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 Objections
Claims 13-14 objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper form because a multiple dependent claim should refer to other claims in the alternative only. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Accordingly, the claims 13-14 have not been further treated on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fang (CN 101004332 A). Reference provided with IDS, translation attached.
As to claim 1, Fang discloses: A phase change coolant distribution unit (Fig. 1), comprising:
a heat-exchanging chamber (within 2, 6);
a low-position heat-exchanging tube 10, disposed through the heat-exchanging chamber, wherein at least one portion of the low-position heat-exchanging tube is located in the heat-exchanging chamber 9;
a high-position heat-exchanging tube 1, disposed through the heat-exchanging chamber, wherein at least one portion of the high-position heat-exchanging tube is located in the heat-exchanging chamber 3, and a position of the high-position heat-exchanging tube is higher than a position of the low-position heat-exchanging tube; and
a phase change fluid (refrigerant; see p. 5, translation, beneath “V. Best Practices”), disposed in the heat-exchanging chamber.
As to claim 2, Fang discloses: wherein the low-position heat-exchanging tube is a U-shaped tube (multiple U-shapes) or a coiled tube.
As to claim 3, Fang discloses:
wherein the high-position heat-exchanging tube is a U-shaped tube (multiple U-shapes) or a bent tube (multiple bends).
As to claim 4, Fang discloses:
wherein the high-position heat-exchanging tube 1 is a heat pipe (heat pipe) or a vapor chamber, an evaporation end (absorbs heat from vapor 4; see p. 6 of translation) of the heat pipe or an evaporation end of the vapor chamber is located in the heat-exchanging chamber, and a condensation end (external end) of the heat pipe or a condensation end of the vapor chamber is located outside the heat-exchanging chamber.
As to claim 5, Fang discloses:
further comprising a cooling chamber (air conditioning unit, not shown, see p. 5 of translation) disposed outside the heat-exchanging chamber, wherein the condensation end of the heat pipe is located in the cooling chamber (see p. 6 of translation).
As to claim 6, Fang discloses:
wherein a liquid surface 14 of the phase change fluid is located between the low-position heat-exchanging tube and the high-position heat-exchanging tube, or the high-position heat-exchanging tube passes through the liquid surface, or the low-position heat-exchanging tube and the high-position heat-exchanging tube are located under the liquid surface.
As to claim 7, Fang discloses:
wherein the phase change fluid is water, methanol, acetone, ionic fluid or dielectric fluid (R-134a, R-22; see p. 5, translation, beneath “V. Best Practices”).
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) 9 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fang (CN 101004332 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chuang (US 20240260228 A1).
As to claim 9, Fang does not explicitly disclose:
further comprising a thermometer, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber and configured to measure a temperature of the phase change fluid.
However, Chuang discloses:
a thermometer 228 (par. 0098), disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber 202 and configured to measure a temperature of the phase change fluid (par. 0028);
in order to monitor a temperature of the cooling fluid (par. 0028).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Fang as suggested by Chuang, e.g., providing:
a thermometer, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber and configured to measure a temperature of the phase change fluid;
in order to monitor a temperature of the cooling fluid.
As to claim 11, Fang does not explicitly disclose:
further comprising a pressure relief valve, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber.
However, Chuang discloses:
a pressure relief valve (par. 0081), disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber 202;
in order to release pressure (par. 0084).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Fang as suggested by Chuang, e.g., providing:
further comprising a pressure relief valve, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber;
in order to release pressure.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fang (CN 101004332 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kulkarni (US 20210185850 A1).
As to claim 10, Fang does not explicitly disclose:
further comprising a pressure gauge, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber and configured to measure a pressure of a vapor-phase portion of the phase change fluid.
However, Kulkarni discloses:
a pressure gauge 360 (Fig. 3), disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber and configured to measure a pressure of a vapor-phase portion of the phase change fluid (par. 0043);
in order to control the gas pressure of the fluid and/or maintain the boiling point of the fluid (par. 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Fang as suggested by Kulkarni, e.g., providing:
a pressure gauge, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber and configured to measure a pressure of a vapor-phase portion of the phase change fluid;
in order to control the vapor pressure of the fluid and/or maintain the boiling point of the fluid.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fang (CN 101004332 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Harrington (US 20180035569 A1).
