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 Objections
Claims 2-20 objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 2-20 all recite “A cryogenic cooling system”; however, they should recite “The cryogenic cooling system”. 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 3-5, 7, 14, 17-19 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.
Claim 3 recites “a first thermal coupling and said first lower cooling stage” and “a second thermal coupling and said second lower cooling stage” which are considered indefinite as claim 1 recites “at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator” and “at least thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator” and it is unclear if these are additional couplings or within the scope of the “at least one”. For the purpose of examination, these couplings of claim 3 are considered to be within the scope of the at least one couplings, but can also apply to other couplings as claimed.
Claim 5 recites “the second lower cooling stage is thermally separated from said support flange” which is considered indefinite. The way the claims are configured all of the stages of each cryocooler are ultimately thermally connected as the conduit connects between each refrigerator, so as such, it is unclear how they would be thermally separated. For the purpose of examination, this limitation is interpreted that there is not a direct thermal connect such that second lower cooling stage is cooling the support flange.
Claim 7 recites “at least one first earlier thermal coupling” which is considered indefinite. Claim 1 already requires “at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator” and as such it is unclear if the limitations of claim 7 are within the scope of those of claim 1 are additional couplings. For the purpose of examination, they are considered individual couplings.
Claim 12 recites “a fourth thermal coupling of said second conduit” which is considered indefinite.
Claim 17 recites “the second thermal coupling” which lacks antecedent basis in the claims. For the purpose of examination, there is considered to be a second thermal coupling present, which is ultimately the same as the second thermal coupling as the location where the first stream couples to the second conduit.
Claim 18 recites “of the at least two conduits” which is considered indefinite as claim 10 only requires two conduits. For the purpose of examination, the limitations of claim 18 are considered to apply to both conduits.
Claim 19 “said fourth thermal coupling” which lacks antecedent bass in the claims. For the purpose of examination, as long as a fourth heat exchanger is met, the limitation is considered met.
Claim 19 recites “said second thermal coupling” which lacks antecedent basis in the claims. For the purpose of examination, there is considered to be a second thermal coupling present, which is ultimately the same as the second thermal coupling as the location where the first stream couples to the second conduit.
Claim 4 is rejected as being dependent upon a rejected claim.
Claim Interpretation
With respect to claims 10-12, 15 the claims are understood such that while a first and second conduit are mentioned, they are not required to always be separate components but can exist after point in which the first conduit is separated or before they are reunited into a common flow path.
In claims 13 and 16 “continues” is not interpreted as a method step, but a structural recitation of how the conduit extends.
In claims 14 and 17 “continue” is not interpreted as a method step, but a structural recitation of how the conduit extends.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14-15, 17, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dong et al. (Experimental investigation and optimization of small-scale helium liquefaction with multi-cryocoolers March 2015), hereinafter referred to as Dong.
With respect to claim 1, Dong (Figures 1b, 3) teaches a cryogenic cooling system, comprising a vacuum enclosure (vacuum chamber 8, page 11), a first mechanical refrigerator that comprises a first upper cooling stage and a first lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said first upper cooling stage (GM cryocooler E, which has a 1st stage connected to 2 and a 2nd stage connected to 4, Figure 1, the second stage at 4.2K while the 1st stage is at 30 K, page 12, section 3), said first upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (all stages are withing the vacuum chamber as seen in the figure), a first conduit for passing a first stream of fluid cooling medium towards a working region within said vacuum enclosure (the flow path formed by the conduit seen in the figure, which passes to the LHe Pot 5, which stores the LHe and can be considered the working region), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (the conduit is coupled at the 1st stage cold flange heat exchanger 2 as seen in the photo), a second mechanical refrigerator that comprises a second upper cooling stage and a second lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said second upper cooling stage, said second upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (the cryocooler A, which has the same construction as e), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium further on its way towards said working regio (2nd stage cold flange heat exchanger 3 couples the conduit to A); wherein said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator is after said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator on the path of said first stream of fluid cooling medium (3 is after 2 on the flow path as seen in the figure).
With respect to claim 2, Dong teaches wherein: the cryogenic cooling system is configured to impose, during operation, a first total heat load on said first mechanical refrigerator and a second total heat load, smaller than said first total heat load, on said second mechanical refrigerator (as the conduit is not cooled by the first flange of A, the system can be considered to place a smaller heat load on A than E, because E is cooling the conduit in the first part as well as 3).
