= and an interconnect layer comprising an interconnect, one interconnect layer separates one cell layer from the adjacent cell layer in the cell stack),
Fuel flows in the direction of fluid passages from an inlet opening to the outlet opening [0034] (= each interconnect layer has a fuel side with at least one fuel inlet and a fuel inlet active cell area, and at least one fuel outlet and a fuel outlet active cell area and an oxy side).
Wuillemin fails to disclose wherein the fuel inlet active area is at least 50% larger than the fuel outlet active cell area.
Goto discloses an electrochemical cell (100) [0043] in the field of solid oxide electrolysis cells [0002]. Goto discloses the electrochemical cell in one embodiment includes a flow path cross-sectional area of an upstream part of the gas path is larger than a flow path cross-sectional area of a downstream part of the gas path (Figure 6). Goto discloses that this configuration facilitates one-directional flow of the gas used in the reactor in an efficient manner [0029], [0086]. Goto discloses an open area of an inlet (31) of the gas path is larger than an open area of an outlet (32) of the gas path [0086].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to produce a device comprising wherein the fuel inlet active area is at least 50% larger than the fuel outlet active cell area because Goto discloses providing a gas path with a larger inlet than the outlet to efficiently facilitate one-direction flow of gas used in the reaction. Regarding the at least 50%, Goto does not explicitly disclose the sizing differences between the inlet and outlet, however this would have been an obvious engineering design choice in order to make the gas flow the most efficient.
Regarding claims 2-3, given the structure of the gas flow path of Goto, the inlet (31) is positioned closer to the periphery of the cell while the outlet (32) is positioned towards with adjacent or in the center (Figure 6). The instant claim including “is located adjacent to one or more periphery edges” is not limited to a specific distance from the edge.
Regarding claim 4, Wuillemin discloses circular cells (103) of the stack (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 6, Wuillemin discloses various shapes including rectangular (Figure 4E).
Regarding claim 12, Wuillemin in view of Goto discloses each cell having active cell area decreases from the inlet to the outlet (Figure 6).
Regarding claim 13, Goto does not provide the explicit decrease from the inlet to the outlet, however this would have been an obvious engineering design choice in order to make the gas flow the most efficient. Wuillemin discloses a total open area of apertures is at least 20%-50% of the total contact surface of the negative electrode of the CAE unit and states that a lateral distribution of the gas flowing through the gas distribution element is obtained, which allows for a more homogeneous fluid distribution and consequently of a more uniform fluid temperature [0047].
Claim(s) 5 and 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wuillemin (US 2015/0176140), in view of Goto et al. (WO 2020/241211) and in further view of Brown et al. (US 2020/0106110).
Goto et al. (US 2022/0045348) is herein cited as the English equivalent to WO 2020/241211.
Regarding claims 5 and 7-11, the instant claims include various shapes of the cell units. Wuillemin discloses various shapes including circular (Figure 4D) and rectangular (Figure 4E).
Regarding a shape including triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, multi-gonal shape, selection of the shape of the cell would have been an obvious engineering design choice. However, to fully address the claimed shapes, Brown is here cited for disclosing various shapes of cells. Brown discloses an electrochemical cell stack comprising cells having an annular shape, ovular, hexagonal, square, off-square or any other shape as long as a longitudinal channel extends longitudinally through the fuel cell stack [0060].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to produce a cell having any number of shapes because Brown discloses in the same field of endeavor altering the shape of the cell to include any shape such as hexagonal, square, etc.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wuillemin (US 2015/0176140), in view of Goto et al. (WO 2020/241211) and in further view of Hsu (US 2016/0060537).
Goto et al. (US 2022/0045348) is herein cited as the English equivalent to WO 2020/241211.
Regarding claim 14, Wuillemin and Goto are silent as to the manifold of the inlet and outlet therefore in order to produce the invention of Wuillemin in view of Guo, one of ordinary skill in the art would look to the related art and arrive at a reference such as Hsu. Hsu discloses in the field of solid oxide electrolysis and fuel cells [0038] a device comprising internal or external manifolds for reactants [0062]. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to produce a device comprising either internal or external manifolds of an electrochemical cell stack. Selecting from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions with a reasonable expectation of success is an obvious engineering design choice.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2015/0037703 electrochemical cell [0046]
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/Stefanie S Wittenberg/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1795
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