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 .
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeon et al. (Translation of KR100486565B1) in view of Kin (Translation of JP2008101847A) hereinafter referred to as Yeon and Kin, respectively.
Regarding Claim 1, Yeon discloses louvers for a heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between a refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle and outside (“the outside air through the fin 110”) air (“heat exchangers used for refrigeration air conditioning are formed with fins having an extended surface on the air side to improve heat transfer”), the heat exchanger comprising:
a plurality of tubes (2) arranged in parallel (shown in figure 5) and configured to allow the refrigerant to flow therethrough (the working fluid flows through the openings separated by partitions, as shown in figure 7 within the tube (2));
a fin (110) provided between adjacent tubes and configured to allow the outside air to pass therethrough (shown in figure 7), wherein the fin includes
a plurality of contact portions alternately in contact with one and an other of the adjacent tubes (shown in figures 5 and 7, wherein the top and bottom portions of the fin (110) are attached to adjacent tubes (2)),
a plurality of wall portions (shown in figure 5, being the straight portions of the fin (110) connecting a respective top and bottom portion) each connecting the contact portions adjacent to each other so as to connect the adjacent tubes (shown in figures 5 and 7),
each of the wall portions including a flat plate portion formed in a flat plate shape (shown in figure 5, being the straight portions of the fin (110) connecting a respective top and bottom portion), and arc portions each curved in an arc shape from the flat plate portion toward a corresponding one of the contact portions (shown in figure 2 and figure 5, being the outermost curved portions), and
an extension portion (shown in figure 7, being the portion of the fin (110) that extends passed the tube (2) opposite the direction of air flow) extending from the contact portions and the wall portions and protruding upstream in a flow direction of the adjacent tubes (shown in figure 7), wherein the louvers (113) are provided in each of the wall portions along the flow direction of the outside air (shown in figure 7),
the louvers include a first louver formed most upstream in the flow direction of the outside air in the extension portion (shown in figures 6-7, being the most upstream louver (113)), and a second louver formed downstream of the first louver in the flow direction of the outside air (shown in figure 7, being the second most upstream louver),
the first louver and the second louver are respectively cut and raised throughout on the flat plate portion along a direction perpendicular to the adjacent tubes to have same cut-and- raised heights (shown in figure 7, wherein the height of the louvers (113) is uniform and extends in the vertical direction),
a downstream end portion of the first louver is located on an upstream side of the upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes in the flow direction of the outside air (shown in figure 7), and is formed at a same cut-and-raised height over a height direction of the downstream end portion (shown in figure 6, being the height of the cut and raised louver (113) or rather the height to which the raised portion extends) and
a number of the downstream end portions of the first louver located upstream of the upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes at each of the wall portions is one (shown in figure 6, wherein only one louver that is inclined to a single side is situated upstream of the tube (2) or rather there is only one first louver and therefore only one downstream end portion of said first louver). Yeon fails to disclose the second louver is formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes in the flow direction of the outside air.
Kin, also drawn to a fin tube heat exchanger with louvers, teaches a first lover (shown in figure 1, being the most upstream lover (4a)) and a second louver (shown in figure 1, being the second most upstream louver (4a)) is formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes (2) in the flow direction of the outside air (shown in figure 1). Further Kin states, “A plurality of cut and raised pieces (louvers) 4a, 4a,... For improving the heat transfer efficiency with air are formed in each of the upstream portion and the downstream portion of the air flow around the surface. The raising pieces 4a, 4a,... Are configured so that the heat exchange performance between the refrigerant and the air is as high as possible”.
Regarding Claim 1, Yeon fails to disclose the second louver being formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes in the flow direction of the outside air. Kin does, however, teach a single upstream louver in the extension section and a second louver being formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes in the flow direction of the outside air, wherein the louvers contribute to pressure loss and heat exchange rates. Therefore, the second louver being formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes is recognized as a result-effective variable, i.e. a variable which achieves a recognized result. In this case, the recognized result is that with the second lover being formed on a downstream side of upstream end portions of the adjacent tubes only a single louver is formed in the extension section, multiple louvers formed in the extension section results in an increased pressure loss and increased heat exchange capacity through increased turbulence, other parameters remaining consistent. Therefore, since the general conditions of the claim, i.e. that the heat exchanger has first and second louvers, was disclosed in the prior art by Yeon and Kin, it is not inventive to discover the optimum workable range by routine experimentation, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide additional louvers in the extension section of the heat exchanger in order to regulate the pressure loss and heat exchange capacity of the device. See MPEP 2144.05 II.
A recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed, regarding “refrigerant”, “outside air”, does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the structural limitations of the claims, as is the case here. Please see Section 2114 of the MPEP entitled Functional Language.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL ALVARE whose telephone number is (571)272-8611. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 0930-1800.
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/PAUL ALVARE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763