DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is responsive to the application filed on March 10, 2026. Claims 1-7,9-13,16,18-19,21-22,25,28 and 35 are pending. Claims 1-7,9-13 and 16 are withdrawn.
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 .
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 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.
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.
Claims 28 is 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As to Claim 28, the recitation of “the chilled seawater” at line 6 renders the claim indefinite. Chilled seawater is separately introduced in the claim in two distinct places (claim 18, line 6 & claim 28, line 5). Subsequent instances of chilled seawater use “the” in reference to prior the claim 18, line 6 instance. However, the instance at claim 28, line 5 does not use “the” and as such appears to refer to a distinct element. It is unclear if “the chilled seawater” (at claim 28, line 6) refers to: (i) the chilled seawater set forth in the previous line (claim 28, line 5) configured to be supplied to the heat exchanger by the first section or second section of collection reservoir; or (ii) the chilled sea water previously set forth in Claim 18.
Drawings
The drawing changes in the drawings filed 03/10/2026 are accepted.
Prior Art Relied Upon
This action references the following US patent documents and/or Publications:
US PATENT
DOCUMENT NUMBER
HEREINAFTER
US-20090211263-A1
“COYLE”
This action references the following Foreign patent documents and/or Publications:
FOREIGN
DOCUMENT NUMBER
HEREINAFTER
*JP-2000145476-A
“MITSUMICHI”
*JP-S5857029-A
“OGOSHI”
**KR-20120070670-A
“DOH”
*JP-2000018049-A
“YAMAMOTO”
*Copy & English Language Translation relied upon were provided by Applicant on 11/14/2023. Therefore, additional copies are not provided.
**Copy provided of document and machine translation to English relied upon.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 18, 19, 22, 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MITSUMICHI in view of DOH.
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Re Claim 18, MITSUMICHI teaches a method comprising:
providing a flow of liquefied gas in a liquefied gas vaporizer [1, 4] (¶0027);
introducing seawater to a supply line 2 via a seawater inlet (inlet to pump 3; Fig. 1, ¶0027);
distributing a stream of the seawater from the supply line upon the liquefied gas vaporizer (via trough 4, ¶0027), thereby lowering the seawater from a first temperature [temperature of seawater prior to vaporizer 1] to a second temperature [temperature of seawater after vaporizer 1] and forming chilled seawater (¶0030 “the seawater cooled and discharged”; thereby its temperature necessarily lowers from the first temperature to the second temperature);
gathering the chilled seawater in a collection reservoir [lower bath/bus 5] below the liquefied gas vaporizer (Fig. 1, ¶¶0027-0028, 0030; the vaporizer 1 cools and discharges the seawater directly to lower bus/bath 5 and as such it is the second temperature from cooling);
supplying a stream of chilled seawater from the collection reservoir to a heat exchanger 11 (chilled seawater is supplied from the reservoir to the tank 12 and subsequently flows to exchanger 11), the chilled seawater being heated to a third temperature in the heat exchanger and forming heat-exchanged seawater (“cooling water… is cooled in the heat exchanger 11 by the seawater having lower temperature”, ¶0030; as such, the stream of chilled seawater from the collection reservoir at the second temperature is heated to a third temperature in the heat exchanger); and
removing a stream of heat-exchanged seawater from the heat exchanger via a heat exchanger outlet line 14 (¶¶0028, 0030) . However, MITSUMICHI fails to teach the heat exchanger outlet line is coupled to a sea water outlet that dischargers the stream of the heat-exchanged seawater to a sea location.
In MITSUMICHI the heat exchanger outlet line forms the recirculation line leading to water to tanks 7, 12.
DOH teaches a heat exchanger outlet line 103 is coupled to a sea water outlet 105 that dischargers the stream of the heat-exchanged seawater to a sea location 250 (Figure 1; “the seawater circulation line 103 may be connected to a seawater discharge line 105 at a position where seawater returns from the second heat exchanger 120 to the ballast tank 220. The seawater discharge line 105 may be connected to the seawater discharge port 250 for discharging seawater to the outside of the floating structure, the seawater discharge valve at the connection point of the seawater circulation line 103 and the seawater discharge line 105 153 may be provided. In addition, a third temperature sensor 163 may be provided on the seawater circulation line 103 to measure the temperature of seawater discharged from the second heat exchanger 120. The seawater discharge valve 153 may be adjusted to discharge seawater to the seawater outlet 250 when the measured value of the third temperature sensor 163 is within a predetermined range and the seawater discharge is allowed”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the heat exchanger outlet line is coupled to a sea water outlet that dischargers the stream of the heat-exchanged seawater to a sea location (e.g., by providing a discharge line as taught by DOH at valve 15 of MITSUMICHI), in order to facilitate monitoring of the sea water and optional return to discharge seawater to a seawater outlet outside the system without returning to the vaporizer when a measured value of temperature is within a predetermined range and seawater discharge is permitted as taught by DOH.
Re Claim 19, MITSUMICHI in view of DOH teaches the method of claim 18. MITSUMICHI further teaches wherein the liquefied gas is liquefied natural gas or liquefied hydrogen, and the liquefied gas vaporizer is a liquefied natural gas vaporizer or a liquefied hydrogen vaporizer (¶¶0002, 0027).
Re Claim 22, MITSUMICHI in view of DOH teaches the method of claim 18. MITSUMICHI further teaches the heat exchanger is indirect thermal communication with a flow pathway for air provided to a gas engine or gas turbine (¶¶0027, 0029-0030), the heat exchanger being in the indirect thermal communication with the flow pathway via a secondary heat transfer fluid (cooling water) that is in fluid communication with a secondary heat exchanger (air cooler 8), the secondary heat exchanger being in direct thermal communication with the flow pathway (Fig. 1, ¶¶0027, 0029-0030).
