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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10, 14, 16-18 and 21-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lv (US PGPub No. 2016/0061531).
Regarding claim 1, Lv discloses a two-phase heat exchanger (a heat exchanger shown in Figs. 9-12), through which a flow path (a flow into an inlet 1) of a temperature control medium (two phase refrigerant) leads (leads into the heat exchanger in Figs. 9 and 10), the two-phase heat exchanger comprising:
at least one inlet collector (a cylindrical inlet collector formed by aligned openings 61, 71 and 81 of plates 6-8 receiving refrigerant from the inlet 1, see Figs. 3, 4, 10 and 11) and at least one outlet collector (a cylindrical outlet collector formed by aligned openings 62, 72 and 82 of plates 6-8 discharging refrigerant to an outlet 2, see Figs. 3, 4, 10 and 11), which are arranged spaced apart with respect to one another in a first direction (the inlet and outlet collectors are spaced apart in horizontal direction of Fig. 10),
a matrix (channels within a herringbone and corrugated structure of the stacked plates 6-8, Figs. 3, 4, 10 and 11) arranged between the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector (between the cylindrical inlet and outlet collectors) and fluidically connected to the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector (the herringbone and corrugated structure receives the refrigerant from the inlet collector and direct the refrigerant to the outlet collector),
wherein the at least one inlet collector has an inlet collector opening (an opening on top end of the inlet collector, Fig. 10) for letting in the temperature control medium into the heat exchanger, and the at least one outlet collector has an outlet collector opening (an opening on bottom end of the outlet collector, Fig. 10) for letting out the temperature control medium out from the heat exchanger, so that the flow path leads through the inlet collector opening into the at least one inlet collector, from the at least one inlet collector through the matrix from the matrix into the at least one outlet collector and through the at least one outlet collector opening out from the at least one outlet collector (the refrigerant flows sequentially from inlet 1, the top opening of the inlet collector, the inlet collector itself, the herringbone and corrugated structure, the outlet collector itself, the bottom opening of the outlet collector, and finally to outlet 2),
wherein in at least one of the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector (the inlet collector), at least one aperture (a first orifice 81) is arranged, which is spaced apart with respect to the associated collector opening in a second direction running transversely to the first direction (the first orifice 81 is spaced apart from the top opening of the inlet collector in vertical direction of Fig. 10 transverse to the horizontal direction), and
wherein the at least one aperture has aperture openings (the first orifice 81 may consist of many small holes, paragraph 0056) which are open in the second direction (the small holes of the orifice 81 open in the vertical direction) and through which the flow path leads (the refrigerant flow through the holes), and
wherein the at least one of the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector has a collector height along the second direction (height “D” in Fig. 10), the collector height extending in the second direction from the associated collector opening to an opposite end of the at least one associated collector (the inlet collector has the height “D” in the vertical direction between upper and lower ends of the inlet collector),
wherein the at least one aperture is arranged in the second direction at a center of the collector height in the at least one associated collector (Paragraph 0055 discloses first heat exchanging unit N includes n1 first flow passages and the second heat exchanging unit M includes n2 first flow passages, and 0.3<=n1/n2<=3. The range includes the ratio of n1/n2 = 1 which means that the first orifice 81 is at a center of the height “D” in the inlet collector), and
further including consecutive stacked plates (the consecutively stacked plates 6-8) arranged in the second direction (stacked in the vertical direction of Fig. 10), the consecutive stacked plates having aligned openings (61, 71, 81; and 62, 72, 82, Figs. 3, 4, 10 and 11) that together define the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector as integral chambers (the aligned openings 61, 71, 81; and the aligned openings 62, 72, 82 of the plates 6-8 respectively define the cylindrical inlet and outlet collectors and both are integral chamber of the heat exchanger) and wherein the consecutive stacked plates comprise a channel arrangement (individual channel between adjacent plates 6 and 7) that defines the matrix (the individual channel defines the collective channels of the herringbone and corrugated structure) between the at least one inlet collector and the at least one outlet collector (horizontally between the inlet and outlet collectors in Fig. 10), so that the heat exchanger is configured as a plate heat exchanger (the heat exchanger of Lv is a plate heat exchanger).
Regarding claim 3, Lv in claim 1 further discloses wherein the at least one aperture (81) is arranged exclusively in the at least one inlet collector (the first orifice 81 is exclusively provided in the inlet collector).
Regarding claim 4, Lv in claim 3 further discloses wherein at least one further aperture is arranged in an inlet region of the at least one inlet collector (the first orifice 81 is provided in an inlet or upper region of the inlet collector receiving the refrigerant from the inlet 1).
Regarding claim 5, Lv in claim 1 further discloses wherein at least one of the inlet collector opening and the outlet collector opening is open in the second direction (the first orifice 81 has a width and is open in the horizontal direction).
Regarding claim 6, Lv in claim 1 further discloses wherein the at least one aperture (81) comprises between one and four such apertures are arranged (one first orifice 81 is arranged).
Regarding claim 7, Lv in claim 6 further discloses wherein at least one collector comprises a single such aperture is arranged (the one first orifice 81 is a single aperture).
