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
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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kenji (JP 2012-052208) in view of Kato et al. (US Patent Application Publication no. 2022/0113271).
Regarding claim 1, Kenji discloses a water electrolysis device that is configured to obtain hydrogen and oxygen by performing electrolysis of water with a plurality of water electrolysis cells (paragraphs 3, 11-16), the water electrolysis device comprising:
a water electrolysis stack (12; figure 1) that includes the water electrolysis cells paragraphs (3, 21, 26);
a water supply side passage (72) including first piping through which water supplied to the water electrolysis stack (12; paragraphs 30, 34) flows, and second piping (80);
a hydrogen side passage (90) through which hydrogen generated in the water electrolysis stack flows (paragraph 32);
a gas-liquid separator (16) that is provided in the water supply side passage (72) and that is configured to perform gas-liquid separation of a fluid containing oxygen and water discharged from the water electrolysis stack (paragraphs 30, 38); and
the second piping (80) connecting the water electrolysis stack (12) and the gas-liquid separator (16; as shown in figure 1).
Kenji fails to teach a hydrogen combustion member that contains a hydrogen combustion catalyst and that is disposed on an inner side of the second piping.
Kato teaches a gas generation system by water electrolysis (abstract) comprising a catalytic combustion type gas sensor arranged in at least one of a hydrogen path (19) for recovering hydrogen, and an oxygen path (18) for recovering oxygen in order to promote combustion of the target gas, detect the temperature rise due to the combustion heat, and output an electrical signal according to the concentration of the detected target gas (paragraphs 28, 31-35).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to arrange a hydrogen combustion catalyst on an inner side of the second piping of Kenji, as taught by Kato, in order promote combustion of the target gas, detect the temperature rise due to the combustion heat, and output an electrical signal according to the concentration of the detected target gas.
Regarding claim 3, Kenji further teaches wherein the second piping (80) includes a first piping portion of which a pipe axis is inclined within a range of 90˚ with respect to a horizontal direction (as shown in figure 1), in which water discharged from the water electrolysis stack (12) flows upward from below (the water from the stack flows in both directions, as shown in figure 1).
Kenji fails to teach that the hydrogen combustion member is disposed on an inner side of the first piping portion.
Kato teaches a gas generation system by water electrolysis (abstract) comprising a catalytic combustion type gas sensor arranged in at least one of a hydrogen path (19) for recovering hydrogen, and an oxygen path (18) for recovering oxygen in order to promote combustion of the target gas, detect the temperature rise due to the combustion heat, and output an electrical signal according to the concentration of the detected target gas (paragraphs 28, 31-35).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to arrange a hydrogen combustion catalyst on an inner side of the first and second piping of Kenji, as taught by Kato, in order promote combustion of the target gas, detect the temperature rise due to the combustion heat, and output an electrical signal according to the concentration of the detected target gas.
Regarding claim 4, the pipe axis of the first piping portion (72) of Kenji is inclined within a range of 90° with respect to the horizontal direction (figure 1).
Regarding claim 5, the pipe axis of the first piping portion (72) of Kenji is inclined within a range of 90° with respect to the horizontal direction (figure 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 6 are 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. The closest prior art fails to teach an agitation member disposed between the water electrolysis stack and the hydrogen combustion member in the second piping; and a protruding portion disposed on the inner side of the second piping portion, the protruding portion being configured to divide a gaseous portion between the hydrogen combustion member and the gas-liquid separator, the gaseous portion being contained in the fluid containing oxygen and water discharged from the water electrolysis stack.
While the individual parts of the present invention appear to be known in the art, there is no reason taught in the prior art to combine these elements in a way that would render the claims obvious without impermissible hindsight construction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZULMARIAM MENDEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-9805. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4:30p.
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/ZULMARIAM MENDEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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