As to claim 12, Fang does not explicitly disclose:
further comprising a vacuum valve, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber.
However Harrington discloses:
a vacuum valve 34 (par. 0076; Fig. 8), disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber 56;
in order to control the fill level of the chamber (par. 0076).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Fang as suggested by Harrington, e.g., providing:
a vacuum valve, disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber;
in order to control the fill level of the chamber.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fang (CN 101004332 A) as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Campbell (US 20140102672 A1).
As to claim 15, Fang discloses:
the phase change coolant distribution unit according to claim 4.
Fang does not explicitly disclose:
A data center, comprising:
a server rack, comprising:
a heat-source chamber; and
a plurality of heat sources, disposed in the heat-source chamber;
a heat-source end working fluid, disposed in the low-position heat-exchanging tube and the heat-source chamber; and
a heat-source pump, disposed between the heat-source chamber and the low-position heat-exchanging tube, wherein the heat-source pump is configured to drive the heat-source end working fluid to flow.
However, Campbell discloses:
A data center 100 (par. 0028, Fig. 1B), comprising:
a server rack 110 (par. 0022, 0024, 0031; Fig. 3), comprising:
a heat-source chamber (within 110); and
a plurality of heat sources 340 (par. 0031), disposed in the heat-source chamber;
the coolant distribution unit 314;
a heat-source end working fluid (from 314 through 318 through 322 and returned via 323, 319, 313, and 315, disposed in the low-position heat-exchanging tube (corresponding to right side loop of 314) and the heat-source chamber (within 110; see par. 0031); and
a heat-source pump 315, disposed between the heat-source chamber (within 110) and the low-position heat-exchanging tube (right side loop of 314), wherein the heat-source pump is configured to drive the heat-source end working fluid to flow (par. 0031);
in order to cool devices in a data center (par. 0028) and transfer the cooling burden from air conditioning units to building chilled water coolers (par. 0031).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Fang as suggested by Campbell, e.g., providing:
A data center, comprising:
a server rack, comprising:
a heat-source chamber; and
a plurality of heat sources, disposed in the heat-source chamber;
a heat-source end working fluid, disposed in the low-position heat-exchanging tube and the heat-source chamber; and
a heat-source pump, disposed between the heat-source chamber and the low-position heat-exchanging tube, wherein the heat-source pump is configured to drive the heat-source end working fluid to flow;
in order to cool devices in a data center and transfer the cooling burden from air conditioning units to building chilled water coolers.
Additionally, all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined/modified the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination/modification would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S.___, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 16 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claims 8 and 16, the allowability resides in the overall structure and functionality of the apparatus as recited in the amended dependent claims 8 and 16, including all of the limitations of their base claims and intervening claims, and at least in part, because they recite the following limitations:
8. The phase change coolant distribution unit according to claim 1, further comprising a vapor-phase valve, a liquid-phase valve and a pressure relief tank, wherein the liquid-phase valve and the vapor-phase valve are disposed at the heat-exchanging chamber, and the pressure relief tank is connected to the liquid-phase valve and the vapor-phase valve.
16. The data center according to claim 15, further comprising a water-cooling tower, a cooling end working fluid and a cooling pump, wherein the phase change coolant distribution unit further comprises a cooling chamber, the cooling chamber is disposed outside the heat-exchanging chamber, a condensation end of the heat pipe is located in the cooling chamber, the cooling end working fluid is disposed in the cooling chamber and the water-cooling tower, the cooling pump is disposed between the water-cooling tower and the cooling chamber, and the cooling pump is configured to drive the cooling end working fluid to flow.
Inaba (US 20180246550 A1), Peterson (US 20230413485 A1), and Campbell (US 20110056674 A1) disclose conventional cooling systems but do not suggest the combinations of claimed limitations.
None of the prior art, either alone or in combination, can be reasonably construed as adequately teaching the above claimed elements, in combination with the remaining claim limitations.
Further, Examiner has not identified any double patenting issues.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB R CRUM whose telephone number is (571)270-7665. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jayprakash Gandhi can be reached at (571) 272-3740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JACOB R CRUM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835