With respect to claim 3, Dong teaches comprising: a first thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region, and a second thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium further on its way towards said working region, which second thermal coupling is after said first thermal coupling on the path of said first stream of fluid cooling medium (the first cryocooler is considered E, it can also be considered the second cryocooler, such that the second stage of A is the first thermal coupling of the first lower stage, and the second cryocooler is E which has the second thermal coupling on the condenser 4 after the 3 of E).
With respect to claim 5, Dong teaches the cryogenic cooling system comprises a support flange for supporting components to be held at a temperature of the first lower cooling stage (the flange of the 2nd stage of the GM cryocooler, page 11, section 2, which connects to the condenser which is a component), the first lower cooling stage is thermally coupled to said support flange for absorbing heat from said support flange (the condenser 4 is coupled to the flange of the 2nd stage of cryocooler E), and the second lower cooling stage is thermally separate from said support flange (they are not directly connected, meeting the limitation as claimed).
With respect to claim 7, Dong teaches comprising at least one first earlier thermal coupling of said first conduit and respective one or more parts of the first mechanical refrigerator, for cooling said fluid cooling medium before it reaches said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator (this is what is described in claim 1, with heat exchanger 2 of E being before of A).
With respect to claim 8, Dong teaches wherein the first conduit comprises two or more branches for passing respective sub-streams of said first stream of fluid cooling medium towards said working region, each such branch being thermally coupled to at least one part of the first mechanical refrigerator (as seen in Figure 1b, the flow path of the conduit splits and passes separately to the cryocooler D and E, which flow paths are thermally connected back to 2 on E as the fluid originates from there and thus can be considered thermally coupled as such).
With respect to claim 9, Dong teaches comprising at least one first combiner for combining said sub-streams into a single first stream before said sub-streams reach the working region (it can be seen that the two streams reconverge before passing to 5, which convergence point can be considered a combiner).
Dong as interpreted with respect to claim 11, 15 and 17, 19-20:
With respect to claim 1, Dong (Figures 1b, 3) teaches a cryogenic cooling system, comprising a vacuum enclosure (vacuum chamber 8, page 11), a first mechanical refrigerator that comprises a first upper cooling stage and a first lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said first upper cooling stage (GM cryocooler E, which has a 1st stage connected to 2 and a 2nd stage connected to 4, Figure 1, the second stage at 4.2K while the 1st stage is at 30 K, page 12, section 3), said first upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (all stages are withing the vacuum chamber as seen in the figure), a first conduit for passing a first stream of fluid cooling medium towards a working region within said vacuum enclosure (the flow path formed by the conduit seen in the figure, which passes to the LHe Pot 5, which stores the LHe and can be considered the working region), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (the conduit is coupled at the 1st stage cold flange heat exchanger 2 as seen in the photo), a second mechanical refrigerator that comprises a second upper cooling stage and a second lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said second upper cooling stage, said second upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (the cryocooler C, which has the same construction as E), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium further on its way towards said working region (2nd stage flange heat exchanger on C); wherein said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator is after said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator on the path of said first stream of fluid cooling medium 3 is after 2 and would thermally connect 2 to 3 as fluid from 2 passes through 3).
With respect to claim 10, Dong teaches a second conduit for passing a second stream of fluid cooling medium towards said working region, and a third thermal coupling of said second conduit and said second lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (the initial stream upstream of the cryocoolers splits into D and E, and thus the one passing to D can be a second conduit with the first conduit forming at the split, and ultimately the fluid passes from 2 passes to 3, which means that the second conduit entering D is coupled to the second stage of C at 3).
With respect to claim 11, Dong teaches comprising at least one second earlier thermal coupling of said second conduit and respective one or more parts of the second mechanical refrigerator, for cooling said fluid cooling medium before it reaches said third thermal coupling (the initial coupling of the conduits to heat exchanger 2 of C, would be the second earlier thermal coupling).
With respect to claim 15, Dong teaches comprising: a third mechanical refrigerator that comprises a third upper cooling stage and a third lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said third upper cooling stage, said third upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (GM Cryocooler B), a third conduit for passing a third stream of fluid cooling medium towards said working region (a third conduit which would have a separate working fluid is formed when the stream split between heat exchangers 2 of D and E), a fifth thermal coupling of said third conduit and said third lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (second stage flange heat exchanger 3 of B), and a sixth thermal coupling of said third conduit and said second lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium further on its way towards said working region, which sixth thermal coupling is after said fifth thermal coupling on the path of said third stream of fluid cooling medium (the sixth thermal coupling is the same coupling as for the first conduit on the heat exchanger 3 of C).