Re Claim 35, MITSUMICHI teaches the method of claim 18, further comprising:
transferring chilled seawater from the collection reservoir to a chilled seawater holding tank 12; and supplying chilled seawater from the chilled seawater holding tank to the heat exchanger or the heat exchanger outlet line (¶¶0028-0030).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MITSUMICHI in view of DOH as applied above, further in view of OGOSHI.
Re Claim 21, MITSUMICHI in view of DOH teaches the method of claim 18. MITSUMICHI teaches cooling gas turbine air (¶0029) but as discussed so far fails teach wherein the heat exchanger is in direct thermal communication with a flow pathway for air provided to a gas engine or gas turbine.
OGOSHI teaches a heat exchanger that is in direct thermal communication with a flow pathway for air provided to a gas engine or gas turbine (“The vaporized LNG passes through the LNG delivery line 8 and is sent to the gas turbine 12 for combustion. The heat exchanged and cooled sea water is drained at the seawater dispensing line 7. This is a general system. In the present invention, a part of the cooled sea water is passed through the gas turbine intake silencer 10 by the seawater extraction lie 9 to cool the intake air 14. The cooled intake air is sent to the compressor 11, and the seawater used for cooling is discharged through the seawater discharge line 15. FIG. 2 is a plan view (sectional view) of the intake silencer 10. Pass the coolant seawater pipe 18 …through the inside of the sound absorbing material 17 constituting the silencer, heat exchange it with the LNG in the piping, pass the cooled seawater. The suction air sucked through the suction port is passed through the space between the sound absorbing members thus constructed and sent to the compressor 11… Since the intake air passes through the sound absorbing material passing through the cooling seawater piping and is sent to the compressor, the intake air is cooled, and the efficiency of the gas turbine power generating facility improves “). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide wherein the heat exchanger is in direct thermal communication with a flow pathway for air provided to a gas engine or gas turbine, in order to improve efficiency of the gas turbine power generation facility and to improve the sound absorbing effect of the intake silencer by using the cooling seawater heat-exchanged with the LNG as taught by OGOSHI.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MITSUMICHI in view of DOH as applied above, further in view of COYLE.
Re Claim 25, MITSUMICHI in view of DOH teaches the method of claim 18. However, as discussed so far MISUMICHI is silent to wherein a temperature differential for seawater between the seawater inlet and a specified position relative to the seawater outlet is 5 degrees Celsius or less.
MITSUMICHI also teaches that seawater heat exchanged with LNG may undergo a temperature drop of approximately 3 to 5 degrees C (¶0016). COYLE teaches providing a temperature differential for seawater between the seawater inlet and a specified position relative to the seawater outlet is about 5 degrees or less (¶0170). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method wherein a temperature differential for seawater between the seawater inlet and a specified position relative to the seawater outlet is 5 degrees Celsius or less, in order to comply with environmental guidelines (COYLE ¶0170).
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MITSUMICHI in view of DOH as applied above, further in view of YAMAMOTO.
Re Claim 28, MITSUMICHI in view of DOH teaches the method of claim 18. MITSUMICHI further teaches wherein the liquefied gas vaporizer and the collection reservoir are each divided into a first section and a second section (vaporizer includes first section 1, second section 4; collection reservoir includes a first section/half connected with 6, 7 and second section/half connected with 5a to tank 12);
wherein one of the first section or the second section of the collection reservoir is configured to supply chilled seawater to the heat exchanger (7 and section/half connected with 5a to tank 12).
However, MITSUMICHI as discussed so far fails to teach wherein a second stream of the chilled seawater from the collection reservoir is introduced to the heat exchanger outlet line before discharging the heat-exchanged seawater to the sea location, the second stream of chilled seawater being introduced from one of the first section or the second section of the collection reservoir.
YAMAMOTO teaches an analogous second stream of chilled water from a collection reservoir 30 is introduced to a heat exchanger outlet line 14 (via line valve 17 and lines 13, 18) before discharging heat-exchanged water to a sea location (Figs. 1-2, “bypass lines 18 and 20 are used to control the temperature”, see translation page 5 of YAMAMOTO), the second stream chilled seawater being introduced from one of a first section or a second section of the collection reservoir (See Image below; corresponding to second section/half 5a connected to tank 12 in MITSUMICHI).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a second stream of the chilled seawater from the collection reservoir that is introduced to the heat exchanger outlet line before discharging the heat-exchanged seawater to the sea location, the second steam of chilled seawater being introduced from one of the first section or the second section of the collection reservoir (consonant with 5a in MITUMICHI), in order to provide a bypass line for temperature control of the circulation line of the heat exchanger (see translation of YAMAMOTO page 5, “bypass lines 18 and 20 are used to control the temperature”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s remarks filed 03/10/2026 have been fully considered. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the art rejections have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. As noted by Applicant, line 14 in MITSUMICHI is a recirculation line. DOH is relied upon to the show a heat exchanger outlet recirculation that line is coupled to a sea water outlet and that dischargers the stream of the heat-exchanged seawater to a sea location.
Pertinent Art
US-20030159800-A1 is deemed pertinent to the amended claims.
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Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON H DUGER whose telephone number is (313) 446-6536. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30a to 4:30p EST Monday & Tuesday and 8:00a to 2:00p Wednesday, and is OFF Thursday and Friday.
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JASON H DUGER
PRIMARY EXAMINER, ART UNIT 3741
PHONE (313) 446 6536
FAX (571) 270 9083
DATE
May 30, 2026
/JASON H DUGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741
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