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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/18/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 14, 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seki (JP 63-98963 A) in view of Lenain (US PGPub No. 2006/0134514).
Regarding claim 14, Seki discloses a thermally regulated article (a fuel cell having cooling plate 30, Fig. 6), comprising:
a thermal energy source (a carbon plate 51 of the cooling plate 30, Fig. 2) including waste heat (the carbon plate 51 receives waste heat during an oxidation of a fuel in passage 5);
a thermally conductive member (expanded graphite 50, Fig. 2) comprising a sheet of flexible graphite (the expanded graphite 50) in direct physical contact with the thermal energy source and the waste heat (the expanded graphite 50 directly contacts the carbon plate 51);
a thermal transfer element (porous electrode plate 3 on top of the cooling plate 30, Fig. 6) in thermal communication with the thermally conductive member (by conduction and convection of the fuel/oxidizer in the passage 5), wherein the thermal transfer element has a surface being an exterior surface of the thermally regulated article (top surface of the porous electrode plate 3 is an exterior surface of the fuel cell in Fig .6),
wherein a source of the waste heat is batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, electric motors, inverters, or combinations thereof (the source of the waste heat is fuel cells).
Schneider fails to discloses a thermally regulated article, enclosed in a vehicle.
Lenain discloses a thermally regulated article (alternatively stacked structure of battery cells 3 and plates 6. Fig. 1), enclosed in a vehicle (the batteries are on board energy sources in an electric vehicle paragraphs 0001-0003).
Therefore, the stacked fuel cell structure of Seki may be enclosed in a vehicle as taught by Lenain in order to supply electric power to an electric vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a thermally regulated article, enclosed in a vehicle in Seki as taught by Lenain in order to supply electric power to an electric vehicle.
Regarding claim 18, Schneider as modified in claim 14 further discloses wherein the thermal energy source includes heat generated from the operation of a battery pack (the waste heat is from the fuel cell pack, which is a battery pack that converts chemical energy is converted into electricity).
Regarding claim 19, Schneider as modified in claim 14 further discloses an insulator (another carbon plate 51 of the cooling plate 30 that separates or insulates fuel or oxidizer in adjacent channel 4) in thermal communication with at least one of the thermal energy source, the thermally conductive member, and the thermal transfer element (by thermal conduction with all the carbon plate 51, expanded graphite 50 and the porous electrode plate 3 since all the layers are connected).
Claim(s) 15, 16 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seki (JP 63-98963 A) in view of Lenain (US PGPub No. 2006/0134514) as applied to claim 14 above, and further in view of Rocke (US PGPub No. 2005/0058867).
Regarding claim 15, Seki as modified in claim 14 fails to disclose a temperature sensor disposed proximate to at least one of the thermal transfer element and the thermally conductive member; and
a controller in communication with the temperature sensor and the thermal energy source for controlling the application of energy from the thermal energy source.
Rocke discloses a temperature sensor (temperature sensor 322) disposed proximate to at least one of the thermal transfer element and the thermally conductive member (the temperature sensor 322 is provided on electrode 302 shown in Fig. 3); and
a controller (410 in Fig. 4) in communication with the temperature sensor (receive a temperature of the temperature sensor 322) and the thermal energy source (fuel delivery pump 126 that increase/decrease fuel supply) for controlling the application of energy from the thermal energy source (the controller 410 adjusts fuel delivery pump 126 in response to the temperature sensor 322, paragraph 0031).
Therefore, the temperature sensor may be provided on the thermal transfer element (the porous plate 3 of Seki), and the controller as taught by Rocke connected to the temperature sensor may also be provided in order to detect elevated temperature in the fuel cell and to protect the fuel cell from the elevated temperature. Such controller and temperature control the application of energy from the carbon plate 51 in Seki, as the “thermal energy source” claimed.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a temperature sensor disposed proximate to at least one of the thermal transfer element and the thermally conductive member; and a controller in communication with the temperature sensor and the thermal energy source for controlling the application of energy from the thermal energy source in Seki as taught by Rocke in order to detect elevated temperature in the fuel cell and to protect the fuel cell from the elevated temperature.
Regarding claim 16, Seki as modified in claim 15 further discloses wherein the controller controls the application of energy from the thermal energy source in response to a signal from the temperature sensor (the controller 410 of Rocke reduces flow rate of the fuel delivery pump 126 in response to high temperature from the temperature sensor 322, paragraph 0031. As a result, the controller controls the application of energy from the carbon plate 51 in Seki, as “thermal energy source” claimed).
Regarding claim 21, Seki as modified in claim 15 further discloses wherein the temperature sensor is disposed on an exterior of the thermal transfer element (the temperature sensor 322 is disposed on an exterior of the porous plate 3 of Seki or “thermal transfer element” as claimed).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seki (JP 63-98963 A) in view of Lenain (US PGPub No. 2006/0134514) as applied to claim 14 above, and further in view of Naylor (US PGPub No. 2009/0101632).
Regarding claim 20, Seki as modified in claim 14 fails to explicitly disclose wherein the sheet of flexible graphite has an in-plane thermal conductivity of at least 140 W/m·K.
Naylor discloses the flexible graphite sheet has an in-plane thermal conductivity of 260-500W/m-K (paragraphs 0034-0037).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided wherein the thermally conductive member comprises a sheet of flexible graphite having an in-plane thermal conductivity of at least 140 W/m·K in Seki as taught by Naylor in order to allow the heat spreading evenly around the main surface of the expanded graphite 50.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 14 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.
Conclusion
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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