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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-16, drawn to a fuel cell system comprising a stack of fuel cells in the reply filed on May 22nd, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 17-24 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method of operating a fuel cell system comprising a stack of fuel cells, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May 22nd, 2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: The Examiner believes the claim should be amended to recite “a first power module”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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 5-7, 13 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 5, there is insufficient antecedent basis for the recitation of “the humidified anode exhaust” and the “the anode exhaust” in the instant claim. For the purposes of examination, the recitation of the anode exhaust is presumed to refer to the anode exhaust output of the instant claim and the recitation of the humidified anode exhaust is presumed to refer to the anode exhaust output in the anode exhaust line which has been injected with water by the fuel humidifier. Appropriate correction is required.
Regarding claims 6-7, they are rejected based on their dependence on a previously rejected claim.
Regarding claim 13, the instant claim recites “a nickel mesh current collector free area around the fuel inlet hole is larger than a current collector free area around the fuel outlet hole.” It is unclear to the Examiner if “a current collector free area around the fuel outlet hole” is referring to a current collector that is different from the previously recited nickel mesh current collector. For the purposes of Examination, “a current collector free area around the fuel outlet hole” is presumed to refer to an area of the nickel mesh current collector around the cutout of the fuel outlet hole and “a nickel mesh current collector free area around the fuel inlet hole” is presumed to refer to an area of the nickel mesh current collector around the cutout of the fuel inlet hole. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Edmonston (Korean Patent Publication No. 20220034160) (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021020967 A1 relied upon for translation).
Regarding claim 1, Edmonston teaches a fuel cell system, comprising:
a stack of fuel cells (Abstract);
a fuel supply line (fuel conduit) (Figure 1A, Elements 300A, 300B, 300C, 300D);
and a fuel humidifier (steam generator) (Figure 1A, Element 160) (Paragraph 0025).
The limitation of “a fuel supply line configured to provide an ammonia stream” defines the fuel supply line by what it does, rather than what it is. This is a functional limitation, and therefore was evaluated in conjunction with the remainder of the instant claim See MPEP 2173.05(g).
Edmonston teaches the claimed structure as stated in the above rejection, particularly a conduit supplying fuel in the fuel cell system and therefore would be capable of supplying ammonia as fuel in the manner claimed.
The limitation of “a fuel humidifier configured to humidify the ammonia stream such that a water content of the ammonia stream provided to the stack ranges from about 30% to about 80% by volume” defines the fuel supply line by what it does, rather than what it is. This is a functional limitation, and therefore was evaluated in conjunction with the remainder of the instant claim See MPEP 2173.05(g).
Edmonston teaches the claimed structure as stated in the above rejection, particularly a water tank and steam generator that may be provided to the fuel inlet stream in the fuel cell system and therefore would be capable of humidifying an ammonia fuel in the manner claimed.
Regarding claim 8, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1, further comprising:
an anode exhaust line (Figure 1A, Elements 308A, 308B, 308C, 308D, 308E) configured to receive an anode exhaust output from the stack (an anode recuperator heat exchanger configured to receive an anode exhaust from the fuel cell stack via anode exhaust line conduit 308A) (Paragraph 0007); and
a cathode exhaust line (Figure 1A, Elements 304A, 304B, 304C) configured to receive a cathode exhaust output from the stack (Paragraph 0007).
Regarding claim 9, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 8, wherein: the fuel humidifier comprises a steam generator (Figure 1A, Element 160) configured to generate steam by extracting heat from the cathode exhaust in the cathode exhaust line (cathode exhaust conduit 304C) (Paragraph 0024).
The instant disclosure provides that the fuel supply line includes fuel conduits 302A, 302B, and 302C. As seen in Figure 3 of the instant drawings, the steam generator (Element 162) has an outlet stream 164 which provides steam to the mixer (Element 180) which mixes the steam with the entering ammonia from fuel supply line conduit 302A. Therefore, the stream generator being fluidly connected to the fuel supply line is interpreted consistent with the instant disclosure and is considered by the Examiner to be met if the mixer of the fuel cell system receives both steam from the steam generator and fuel from the fuel supply line. As the mixer (Figure 1A, Element 210) of Edmonston receives both steam from the steam generator (via conduit 306B) and fuel from the fuel supply line (via conduit 300B), the steam generator of Edmonston is considered to be fluidly connected to the fuel supply line, meeting the instant claimed limitations.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston (Korean Patent Publication No. 20220034160) (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021020967 A1 relied upon for translation), further in view of Ogoshi (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010238369 A1) and Ancimer (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20220416268 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Edmonston teaches a fuel cell system, comprising:
a stack of fuel cells (Abstract);
a fuel supply line (fuel conduit) (Figure 1A, Elements 300A, 300B, 300C, 300D);
and a fuel humidifier (steam generator) (Figure 1A, Element 160) (Paragraph 0025).