Regarding claim 10, Lv further discloses wherein: the at least one of the inlet collector and outlet collector has a collector through-flow cross-section along the first direction (average area S of the openings 61 and 71 along the horizontal direction of the inlet collector, see Figs. 3, 4 and 11 and paragraphs 0052 and 0054),
the at least one aperture (81) arranged has an aperture through-flow cross-section along the first direction (area S3 of the first orifice 81 extending along the horizontal direction) which corresponds to the sum of the cross-sections of the aperture openings (area S3 of the first orifice 81 extending along the horizontal direction, and when the orifice 81 has many holes as described in paragraph 0056, the area S3 corresponds to the sum of the holes in orifice 81), and
the aperture through-flow cross-section corresponds to between 8 % and 31 % of the collector through-flow cross-section of the associated collector (the ratio of area S3 and average area S has a range of 0.05<=S3/S<=0.3, see paragraph 0052. The ratio may be 0.3 or 30%, which falls within the range as claimed).
Regarding claim 14, Lv discloses a system (Fig. 9), comprising:
a cooling circuit (a two phase refrigerant circuit between inlet 1 and outlet 2), in which a temperature control medium circulates (the two phase refrigerant), and
a two-phase heat exchanger (a heat exchanger shown in Figs. 9-12) is incorporated in the cooling circuit (within the two phase refrigerant circuit between inlet 1 and outlet 2).
For the limitations of “the two-phase heat exchanger” in claim 14, please see items 1-9 of claim 1 above.
Lv further discloses wherein the temperature control medium flows in a liquid phase through the inlet collector opening into the two-phase heat exchanger (the two phase refrigerant includes a liquid phase flowing into the inflow collector, as evident in paragraph 0052 where a gas-liquid two phase refrigerant is flowing in the first orifice 81).
Regarding claims 16-18, please see the rejection of claims 3-5 above.
Regarding claim 21, please see items 1-6 and 9 of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 22, please see items 7 and 8 of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 23, Lv in claim 14 further discloses the heat exchanger is configured as an indirect heat exchanger (the heat exchanger in Fig. 9 is an indirect heat exchanger between the refrigerant and a cooling liquid flowing between inlet 3 and outlet 4), and wherein the matrix comprises channels (second flow passages in the corrugated structure) through which a further fluid (the cooling fluid) flows in a fluidically separated manner from the temperature control medium (the second flow passages having the cooling fluid is not in communication with first flow passages having the refrigerant, paragraph 0034), such that the temperature control medium and the further fluid transfer heat in the matrix (the cooling fluid and the refrigerant performs heat exchange in the corrugated structure between the inlet and outlet collectors).
Regarding claim 24, Lv in claim 1 further discloses wherein the inlet collector opening and the outlet collector opening are open facing away from one another (the top opening of the inlet collector is facing up, while the bottom opening of the outlet collector is facing down), and wherein a connection piece adjoins each of the inlet collector opening and the outlet collector opening (pipe body of the inlet 1 joins the top opening; and pipe body of the outlet 2 joins the bottom opening).
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) 8, 9 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lv (US PGPub No. 2016/0061531) in view of Adachi ‘463 (JP 2015-108463 A).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Lv fails to disclose wherein the aperture openings of the at least one aperture have at least four aperture openings.
Regarding claim 9, Lv fails to disclose wherein the at least one aperture has between four and twenty three aperture openings.
Adachi ‘463 (Fig. 6b) discloses wherein the at least one aperture has at least four aperture openings / between four and twenty three aperture openings (9 aperture openings).
Lv, as noted in claim 1 above, discloses the orifice 81 has many holes as described in paragraph 0056.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein the at least one aperture has at least four aperture openings / between four and twenty three aperture openings in Adachi as taught by Adachi ‘463 in order to move the refrigerant evenly across the cross section of the header pipe 1 (paragraph 0030 of the translation of Adachi ‘463).
Claim(s) 11 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lv (US PGPub No. 2016/0061531) in view of Honda (JP 2005-140374 A).
Regarding claims 11 and 20, Lv discloses diameter range D3 of the first orifice 81 in paragraph 0056, and the single hole area in the first orifice 81 can be calculated. However, Lv fails to explicitly disclose the area (or cross-section as claimed) of at least one of the many holes in the first orifice 81 as described in paragraph 0056. As a result, Lv fails to disclose wherein at least one of the aperture openings has a cross-section of between 2 mm^2 and 4 mm^2 as claimed.
Honda discloses that a ratio of a hole diameter d to a height H2 of an orifice plate 137 has an effect of pressure drop ΔP and temperature difference ΔT, according to paragraphs 0052-0054 of the translation and Fig. 12. Therefore, the claimed range of the cross-section of the aperture openings is result effective, since the effect of pressure drop ΔP and temperature difference ΔT is directly dependent on the size of single hole, or each hole of plurality of holes of the orifice plate. Therefore, specifying the area range in the claim is not novel. One of ordinary skill in the art would perform routine optimization of the area of the aperture opening (or at least one hole of the first orifice 81 in Lv) including the claimed range in order for proper pressure loss and temperature difference.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein at least one of the aperture openings has a cross-section of between 2 mm^2 and 4 mm^2 in Lv as taught by Honda through routine optimization to obtain optimum pressure loss and temperature difference in the heat exchanger.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 14 and 21 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 (the new reference, Lv, US PGPub No. 2016/0061531).
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.
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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