DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Timothy J. Chainer (Chainer) US 9,250,636 B2 in view of Ali CHEHADE (CHEHADE) US 2021/0378147 A1.
As per claim 1 Chainer disclose;
A heat dissipation system, configured to dissipate heat for, an electronics rack having electronic module the heat dissipation system comprising:
a chiller (Examiner interprets chiller as cool coolant source, equivalent to Col. 4 line 31 Cool coolant liquid and as per Col. 9 lines 33-38 as an alternative chiller can be used to supply cool coolant based on environmental requirement, such as tropical environment), configured to provide a low-temperature coolant (Col. 4 line 31 Cool coolant liquid),
a heat exchanger (Fig. 4 item 402), coupled to the chiller (Fig. 4 pump 401 supply Cool coolant liquid), and configured to exchange heat between the low-temperature coolant and an airflow flowing through the electronics rack (Fig. 4),
a first circulation pipeline (fig. 4 pipe lines attached to item 402 from pump 401 supply and return), coupled to the heat exchanger (402) and the chiller (Pump) so that the chiller, the heat exchanger (402), and the first circulation pipeline forming a first circulation loop to circulate the high-temperature coolant, (Fig. 4)
a second circulation pipeline (item 410 and 412), disposed on one side of the electronic module (300 electronic server see fig. 3) to form a second circulation loop (fig. 4), and configured to absorb a heat source generated by the electronic module (fig. 3) by circulating a low-temperature coolant, (Fig. 4)
a first throttle valve, (408) coupled between the first circulation loop and the second circulation loop (Fig. 4), and
a control module, (Col. 5 line 64-col. 6 line 8) coupled to the first throttle valve (408), and configured to open the first throttle valve (Fig. 4 item 408 or fig. 5 item 502) to introduce the low-temperature coolant into the second circulation loop (Col. 5 line 21-42) based on a temperature of the high-temperature coolant (at Twi see fig. 5) being greater than a temperature threshold (fig. 5, 6 and col. 6 lines 43-63) so as to control the temperature to be less than or equal to the temperature threshold. (col. 6 line 40-54)
Chainer disclose cooling electronic components of server modules, but do not specifically disclose well-known use of cooling system to cool a power module of an AC-to-DC conversion module.
However in analogues art CHEHADE, disclose, well-known use of cooling system to cool a power module of an AC-to-DC conversion module. (Fig. 6 AC-C conversion module item 42 fig. 11 shows application/use of cooling system)
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by CHEHADE to the device of Chainer would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for use of cooling system to cool AC-to-DC conversion module to expand use of cooling system to different products.
As per claims 2 and 3 Chainer and CHEHADE disclose;
- a second throttle valve (fig. 4), coupled to the second circulation pipeline (item 408 in line 412) and the control module, and a hydraulic pump, coupled to the second circulation pipeline and the control module, wherein the control module is configured to control an opening degree of the second throttle valve (Fig. 6) and a rotation speed of the hydraulic pump to adjust flow speed and flow amount of the high-temperature coolant. (Fig. 4 and 6 disclose )
-wherein the first throttle valve is an adjustable throttle valve, when the temperature is less than or equal to the temperature threshold, the control module decreases an opening degree of the first throttle valve and the opening degree of the second throttle valve, and when the temperature is greater than the temperature threshold, the control module increases the opening degree of the first throttle valve and the opening degree of the second throttle valve so as to control flow amount of the low-temperature coolant flowing into the second circulation loop. (Fig. 4-6 col. 6 lines 43-63)
Motivation to combine remains same as claim 1.
As per claims 5 and 6 Chainer and CHEHADE disclose;
wherein when the temperature is less than or equal to the temperature threshold, the control module controls the first throttle valve to be closed, and when the temperature is greater than the temperature threshold, the control module controls the first throttle valve to be opened. (Col. 6 lines 43-63 and col. 6 line 40-54)
wherein the airflow forms a high-temperature airflow and a low-temperature airflow by heat exchange of the heat exchanger (Fig. 6); the low-temperature airflow is conducted to the power module to absorb the heat source to generate the high-temperature airflow (Fig. 4-6), and the high-temperature air flow is conducted to the heat exchanger to exchange heat with the low-temperature coolant to generate the low-temperature airflow (Fig. 4-6).
Motivation to combine remains same as claim 1.
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chainer in view of CHEHADE and further in view of Timothy J. CHAINER (CHAINER_2) US 2013/0138253 A1.
As per claim 4 Chainer and CHEHADE disclose;
a first thermometer, coupled to the control module and the second circulation pipeline, (fig. 5 and 6) and configured to sense the temperature, a second thermometer, coupled to the control module, and configured to sense an airflow temperature around the power module (Fig. 5 Tc,max),
But does not teach well-known in the art to add, a hygrometer, coupled to the control module, and configured to sense an airflow humidity around the power module, wherein the control module calculates a dew point temperature based on the airflow temperature and the airflow humidity, and adjusts a temperature range of the high-temperature coolant based on the dew point temperature.
However in analogues art, CHAINER_2 disclose, a hygrometer (Fig. 7B and Para 0051 item 721 and 723), coupled to the control module, and configured to sense an airflow humidity around (item 723) the power module, wherein the control module calculates a dew point temperature based on the airflow temperature (Para 0051 and 0056) and the airflow humidity, and adjusts a temperature range of the high-temperature coolant based on the dew point temperature (Para 0051 and 0056).
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that applying the known technique taught by CHAINER_2 to the device of Chainer and CHEHADE, would have yielded predicable results and resulted in an improved assembly, that would allows for use of cooling system to control humidity to improve performance and to protect components from humidity.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/30/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding applicant’s arguments:
1. “Chainer disclosed coolant and ambient temperature control for chiller less…. And However, this operation is not intended to improve efficiency by keeping components operating within a specific temperature range (i.e., 35-38 degrees Celsius). This means that the cooling system of Chainer uses external air drawn in from the side car 402 to cool the components inside the server 300.”
Examiner respectfully disagree because, Chainer disclosed all claimed structure/ arrangement of cooling system, “a heat exchanger (Fig. 4 item 402), coupled to the chiller (Fig. 4 pump 401 supply Cool coolant liquid), and configured to exchange heat between the low-temperature coolant and an airflow flowing through the electronics rack (Fig. 4), e.g. all claimed components and arrangement/connections between them.
Further following applicant’s arguments a-“…operation is not intended to improve efficiency by keeping components operating within a specific temperature range (i.e., 35-38 degrees Celsius)…” and
b-“ Because the side car 402 is inside the rack 400, by regulating the flow of coolant to the side car 402, the rack ambient air temperature leaving the side car 402 and entering servers 300 can be controlled."
c-“ However, this operation is not intended to improve efficiency by keeping components operating within a specific temperature range (i.e., 35-38 degrees Celsius).”
Above arguments are not valid because it is not in the claim 1. Therefor rejection of claim 1 is proper.
In short most of the arguments are related to the non-claimed subject matter.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/MUKUNDBHAI G PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835