If Edmonston is found not to teach the required structure to meet the claimed limitations of “a fuel supply line configured to provide an ammonia stream” and “a fuel humidifier configured to humidify the ammonia stream such that a water content of the ammonia stream provided to the stack ranges from about 30% to about 80% by volume”, as described above, an alternative rejection is presented in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer.
Edmonston teaches that the fuel of the fuel cell system of the disclosure may implement a hydrocarbon fuel, such as natural gas (Paragraph 0028).
Ogoshi discloses that when hydrocarbons are used as fuel for fuel cells, greenhouse gases are inevitably generated which is burdensome for environmental reasons (Paragraph 0009). Ogoshi teaches ammonia as a suitable alternative for hydrocarbon fuel for a fuel cell, owning to its lack of emission of greenhouse gases and excellent storage/handling properties (Paragraph 0010).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the hydrocarbon fuel of the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Ogoshi in which hydrocarbon is replaced with ammonia. Doing so would reduce environmental burden by curbing greenhouse gas emission and advantageously result in excellent storage and handling characteristics of the ammonia fuel, as recognized by Ogoshi.
Edmonston is silent as to the ammonia stream is humidified such that a water content of the ammonia stream provided to the stack ranges from about 30% to about 80% by volume.
However, in the fuel cell system of Ogoshi described above, Ogoshi describes how ammonia is desirably humidified to prevent an increase in resistance due to drying of the anion exchange membrane, preferably at a relative humidity of 30 to 100% relative humidity (RH) (Paragraph 0010).
Further, Ancimer discloses a fuel cell stack (Paragraph 0002) in which the relative humidity of a fuel inlet stream is controlled, as the water content of such a stream impacts the health and performance of the fuel cell. Ancimer teaches that low inlet humidity may lead to a drier membrane electrode assembly, resulting in reduced performance or permanent damage. Ancimer teaches that high humidity levels can lead to flooding within the fuel cells, which can induce local starvation and/or other effects that may reduce fuel cell performance and/or damage the membrane electrode assembly. Ancimer teaches that for a fuel cell system, there is an optimal inlet relative humidity range such that the fuel cell performance is improved and membrane electrode assembly degradation rate is minimized (Paragraph 0038).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the relative humidity of the fuel inlet stream of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Ogoshi and Ancimer in which the relative humidity lies within the aforementioned range in order to prevent increased resistance and improve performance, as recognized by Ogoshi and Ancimer.
As discussed above, Ancimer discloses the effect of the water content of an inlet stream to a fuel cell stack on the health and performance of the fuel cell, particularly the desire to strike a balance between having a sufficiently high relative humidity to prevent dryout and permanent damage of the fuel cells and and too large of relative humidity that undesirably floods the fuel cells and reduced performances.
Absent unexpected results, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the water content of the ammonia stream (by adjusting the relative humidity of the inlet ammonia stream) provided to the stack of fuel cells in the fuel cell system to be between 30 vol% to 80 vol%, since it has been held that where general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05. By adjusting the relative humidity of the ammonia in the fuel supply line, it follows that the water content (volume%) would also be adjusted and could be optimized.
In the present invention, one would have been motivated to optimize the relative humidity of the ammonia stream so that the volume percent of water in the fuel supply line provided to the cell stack to be within the claimed ranges of the instant claim in order to achieve the desired fuel cell performance.
Regarding claim 2, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1.
Edmonston is silent as to wherein the water content of the ammonia stream provided to the stack ranges from about 40% to about 60%, by volume.
However, as described above in the rejection of claim 1, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the relative humidity of the fuel inlet stream of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Ogoshi and Ancimer in which the relative humidity lies within the aforementioned range in order to prevent increased resistance and improve performance, as recognized by Ogoshi and Ancimer.
As discussed above, Ancimer discloses the effect of the water content of an inlet stream to a fuel cell stack on the health and performance of the fuel cell, particularly the desire to strike a balance between having a sufficiently high relative humidity to prevent dryout and permanent damage of the fuel cells and and too large of relative humidity that undesirably floods the fuel cells and reduced performances.
