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 .
Claims 1-10 are canceled.
Claims 11-30 are pending.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 11-12, 14-20, 22-27, 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WEI (CN 107144057 A) in view of Choi et al. (hereinafter “Choi”) (US 20110154834 A1).
As to claims 11, 18-19, and 26, WEI teaches a method and system for controlling an air conditioner comprising:
in response to that an air conditioner is in a refrigeration mode, detecting whether a refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in a path communicating an indoor unit and an outdoor unit of the air conditioner [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 71; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-102; page 7, paragraph 5];
in response to determining that the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the path, activating the refrigeration electronic expansion valve to throttle the air conditioner [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-103; page 7, paragraph 5].
WEI teaches a method and system to determine whether there is double-throttle condition exists for an air conditioner system during a cooling mode, and only activating indoor expansion valve to throttle the air conditioner and the outdoor electronic expansion valve of air conditioner outdoor unit does not perform the throttling function when double-throttle condition is detected [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5]. WEI does not explicitly teach during cooling mode controlling a refrigeration throttle valve to close and a refrigeration solenoid valve to open, the refrigeration throttle valve and the refrigeration solenoid valve being provided in parallel in the path.
However, Choi teaches a system and method for controlling an air conditioner. Especially, Choi teaches operating the air conditioner in cooling mode by activating the refrigeration electronic expansion valve [indoor expansion valve 131] to throttle the air conditioner while controlling a refrigeration throttle valve [outdoor expansion valve 132] to close and a refrigeration solenoid valve [check valve 133] to open to bypass the refrigeration throttle valve, and the refrigeration throttle valve and the refrigeration solenoid valve being provided in parallel in the path [Fig. 1 shows outdoor expansion valve 132 and check valve 133 being provided in parallel in the path] [0025-00274, 0037-0038, 0044, 00525].
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Choi with the teachings of WEI for the purpose of providing a check valve in parallel with the outdoor throttle valve to bypass the outdoor throttle valve during operating the air conditioner with cooling mode therefore the outdoor throttle valve does not perform the throttling function and only keeps the indoor throttle valve to throttle the refrigerant so as to avoid double throttle air conditioning system.
As to claim 12, Choi teaches activating the refrigeration electronic expansion valve to throttle the air conditioner includes: obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve according to the overheat degree [0048-0053, 0061-0065].
As to claim 14, WEI teaches after detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the path: in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists, and activating the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5]. It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Choi with the teachings of WEI for the purpose of controlling the refrigeration solenoid valve to close to enable the outdoor expansion valve to throttle in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists [0025-0027, 0037-0038, 0044, 0052].
As to claim 15, WEI teaches activating the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner includes: obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration throttle valve according to the overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5].
As to claim 16, WEI teaches detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the path includes: obtaining information of the indoor unit; and extracting an equipment identification of the indoor unit from the information of the indoor unit, and detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the indoor unit according to the equipment identification of the indoor unit [page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5].
As to claim 17, Choi teaches detecting a current working mode of the air conditioner; and in response to that the air conditioner is in a heating mode: adjusting the refrigeration electronic expansion valve to a preset opening degree, and activating the refrigeration throttle valve; and controlling the refrigeration solenoid valve to close, and opening a heating electronic expansion valve of the air conditioner to throttle the air conditioner [0025-0031, 0035-0044, 0059-0065].
As to claim 20, Choi teaches obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve according to the overheat degree [0048-0053, 0061-0065].
As to claim 22, WEI teaches after detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the path: in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists, and activating the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5]. It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Choi with the teachings of WEI for the purpose of controlling the refrigeration solenoid valve to close to enable the outdoor expansion valve to throttle in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists [0025-0027, 0037-0038, 0044, 0052].
As to claim 23, WEI teaches obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration throttle valve according to the overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5].
As to claim 24, WEI teaches obtaining information of the indoor unit; and extracting an equipment identification of the indoor unit from the information of the indoor unit, and detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the indoor unit according to the equipment identification of the indoor unit [page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5].
As to claim 25, Choi teaches detecting a current working mode of the air conditioner; and in response to that the air conditioner is in a heating mode: adjusting the refrigeration electronic expansion valve to a preset opening degree, and activating the refrigeration throttle valve; and controlling the refrigeration solenoid valve to close, and opening a heating electronic expansion valve of the air conditioner to throttle the air conditioner [0025-0031, 0035-0044, 0059-0065].
