DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to applicant’s amendment received on 06/09/2026. The finality of the Office Action mailed 03/19/2026, 2016 is withdrawn. The following new grounds of rejection below are formulated. Since this new rejection did not result from a newly added limitation to the independent claim, this Office Action is being made non-final to afford the applicant the opportunity to respond to the grounds of rejection.
Claims 1-10 and 19-20 are pending. Claims 11-18 are cancelled.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because it is unclear how the shell cooling water from the cooling tower 40 enters heat exchanger 38 through conduit 89 via inlet 41 and returns to the cooling tower 40 via conduit 87 though outlet 42, as presented in the drawings and specification amendments of 06/09/2026. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph 0056 was amended to indicate that the shell cooling water from the cooling tower 40 enters heat exchanger 38 through conduit 89 via inlet 41 and returns to the cooling tower 40 via conduit 87 though outlet 42. It is unclear how cooling water from the cooling water 40 can enter heat exchanger 38 through conduit 89 since the drawings were also amended to indicate that conduit 89 is a conduit carrying cooling fluid from condenser 70, not from the cooling tower 40. Similarly, it is unclear how cooling water returns to the cooling water 40 via conduit 87 since the drawings were also amended to indicate that conduit 87 is a conduit carrying cooling fluid to the condenser 70, not to the cooling tower 40. Further, the drawings clearly depict that inlet 41 is not directly connected to newly depicted conduit 89 and that outlet 42 is not directly connected to newly depicted conduit 87.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 20, “a condenser for contacting vapor from vaporized thermal transfer fluid such that vapor from vaporized thermal transfer fluid that contacts the condenser during…” should read --a condenser for contacting vapor from vaporized thermal transfer fluid that contacts the condenser during…--.
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.
Claims 1-10 and 19-20 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, it is unclear if the “a first single-phase immersion cooling mode” of line 6, and the “a second two-phase immersion cooling mode” of lines 7-8 are the same as the respective ones of lines 1-2.
For the purpose of this examination, the claim has been interpreted to mean, in lines 6 and 7-8:
--the first single-phase immersion cooling mode--, and
--the second two-phase immersion cooling mode--, respectively.
Regarding claim 5, it is unclear how the first conduit (34) contacts one or more second conduits (87, 89) (per remarks and drawings amendment of 06/09/2026). Is it thermal contact? Or physical contact? Although in the remarks of 06/09/2026, Applicant indicates that the one or more second conduits recited in claim 5 structurally corresponds to the secondary, shell-side cooling water circuit within the heat exchanger 38 (emphasis added) in the amended drawings the conduits 87, 89 appear to be the same as conduits 73, 77 of the condenser (70) loop.
Regarding claim 6, it is unclear if the “one or more second conduits” of line 3 is the same as the “one or more second conduits” of lines 2-3 of claim 5.
also regarding claim 6, it is unclear how the cooled thermal transfer fluid (20) can be returned to the container (12) via the one or more second conduits (87, 89) since, according to the amendment to the drawings and the remarks of 06/09/2026, the one or more second conduits (87, 89) are associated with conduits (72) and (77) connected to condenser (70).
specification and the remarks of 06/09/2026. According to the instant specification and the drawings, the cooled thermal transfer fluid (200 is returned to the container (12) via fluid conduit (48).
Regarding claims 2-4, 7-10 and 19-20, the claims are rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103:
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.
Claims 1-5 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell et al. (US 2015/0109735, herein “Campbell”) in view of Lau (US 2023/0062164).
Regarding claim 1, Campbell discloses:
a multimode immersion cooling system (figs. 5A-B and 6D) for a first, single-phase immersion cooling mode and a second, two-phase immersion cooling mode [par. 0042] comprising:
a fluid-retaining container (510/515) having space for accommodating an electronic device (505) (fig. 5A) [par. 0050-0051];
a single thermal transfer fluid (520) positioned in the container (510/515) such that the electronic device (505) is at least partially in contact with the thermal transfer fluid (520) (fig. 5A), the thermal transfer fluid (520) remaining in a liquid phase in a first single-phase immersion cooling mode and vaporizing when the thermal transfer fluid (520) temperature reaches its boiling point in a second two-phase immersion cooling mode (fig. 5A) [par. 0053];
a first single-phase mode heat removal sub-system (512-601’-613-620-610-611-612-601’-511) communicating (at 512 and 511) with the fluid-retaining container (510/515) (figs. 5A and 6D), the first single-phase mode heat removal sub-system (512-601’-613-620-610-611-612-601’-511) including:
fluid-removal conduits (601’, 613) communicating (at 512) with the fluid-retaining container (510/515) to remove heated thermal transfer fluid (520) from the thermal transfer fluid (520) positioned in the fluid-retaining container (510/515) during the first single-phase immersion cooling mode (figs. 5A and 6D) [par. 0062];
a heat exchanger (620) for extracting thermal energy from the heated thermal transfer fluid (520) to form cooled thermal transfer fluid (520) (figs. 5A and 6D) [par. 0062];
one or more pumps (610) and fluid-returning conduits (611, 612, 601’) communicating (at 511) with the fluid-retaining container (510/515) to return the cooled thermal transfer fluid (520) to the fluid-retaining container (510/515) (figs. 5A and 6D) [par. 0062];
a second two-phase mode heat-removal sub-system (532-530-533-350-360) communicating (at 532 and 533) with the fluid-retaining container (510/515) (figs. 5A-5B) including:
a condenser (530) for contacting vapor from vaporized thermal transfer fluid (520) that contacts the condenser (530) during the second, two-phase immersion cooling mode (fig. 5A) [par. 0053];
Campbell does not disclose:
one or more pumps associated with the fluid-removal conduits (601’, 613), and
a controller for determining the multimode immersion cooling system operating mode.