Absent unexpected results, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the water content of the ammonia stream (by adjusting the relative humidity of the inlet ammonia stream) provided to the stack of fuel cells in the fuel cell system to be between 40 vol% to 60 vol%, since it has been held that where general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05. By adjusting the relative humidity of the ammonia in the fuel supply line, it follows that the water content (volume%) would also be adjusted and could be optimized.
In the present invention, one would have been motivated to optimize the relative humidity of the ammonia stream so that the volume percent of water in the fuel supply line provided to the cell stack to be within the claimed ranges of the instant claim in order to achieve the desired fuel cell performance
Regarding claim 3, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1.
Edmonston teaches a fuel source (Figure 1A, Element 300), and as described above, Edmonston in view of Ogoshi teaches this fuel source is suitably ammonia.
As the conduit 300A (part of fuel supply line, described above) is an outlet streams of the fuel source, the fuel supply line is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to the fuel source, meeting the instant claimed limitation
As discussed above in the rejection of claim 1, Edmonston in view of Ogoshi teaches ammonia as a fuel source for a fuel cell stack in order to reduce environmental burden.
Modified Edmonston is silent as to the ammonia fuel source being anhydrous.
In the teachings of Ogoshi related to ammonia fuel sources, Ogoshi teaches the ammonia fuel may be supplied as a gas which is humidified upon entry to the fuel cell stack. This teaching is embodied by Edmonston, who exemplifies how the inlet fuel is humidified upon reaching the mixer, where the fuel is mixer with steam from the steam generator (Figure 1A).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinary artisan to provide the ammonia fuel source of Edmonston of Ogoshi as an anhydrous ammonia source in light of the teachings of Edmonston in which the fuel is humidified downstream of the fuel source and Ogoshi in which the ammonia fuel is gaseous ammonia which is later humidified. Further, the ordinary artisan would recognize only two options for the state of the ammonia source – either hydrous or anhydrous – and would have further found it obvious to select anhydrous ammonia from the finite list (2, described above) of possible ammonia sources for fuel of the fuel cell system to arrive at the instant claim since the combination of components would have yielded predictable results as a fuel source of a fuel cell stack, absent a showing of unexpected results commensurate in scope with the claimed invention. See Section 2143 of the MPEP, rationales (A) and (E).
Regarding claim 5, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1, further comprising:
a mixer (Figure 1A, Element 210)
As conduits 300B (part of the fuel supply line, discussed above) is an entry stream to the mixer and conduit 300C (part of fuel supply line, discussed above) is an exit steam from the mixer, the mixer of Edmonston is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to the fuel supply line (Figure 1A, Element 300A, 300B, 300C, 300D), meeting the instant claimed limitations.
Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system comprising an anode exhaust line (Figure 1A, Elements 308A, 308B, 308C, 308D, 308E) configured to provide an anode exhaust output from the stack to the mixer, as seen in the annotated Figure below.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
In the embodiment of Edmonston represented by Figure 1A, Edmonston is silent as to the fuel humidifier comprises a water injector fluidly connected to the anode exhaust line and configured to inject water into the anode exhaust flowing through the anode exhaust line.
However, Edmonston teaches an embodiment in which the water may be injected into the conduit 308C and/or 308E (both conduits of the anode exhaust line, as described above) for the purposes of lowering open circuit voltage (Paragraph 0035).
At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected and combined the embodiments taught by Edmonston in which the fuel cell system of Figure 1A also incorporates the teachings of Edmonston described above, where water is injected into conduit 308C. The modification would have been a combination of prior art elements, that a person of ordinary skill in the art would perform with no inventive effort required. The ordinary artisan would recognize that such a modification to inject water into the aforementioned conduit could be obtained by a water injector, for example, and that in order to inject water into the conduit, the water injector would necessarily be fluidly connected to the anode exhaust line. Furthermore, the resulting water injection would yield predictable results in the fuel cell system, such as desirably providing lower open circuit voltage as recognized by Edmonston. See MPEP 2143(I)(A).