As to claim 27, Choi teaches obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration electronic expansion valve according to the overheat degree [0048-0053, 0061-0065].
As to claim 29, WEI teaches after detecting whether the refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists in the path: in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists, and activating the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5]. It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Choi with the teachings of WEI for the purpose of controlling the refrigeration solenoid valve to close to enable the outdoor expansion valve to throttle in response to that no refrigeration electronic expansion valve exists [0025-0027, 0037-0038, 0044, 0052].
As to claim 30, WEI teaches obtaining an overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve; and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration throttle valve according to the overheat degree of the refrigeration throttle valve to throttle the air conditioner [page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5].
Claim(s) 13, 21, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WEI in view of Choi and further in view of Hirano (US 5555744 A).
As to claims 13 and 21 and 28, WEI teaches outdoor electronic expansion valve of air conditioner outdoor unit does not perform the throttling function when double-throttle condition is detected [Abstract; page 2, paragraph 7; page 5, paragraphs 1-2, 5-10; page 7, paragraph 5]. Choi teaches controlling the refrigeration throttle valve to close and the refrigeration solenoid valve to open [0025-0027, 0037-0038, 0044, 0052]. WEI and Choi do not explicitly teach obtaining an outlet temperature of a condenser of the outdoor unit and adjusting an opening degree of the refrigeration solenoid valve according to the outlet temperature of the condenser.
However, Hirano teaches an invention relates to a refrigerant circuit, wherein controlling the opening degree of the refrigeration solenoid valve according to the outlet temperature of the condenser [column 7, lines 6-47].
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hirano with the teachings of WEI and Choi for the purpose of enabling a proper open/close control of the solenoid valve based on the detected temperature of the refrigerant condensed by the condenser to operating the refrigeration system in a cooling mode.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIPENG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5437. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-7.
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/ZHIPENG WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 The control device of the air conditioning system provided in the embodiments of the present invention, the control module controls the air conditioning system operating in a cooling mode, and capable of obtaining the cold media temperature in the electronic expansion valve before throttling by the first temperature detection unit and acquired by the second temperature detecting unit electrically the cooling medium temperature after throttle expansion valve, and according to the cooling medium temperature throttle electronic expansion valve to throttle back the cold media temperature before the difference between the judging whether the indoor machine has throttling device so as to automatically identify whether there is double-throttle air conditioner system condition, to avoid system abnormality caused by double-throttle condition, improve the refrigerating output of air conditioner system and improving user satisfaction.
2 That is, after the control module 12 control air conditioner system enters cooling mode, control module 12 by the cooling medium temperature T1 before the first temperature detecting unit 3 detects the electric expansion valve 4 throttle, detected by the second temperature detection unit 5 electronic expansion valve 4 after the throttling of the cooling medium temperature T2, so as to obtain the cooling medium temperature electronic expansion valve 4 to throttle back difference Δ degrees. wherein, if the Δ T is less than or equal to the preset temperature threshold value T, then the indoor machine has throttling device 13, indicating that the double-throttle air conditioning system exists.
3 According to one embodiment of the invention, control module 12 is further used for judging if indoor machine 9 there is a throttle device 13 after controlling the electric expansion valve 4 is opened to the maximum opening degree.
That is, when the air conditioning system is double-throttle control module 12 control the electric expansion valve 4 is opened to the maximum opening, , electronic expansion valve of air conditioner outdoor unit 10 does not perform the throttling function and only keeps the indoor machine 9 in the throttle device 13 to throttle the refrigerant so as to avoid double throttle air conditioning system has.
4 [0026] The outdoor expansion valve 132 throttles the refrigerant in the heating mode and is disposed at the intake pipe 166 which connects a liquid pipe 165 and the outdoor heat exchanger 140. A first bypass pipe 167 is disposed at the intake pipe 166 so that the refrigerant can bypass the outdoor expansion valve 132. A check valve 133 is disposed at the first bypass pipe 167.
[0027] A check valve 133 is opened in the cooling mode so that the refrigerant can flow from the outdoor heat exchanger 140 to the plurality of the indoor unit IU. The check valve 133 shuts off the refrigerant in the heating mode.
5 [0052] The indoor expansion valve 131 is a device for throttling the refrigerant in the cooling mode. The degree of opening of the indoor expansion valve 131 is transmitted to the controller 190.