With respect to claim 17, Dong teaches the cryogenic cooling system comprises a third combiner for combining said first stream and said third stream before the first stream reaches the second thermal coupling and before the third stream reaches the sixth thermal coupling (the two conduits recombine after 2 of D and E as seen in the figure, which joining point would be the combiner), and the first conduit and the third conduit continue from said third combiner as a common conduit to said second thermal coupling, so that said sixth thermal coupling is the same as said second thermal coupling (the combined streams ultimately pass to the heat exchanger 3 of C, which can be considered both the 2nd and 3rd coupling).
With respect to claim 19, Dong teaches wherein: the cryogenic cooling system comprises, mechanically connected to the second lower cooling stage, a fourth heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger (the heat exchangers 4 and 3 of the second stage of E and C respectively can be considered mechanically connected as the overcall conduit passes through both), said fourth heat exchanger is thermally separate from the second lower cooling stage and thermally coupled to the first lower cooling stage said second heat exchanger is thermally coupled to the second lower cooling stage and thermally separate from the first lower cooling stage (4 is cooled by E but not C, and 3 is cooled by C and not E), said fourth heat exchanger implements at least said fourth thermal coupling (4 can be considered the fourth thermal coupling), and said second heat exchanger implements at least said second thermal coupling and said third thermal coupling (the 2nd heat exchanger provides both the second and third coupling).
With respect to claim 20, Dong teaches wherein the cryogenic cooling system comprises, mechanically connected to the second lower cooling stage, a fourth heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger, and said second heat exchanger implements said sixth thermal coupling (all of the heat exchangers of the system can be said to be connected to each second lower cooling stage, as the conduit passes through each, with the heat exchanger 3 of C acting as the second heat exchanger, and any of the other heat exchangers 2 or 3 or 4 not already mentioned above, acting as a fourth heat exchanger).
Dong as interpreted with respect to claim 14:
With respect to claim 1, Dong (Figures 1b, 3) teaches a cryogenic cooling system, comprising a vacuum enclosure (vacuum chamber 8, page 11), a first mechanical refrigerator that comprises a first upper cooling stage and a first lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said first upper cooling stage (GM cryocooler C, which has a 1st stage connected to 2 and a 2nd stage connected to 3, Figure 1b, the second stage at 4.2K while the 1st stage is at 30 K, page 12, section 3), said first upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (all stages are withing the vacuum chamber as seen in the figure), a first conduit for passing a first stream of fluid cooling medium towards a working region within said vacuum enclosure (the flow path formed by the conduit seen in the figure, which passes to the LHe Pot 5, which stores the LHe and can be considered the working region), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (the conduit is coupled at the 1st stage cold flange heat exchanger 2 as seen in the photo), a second mechanical refrigerator that comprises a second upper cooling stage and a second lower cooling stage to be held, during operation, at a lower temperature than said second upper cooling stage, said second upper and lower cooling stages being located in said vacuum enclosure (the cryocooler C, which has the same construction as B), and at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator for cooling said fluid cooling medium further on its way towards said working region (second stage flange heat exchanger 3 of C); wherein said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said second mechanical refrigerator is after said at least one thermal coupling of said first conduit and said first mechanical refrigerator on the path of said first stream of fluid cooling medium (3 of C is after all heat exchangers of B).
With respect to claim 10, Dong teaches a second conduit for passing a second stream of fluid cooling medium towards said working region, and a third thermal coupling of said second conduit and said second lower cooling stage for cooling said fluid cooling medium on its way towards said working region (the initial stream in 1b into the system ultimately splits into 2 of D and E which would form the first conduit and the second conduit and the first and second stream of fluid, and both conduits are coupled to second stage flange heat exchanger of C as the fluid from them passes down in that way).
With respect to claim 12, Dong teaches comprising a fourth thermal coupling of said second conduit and said first lower cooling stage, which fourth thermal coupling is before said third thermal coupling on the path of said second stream of fluid cooling medium (the combined stream from D and E ultimately passes to the heat exchanger 3 of B, which would form the fourth thermal coupling, and is upstream of the third thermal coupling at 3 of C which is both a second and third thermal coupling because it cools both fluids from the first and second conduit).