The resulting fuel cell system teaches the mixer is configured to mix the humidified anode exhaust with the ammonia stream, as described in the annotated Figure below.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
Regarding claim 6, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 5, further comprising:
an anode recuperator heat exchanger (Figure 1A, Element 110) disposed on the anode exhaust line (conduit 308A of exhaust line entering, conduit 308B of exhaust line exiting) and the fuel supply line (conduit 300C of fuel supply line entering, conduit 300D of fuel supply line exiting); and
an anode exhaust cooler heat exchanger (Figure 1A, Element 140) disposed on the anode exhaust line (conduit 308C of exhaust line entering, conduit 308E of exhaust line existing)
As described above in the combination of embodiments disclosed by Edmonston, the ordinary artisan would have found it obvious to select and combine the embodiments taught by Edmonston in which the fuel cell system of Figure 1A also incorporates the teachings where water is injected into conduit 308C for the purposes of lowering open circuit voltage. As conduit 308C of the fuel cell system of Edmonston is the entering stream to the anode exhaust cooler heat exchanger (Figure 1A, Element 140), the water injector of the aforementioned modification is disposed upstream of the anode exhaust cooler heat exchanger with respect to a flow direction of the anode exhaust through the anode exhaust line, meeting the instant claimed limitations.
As shown in the annotated figure below, the water injector is disposed downstream of the anode recuperator heat exchanger with respect to a flow direction of the anode exhaust through the anode exhaust line.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
Regarding claim 7, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 6, further comprising a catalyst disposed in the anode recuperator heat exchanger (Paragraph 0021).
Edmonston teaches the catalyst represented by Element 116 of Figure 1A is a reforming catalyst located in the anode recuperator heat exchanger (Element 110) (Paragraph 0040).
As described above, Edmonston in view of Ogoshi taught the fuel of the fuel cell system is ammonia. The ordinary artisan would recognize that when the reforming catalyst reforms an ammonia fuel stream, the products are hydrogen and nitrogen, as these are products of the reforming of ammonia that are well known in the art.
Therefore, Edmonston teaches the instant claimed limitation of a decomposition catalyst disposed in the anode recuperator heat exchanger and configured to decompose at least a portion of the ammonia in the ammonia stream into hydrogen and nitrogen.
Additionally, the limitation of “a decomposition catalyst…configured to decompose at least a portion of ammonia in the ammonia stream into hydrogen and nitrogen” defines the decomposition catalyst by what it does, rather than what it is. This is a functional limitation, and therefore was evaluated in conjunction with the remainder of the instant claim See MPEP 2173.05(g).
Edmonston teaches the claimed structure as stated in the above rejection, particularly an ammonia fuel and a reforming catalyst provided in the anode recuperator heat exchanger the fuel cell system and therefore would be capable of decomposition at least a portion of ammonia in the manner claimed.
Regarding claim 8, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1, further comprising:
an anode exhaust line (Figure 1A, Elements 308A, 308B, 308C, 308D, 308E) configured to receive an anode exhaust output from the stack (an anode recuperator heat exchanger configured to receive an anode exhaust from the fuel cell stack via anode exhaust line conduit 308A) (Paragraph 0007); and
a cathode exhaust line (Figure 1A, Elements 304A, 304B, 304C) configured to receive a cathode exhaust output from the stack (Paragraph 0007).
Regarding claim 9, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 8, wherein: the fuel humidifier comprises a steam generator (Figure 1A, Element 160) configured to generate steam by extracting heat from the cathode exhaust in the cathode exhaust line (cathode exhaust conduit 304C) (Paragraph 0024).
The instant disclosure provides that the fuel supply line includes fuel conduits 302A, 302B, and 302C. As seen in Figure 3 of the instant drawings, the steam generator (Element 162) has an outlet stream 164 which provides steam to the mixer (Element 180) which mixes the steam with the entering ammonia from fuel supply line conduit 302A. Therefore, the stream generator being fluidly connected to the fuel supply line is interpreted consistent with the instant disclosure and is considered by the Examiner to be met if the mixer of the fuel cell system receives both steam from the steam generator and fuel from the fuel supply line. As the mixer (Figure 1A, Element 210) of Edmonston receives both steam from the steam generator (via conduit 306B) and fuel from the fuel supply line (via conduit 300B), the steam generator of Edmonston is considered to be fluidly connected to the fuel supply line, meeting the instant claimed limitations.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer as applied to claims 1-3, 5-9 above, and further in view of Rutkowski (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20080311438 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1.
Edmonston is silent as to the fuel cell system further comprising a humidity sensor configured to detect the water content of the ammonia stream; and a system controller configured to control the water content of the ammonia stream based on the water content detected by the humidity sensor.