The arrangement of fluid pumps along the fluid-removal conduits, in addition to existing fluid pumps arranged along the fluid-returning conduits is considered to be an obvious design choice, wherein one of skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would design the fluid-removal conduit loop incorporating a fluid pump to optimize uniform flow of the thermal transfer fluid in the circuit or for redundancy.
Although Campbell does not specifically disclose a controller, Campbell discloses operations of the cooling system that suggest the presence of an undisclosed controller (see, for instance, par. 0053, “in a single-phase dielectric embodiment…”, “while in a two-phase embodiment…”). It would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art to incorporate a controller for determining the multimode immersion cooling system to operate in the first single-phase mode or in the second two-phased mode since a system like Campbell’s is designed and operates according to the working power consumption of the electronic device and/or cooling demand of the electronic devices. Further, Immersion cooling systems comprising controllers that switch between single-phase and two-phase cooling are old and known in the art, as taught by Lau [par. 0012].
Regarding claim 2, Campbell discloses:
the controller circulating a cooling fluid to the condenser (530) during the second two-phase mode [par. 0053, as it applies to par. 0038].
Regarding claim 3, Campbell discloses:
the first heat removal sub-system (512-601’-613-620-610-611-612-601’-511) including a first conduit (601’ plus 613) (fig. 6D) for transporting heated thermal transfer fluid (520) from the fluid-retaining container (510/515) (figs. 5A and 6D) [par. 0062].
Regarding claim 4, Campbell discloses:
the first heat removal sub-system (512-613-620-610-611-612-601’-511) including a pump (as it applies to claim 1, above) for transporting the heated thermal transfer fluid (520) in the first conduit (601’ plus 613).
Regarding claim 5, Campbell discloses, as best understood:
the first circuit (601’ plus 613) contacting (thermally) (at heat exchanger 620) one or more second conduits (340’, 341’) (fig. 6D) having one or more cooling fluid circulating through the one or more conduits (340’, 341’) [par. 0062].
Regarding claims 6-7, the claims have not been addressed in this Office Action based on the 112(b) rejections, and the drawings and specification objections, above.
Regarding claim 8, Campbell discloses:
the condenser (530) of the second heat removal sub-system (532-530-533-350-360) including conduits (531) positioned in the fluid-retaining container (510/515) (fig. 5A), the conduits (531) having cooling fluid circulating therethrough [par. 0052] but does not disclose the conduits being in the form of coils.
the Examiner takes Official Notice of condensers comprising coils, tubes or conduits and the selection of any of these known cooling elements as thermal transfer elements of the condenser would be within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 9, Campbell discloses:
the circulating cooling fluid [par. 0052] extracting heat from the thermal transfer fluid (520) vapor to condense the thermal transfer fluid (520) [par. 0052].
Regarding claim 10, Campbell discloses:
the circulating cooling fluid [par. 0052] transferring the extracted heat from the thermal transfer fluid (520) to the atmosphere by a cooler (214) (seen in fig. 2) (it is noted, supply manifold 350 and return manifold 360 of fig. 5B are equivalent to supply manifold 250 and return manifold 260, of fig. 2), but does not disclose a cooling tower. However, Campbell’s cooler (214) is a water-based cooler [par. 0027] (just as in the instant specification PG Pub par. 0050).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 102(a)(1) rejection of claim 1 have been fully considered and found persuasive. New grounds of rejection are presented above.
Applicant arguments and amendments to the drawings and specification resulted in new indefinite rejections presented above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA whose telephone number is (571)272-6018. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GUSTAVO A HINCAPIE SERNA/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/JENNA M MARONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
Prosecution Insights