With respect claim 14, Dong teaches the cryogenic cooling system comprises a second combiner for combining said first stream and said second stream before the first stream reaches the second thermal coupling and before the second stream reaches the third thermal coupling (after D and E, which is upstream of 3 on C, the two streams are joined, which joining point is the combiner), and the first conduit and the second conduit continue from said second combiner as a common conduit to said second thermal coupling, so that said third thermal coupling is the same as said second thermal coupling (the combined stream passes to 3 of C, which is both the second and third thermal coupling).
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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dong in every interpretation.
With respect to claim 4 Dong does not teach the cryogenic cooling system is configured to impose, during operation, a first heat load on said first lower cooling stage and a second heat load, smaller than said first heat load, on said second lower cooling stage.
However, as both streams are provided with a heat load there are only three possibilities for the relationship between the heat loads, one in which the first heat load is higher, one in which the first heat load is lower and one in which the head loads are the same. As such, as it is known that heat loads need to be applied to each of the second stages, choosing the specific heat loads to each cooling stage would have been obvious and thus it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have in Dong provided a higher heat load to the first lower cooling stage than the second lower cooling stage as it has been shown that choosing from a finite number of identified predictable solution is obvious whereby one having ordinary skill in the art would consider it obvious to determine the optimal heat load to apply to each stage of the cryocoolers to provide what would be common knowledge in the art of providing the necessary cooling with the most efficient operation of the cryocoolers.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dong in every interpretation and further in view of Matthews et al. (US PG Pub 20190383525), hereinafter referred to as Matthews.
With respect to claim 6, Dong teaches a radiation shield that surrounds said working region (radiation shield 7, page 11).
Dong does not teach the support flange is coupled to the radiation shield and that the radiational shield is to be held at a temperature of the first lower cooling stage and that surrounds said working region.
Matthews teaches that two radiation shields (40/41) can be provided inside a vacuum vessel with the inner radiation shield (41) being cooled directly by the second stage of the cryocooler (paragraph 51).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the at the time the invention was filed to have a second radiation shield cooled by the first lower cooling stage inside the outer radiation shield which surrounds the inner part of the vacuum vessel (which is where the working region would be) that is connected to the flange of the second stage of the first mechanical refrigerator since it has been shown that combining prior art elements to yield predictable results is obvious whereby using a second radiation shield would provide the predictable result that is common knowledge in the art even more prevention of undesirable heat ingress into vacuum vessel while also being able to cool the radiation shield. Further since it is obvious to specifically cool a radiation with a second shield, using one of the available second stages such as that of the first mechanical refrigerator would be obvious.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 16 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 13 requires that the second and third conduits are maintained separate from each other after the second conduit exchanges heat with the third thermal coupling. As claimed the third thermal coupling connected to the second lower cooling stage and is downstream of the first lower cooling stage coupling of the second conduit. As interpreted, this means that there is a separate and distinct conduit from the first conduit which passes from the first lower thermal stage to the second lower thermal stage with thermal couplings at both locations. While Dong does show multiple thermal couplings where a single conduit splits into multiple individual conduits, which meets limitations of other claims, Dong does not teach the passage of a single conduit between multiple thermal couplings. Narasaki (EP3477225A1) teaches the use of multiple cryocoolers to provide cooling at stages to a single conduit that is passing through a system, but provides no teaching of multiple conduits being cooled. Kim (US PG Pub 20190242644) (Figure 3) provides a single stream being separated into multiple conduits being cooled independently by GM cryocoolers and then passed to a working area independently; however, there is no single conduit that is cooled by both cryocoolers as required by claim 1. Ikeya (US PG Pub 20230046818 provides a teaching of using multiple cryocoolers together (Figure 1) but lacks a teaching of the conduit structure requires in claim 1. Claim 16 provides a similar configuration to that of claim 13, but with a third conduit and an additional heat exchanger, but and is allowable for the same reason as the limitations of claim 13.
Claim 18 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.
Claim 18 requires that the individual conduits each form at least two branches separate from each other, which would require for four total branches originating as two conduits.
With respect to claim 18, Dong teaches of the at least two conduits, two or more comprise respective two or more branches for passing respective sub-streams of the respective stream of fluid cooling medium towards said working region, each such branch being thermally coupled to at least one part of the respective mechanical refrigerator. While Dong, Figure 7 shows configurations where multiple branches are formed beyond just two, and shows in Figure 1 where a single stream can be branched into a multitude of streams, there is no showing of having multiple individual conduits each branching into separate branches as claimed. The references above of Narasaki, Kim and Ikeya also do not teach providing the branched configuration as claimed.
Conclusion
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/BRIAN M KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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