However, as described above in the rejection of claim 1, Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer taught it was desirable to control the water content of the fuel cell stack inlet stream (relative humidity) in order to prevent increased resistance and improve performance, as recognized by Ogoshi and Ancimer.
Rutkowski discloses a control system for controlling the amount of water in fluid streams that are passed through a fuel cell stack in a fuel cell system. Rutkowski teaches the system comprising humidifiers, sensors, and controllers in order to humidify the fluid streams to a desired amount. Rutkowski teaches the sensors configured to measure characteristics of the fluid stream indicative of the amount of water in the fluid streams and to relay these signals to the controller which controls the humidifier arrangements affecting the amount of water in the fluid streams (Paragraph 0008).
Rutkowski teaches that by detecting the amount of water in the fluid streams before entering the fuel cell stack, the system may mitigate or avoid damage to the fuel cell stack caused by having too much or too little water in the fluid streams (Paragraph 0009).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Rutkowski in which the system further comprises a humidity sensor configured to detect the water content of the ammonia stream; and a system controller configured to control the water content of the ammonia stream based on the water content detected by the humidity sensor, as described by Rutkowski. Modified Edmonston is open to such a modification, as indicated above, because it Is known in the art to control the water content (humidity) of streams entering a fuel cell stack. Such a modification would advantageously result in the mitigation of damage to the fuel cell stack caused by having too much or too little water in the inlet fluid streams, as recognized by Edmonston.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer as applied to claims 1-3, 5-9 above, and further in view of McElroy (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20140072889 A1) and Qi (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20140186733 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 8, further comprising an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) (Figure 1A,Element 130).
As the conduits 304A (part of cathode exhaust line, discussed above) and conduits 308D (part of anode exhaust line, discussed above) are fed into the ATO, the ATO is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to the cathode exhaust line and to the anode exhaust line, meeting the instant claimed limitation.
Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system further comprising a cathode recuperator heat exchanger (Figure 1A, Element 120).
As the conduits 302C and 304C (part of cathode exhaust line, described above) are inlet and outlet streams of the cathode recuperator heat exchanger, respectively, the cathode recuperator heat exchanger is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to the cathode exhaust line, meeting the instant claimed limitation.
Edmonston is silent as to an exhaust catalyst configured to reduce at least one oxide of nitrogen content of the cathode exhaust in the cathode exhaust line, wherein the exhaust catalyst is disposed on the cathode exhaust line between the ATO and the cathode recuperator, in the cathode recuperator, or downstream of the cathode recuperator with respect to a cathode exhaust flow direction through the cathode exhaust line.
McElroy discloses a solid oxide fuel cell system using ammonia as a fuel source which is fed to the fuel cell stack (Paragraph 0005). McElroy traches that the fuel exhaust stream may contain nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2), water vapor, as well as unreacted ammonia (NH2) depending if the reaction is completed (Paragraph 0013). McElroy teaches purifying and recycling the exhaust stream by reducing the amount of nitrogen in order to improve the performance of the fuel cell stack. McElroy teaches the removal of nitrogen results in the recycled fuel exhaust stream having an increased proportion of hydrogen as a percentage of volume when compared to the fuel exhaust stream originally exiting the fuel cell stack (Paragraph 0017).
Qi discloses a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell assembly including a cathode exhaust conduit in fluid communication with the fuel cell assembly (Paragraph 0005). Qi discloses a heat exchanger into which the cathode exhaust conduit enters, which is equated with the cathode recuperator of Edmonston and the instant invention, as both transfer heat from the cathode exhaust exiting the fuel cell stack. Qi discloses that the cathode exhaust conduit may contain unreacted fuel, and the heat exchanger can contain a catalyst (Paragraph 0034). Thus, Qi teaches that it is known in the art to include a catalyst in the cathode recuperator of a fuel cell system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary sill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Qi and McElroy in which an exhaust catalyst is disposed in the cathode recuperator configured to reduce the content of at least one oxide of nitrogen in the cathode exhaust in the cathode exhaust line. Doing so is taught by Qi to be known in the art and the advantage of removing nitrogen from exhaust streams exiting an ammonia-based fuel stack is improved fuel cell performance, as recognized by McElroy
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer as applied to claims 1-3, 5-9 above, and further in view of Weingaertner (Korean Patent Publication No. 20210141982 A).
Regarding claim 11, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 8, further comprising.
Edmonston is silent as to the fuel cell system comprising a condenser fluidly connected to the anode exhaust line and configured to reduce a water content of the anode exhaust.
However, Weingaertner discloses a fuel cell system including a fuel cell stack (Paragraph 0003). In the system, Weingaertner teaches that fuel exhaust from the anode exhaust cooler enters a fuel exhaust condenser that is configured to condense water vapor in the fuel exhaust and reduce its moisture content. Weingaertner teaches the condenser advantageously regulates the water content of the exhaust stream, may lower the temperature of the stream so as not to damage the downstream blower (Paragraph 0081), and may provide for easy separation of components for recycle (Paragraph 0088).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Weingaertner in which a condenser receives the anode exhaust stream from the anode exhaust cooler and is configured to reduce the water content in the anode exhaust stream. Doing so would advantageously result in the regulation of the water content of the exhaust stream, the lowering of the temperature of the stream so as not to damage the downstream blower (Paragraph 0081), and easier separation of components for recycle (Paragraph 0088), as recognized by Weingaertner.
The result of the modification is exemplified in the annotated figure below, where the outlet of the anode exhaust cooler is the inlet to the condenser, as taught by Weingaertner.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
As the anode exhaust line conduit 308E (part of the anode exhaust line, discussed above) flows into the condenser as shown in the annotated Figure above, the condenser is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to the anode exhaust line, meeting the instant claimed limitations.
As described above, Edmonston teaches the catalyst represented by Element 116 of Figure 1A is a reforming catalyst located in the anode recuperator heat exchanger (Element 110) (Paragraph 0040). The ordinary artisan would recognize that when the reforming catalyst reforms an ammonia fuel stream of the present invention according to Edmonston in view of Ogoshi, the products are hydrogen and nitrogen, as these are products of the reforming of ammonia that are well known in the art.
Thus, modified Edmonston teaches a decomposition catalyst disposed upstream of the condenser and configured to decompose at least a portion of the ammonia in the anode exhaust into hydrogen and nitrogen, as shown in the annotated Figure below.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
Regarding claim 12, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 11, further comprising:
Edmonston is silent as to a hydrogen separator fluidly connected to an outlet of the condenser and configured to separate hydrogen from nitrogen in the anode exhaust received from the condenser; and a nitrogen exhaust line fluidly connected to an outlet of the hydrogen separator.
However, Edmonston teaches an embodiment in which a carbon dioxide separator (Figure 1B, Element 170) is located between the anode exhaust cooler and the mixer in the anode exhaust path (Paragraph 0028). Edmonston teaches a carbon dioxide outlet conduit (Figure 1B, Element 309) from the carbon dioxide separator.
At the time the invention was effectively filed, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected and combined the embodiments taught by Edmonston in which the fuel cell system of Figure 1A also incorporates the teachings of Edmonston described above, where a separator is included between the anode exhaust cooler and the mixer in the anode exhaust path. The modification would have been a combination of prior art elements, that a person of ordinary skill in the art would perform with no inventive effort required.
The ordinary artisan would further recognize that while Edmonston describes a carbon dioxide separator which separates carbon dioxide from other components of the anode exhaust (including hydrogen), carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the reforming of hydrocarbon fuels in the fuel cell stack (Paragraphs 0028-0029). As discussed above, the modification of Edmonston by Ogoshi resulted in ammonia fuel implemented in the system, whose products when reformed include hydrogen and nitrogen. Therefore, when implementing the teachings of the embodiment of Edmonston including a separator into the fuel cell system of Edmonston in view of Ogoshi described above, the ordinary artisan would recognize that the carbon dioxide separator (resulting from reforming hydrocarbon fuel) would be a nitrogen separator (resulting from reforming hydrocarbon fuel) that separates nitrogen from other components of the anode exhaust such as hydrogen and releases it via outlet conduit, as taught by Edmonston (Paragraph 0029).
As the combined embodiments described above separates nitrogen from the exhaust stream including hydrogen, from another perspective, the separator may be viewed at separating hydrogen from nitrogen in the anode exhaust, meeting the instant claimed limitations. Furthermore, the resulting separator and outlet conduit would yield predictable results in the fuel cell system. See MPEP 2143(I)(A).
The resulting fuel cell system including the condenser and the separator is shown in the annotated Figure below.
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Annotated Figure 1A of Edmonston
As described above, Edmonston teaches a separator is included between the anode exhaust cooler and the mixer in the anode exhaust path but the modification of Edmonston in view of Weingaertner taught that fuel exhaust from the anode exhaust cooler enters a fuel exhaust condenser. Therefore, the ordinary artisan would recognize that in order to incorporate both of these teachings, the exiting stream from the anode exhaust cooler must first enter the condenser (according to Weingaertner) and then the hydrogen separator, as shown above.
As seen in the annotated figure above, the separator receives streams via the anode exhaust line conduits, particularly the stream exiting the condenser according to the modification by Weingaertner. Thus, the hydrogen separator is considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to an outlet of the condenser, meeting the instant claimed limitations. Further, as described above, in the combined embodiments of Edmonston, the separator of the system includes an outlet conduit (nitrogen exhaust line) through which the separated byproduct flows through, and is therefore considered by the Examiner to be fluidly connected to an outlet of the hydrogen separator, meeting the instant claimed limitations.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer as applied to claims 1-3, 5-9 above, and further in view of Noda (W.O. 2016080019) and Jong (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20200212456 A1), as evidenced by Hwang (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20180115008 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1, wherein the fuel cells each comprise solid oxide fuel cells (Paragraphs 0017-0019) comprising:
an anode electrode (Paragraph 0019);
a cathode electrode (Paragraph 0019);
a solid oxide electrolyte (yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) or scandia stabilized zirconia (SSZ)) disposed between the anode electrode and cathode electrode (Paragraph 0019);
fuel inlet and outlet holes (Figure 2C, see “fuel in” and “fuel out” labels)
Edmonston is silent as to a nickel mesh current collector disposed on the anode electrode.
Noda discloses a solid oxide fuel cell with an improved anode (Paragraph 0001), wherein an anode-side current collector (Figure 2, Element 51) is disposed between the anode (Figure 2, Element 3) and the anode-side separator (Figure 2, Element 52). Noda teaches that the structure of the current collectors for the cathode and the anode including a metal mesh including silver and nickel. Noda teaches the advantage of the three-dimensional network mesh structure to be its lightness and air permeability (Paragraph 0068).
As evidenced by Hwang, it is known in the art to provide the metallic anode current collector as a nickel mesh and a metallic cathode current collector as a silver mesh (Paragraph 0073).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Noda as evidenced by Hwang in which a nickel mesh current collector is disposed on the anode electrode. Doing so would advantageously result in lightweight and air permeable current collector in the solid oxide fuel cell, as recognized by Noda.
Edmonston is silent as to a nickel mesh current collector free area around the fuel inlet hole is larger than a current collector free area around the fuel outlet hole.
However, Jong discloses a fuel cell stack including two or more unit cells (Paragraph 0012). Jong teaches a fuel discharge hole (Figure 6, Element 242) and a fuel introduction hole (Figure 6, Element 232) to allow fuel to exit and enter the stack, respectively. Jong teaches that in order to more efficiently provide heat exchange, the diameter of the fuel introduction hole may be set to be smaller than the diameter of the fuel discharge hole (Paragraph 0066).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the solid oxide fuel cells of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Jong in which the diameter of the fuel inlet hole is smaller than the diameter of the fuel discharge hole. Doing so would advantageously result in more efficient heat exchange, as recognized by Jong.
The ordinary artisan would recognize that the result of such a modification, the free area of the nickel mesh current collector around the fuel inlet hole (see above 112b interpretation) would necessarily be larger than the free area of the nickel mesh current collector around the fuel outlet hole (see above 112b interpretation) when the diameter of the fuel inlet hole is smaller (less of current collector removed in cutout of hole) than the diameter of the fuel discharge hole (more of current collector removed in cutout of hole), meeting the instant claimed limitations.
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi and Ancimer as applied to claims 1-3, 5-9 above, and further in view of Takashi (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008053209A).
Regarding claim 14, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 1.
Edmonston teaches that a lift base is located under the hot box base including two hollow arms in which the forks of a fork lift can be inserted to lift and move the fuel cell unit, such as removing the fuel cell unit from a cabinet for repair or servicing (Paragraph 0044).
Therefore, Edmonston clearly provides evidence in the disclosure that the fuel cell unit of the disclosure is intended to be housed in a cabinet. As discussed in the above rejection of claim 1, the fuel cell unit of Edmonston comprises a stack of fuel cells and a fuel supply line. Therefore, Edmonston is considered to teach the limitation of the stack and the fuel supply line are located in a first cabinet of a first power module.
Edmonston is silent as to the fuel humidifier is located outside the first cabinet.
Takashi discloses a fuel cell device in which a fuel cell stack is housed in an exterior case (Figure 1, Element 2) (first cabinet) (Paragraphs 0001, 0022-0023) and a water storage (Figure 1, Element 12) stank for providing water to the fuel cell stack provided separately (outside) of the exterior case, as seen in Figure 1 of Takashi. Takashi teaches that when the water supply is located separately from the cabinet comprising the fuel cells stack, the size and shape of the water reservoir is not limited, as it does not have to fit into the cabinet alongside the stack and is therefore not restricted in suitable shapes (Paragraph 0027).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Takashi in which the fuel humidifier is located outside of the first cabinet. Doing so would advantageously result in the ability to size and design the water storage component of the fuel humidifier of Edmonston as desired, irrespective of the size and shape of the first cabinet, as recognized by Takashi.
Regarding claim 15, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 14, further comprising:
Edmonston is silent as to a plurality of additional stacks of fuel cells located in additional cabinets of additional power modules.
As described in the above rejection of claim 14, Edmonston discloses a power module comprising a stack of fuel cells located in a cabinet.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide additional stacks of fuel cells located in additional cabinets of additional power modules, in order to provide additional electrical energy. The mere duplication of parts, without any new or unexpected results, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04.
As described in the above rejection of claims 1 and 14, Edmonston discloses a first power module comprises a stack of fuel cells, a fuel supply line configured to provide an ammonia stream to the stack, and a fuel humidifier.
Therefore, the ordinary artisan can imagine that when duplicating the fuel cell system of Edmonston by providing additional power modules as described above, the stack of fuel cells in each of the cabinets would be provided with ammonia fuel streams via the fuel supply lines disclosed by Edmonston. The plurality of fuel supply lines of each cabinet of Edmonston are considered to be the instant claimed fuel supply conduit, as they are configured to provide the ammonia stream to the first power module and to the additional power modules.
As described above in the rejection of Edmonston in view of Ogoshi, the humidity of an ammonia fuel is controlled via a fuel humidifier assists in humidifies the ammonia stream provided to the stack. Therefore, the ordinary artisan can imagine that when duplicating the fuel cell system of Edmonston by providing additional power modules as described above, the fuel humidifier would be located on the fuel supply conduit or it would have been obvious to the ordinary artisan to provide the fuel humidifier on the fuel supply conduit in order to appropriately control the humidity of the ammonia fuel provided to the stack via the fuel supply line, as recognized by Edmonston, Ogoshi, and Ancimer.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edmonston in view of Ogoshi, Ancimer, and Takashi as applied to claims 14-15 above, further in view of Lee (U.S. Patent Publication No. 20240332571 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Edmonston teaches the fuel cell system of claim 15.
Edmonston is silent as to a decomposition catalyst fluidly connected to the fuel supply conduit and configured to decompose a portion of the ammonia in the ammonia stream into nitrogen and hydrogen.
However, Lee discloses an ammonia-based solid oxide fuel cell in which ammonia is used as fuel in order to generate power without emitting pollutants which harm the environment (Paragraph 0008). Lee teaches a lower manifold supplying fuel for the electrochemical reaction in the stack through a fuel supply line (Paragraph 0040). Lee teaches an ammonia decomposition catalyst in the fuel supply line to reform the ammonia into hydrogen (and thus also produce nitrogen, as known in the art) which is supplies to the stack (Paragraph 0043). Lee teaches that when the fuel supply line acts as a reformer, the fuel cell system does not require a larger and complex separate reformer, which allows the system to be economic and portable.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fuel cell system of Edmonston to incorporate the teachings of Lee in which a decomposition catalyst is included in the fuel supply conduit, meeting the instant claimed limitations of the a decomposition catalyst fluidly connected to the fuel supply conduit, as the catalyst is connected to the conduit and interacting with the fluid in the conduit. As Edmonston teaches the catalyst reforming the ammonia fuel into hydrogen, the decomposition catalyst of the aforementioned modification is capable of decomposing a portion of the ammonia in the ammonia stream into nitrogen and hydrogen, meeting the instant claimed limitation. The advantage of such a modification to include the decomposition catalyst fluidly connected to the fuel supply conduit is more economic and portable, as recognized by Lee.
Conclusion
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/O.A.J./Examiner, Art Unit 1789
/MARLA D MCCONNELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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