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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: #52a and #52b in Figure 3 Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
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 nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2023/0290971A) in view of Handgraetinger et al. (US 2014/0227618A).
Regarding Claim 1, Ahm et al. teaches a humidifier for fuel cells (i.e. a fuel cell membrane humidifier) (Para. [0010] and Fig. 1, #100), comprising the humidifying module (Fig. 1, #110) (i.e. a main housing) having an off-gas inlet (Fig. 1, #111a) (i.e. having an inlet connecting portion) formed on a first end portion of a body, and an off-gas outlet (Fig. 1, #111b) (i.e. having an outlet connecting portion formed on a second end portion of the body, and a gas outlet formed on one side of the body), a plurality of hollow fiber membranes (Fig. 1, #112) in a cartridge (Fig. 23, #21) (i.e. a hollow fiber membrane cartridge) comprising a first and second packing member (Fig. 23, #23, #24) that hermetically seals the cartridge and the mid-case (i.e. comprising a seal mount formed on an end of a cartridge housing by protruding therefrom) (Para. [0071]) wherein opposite ends of a bundle of hollow fiber membranes are potted in fixing layers (Fig. 2, #113) (Para. [0013]) (i.e. a fixing layer for potting each of multiple membranes in each of opposite side ends of a body thereof) with the hollow fiber membrane cartridge (Fig. 2, #21) installed inside the humifying module (Fig. 1, #110) (i.e. main housing), a cap (Fig. 2, #3, #4) (i.e. an inlet housing and an outlet housing) comprising a pushing member (i.e. a coupling portion) (Fig. 5, #31) on the inlet connecting portion and outlet connecting portion of the main housing), and hermetically sealing between the cartridge and mid-case (Para. [0071]) (i.e. a seal ground portion formed inside the coupling portion), an off-gas inlet (Fig. 2, #221) wherein the off-gas is discharged from a fuel cell stack (Para. [0011]) (i.e. a gas inflow port through which gas is provided from a hydrogen fuel cell stack, see also Para. [0002-0003]), after humifying the dry gas, wet gas may be received a first inner groove (Fig. 5, #234 and Para. [0059]) (i.e. a second chamber in which humid air formed through the membrane flows) and a cartridge (Fig. 5, #21) may be received in the first inner groove (i.e. a cartridge insertion portion to which one side end of the cartridge housing is coupled) (Fig. 5 and Para. [0059]) and first outer groove and second outer groove received dry gas (Para. [0054], [0080]) (i.e. a main chamber into which dry air is supplied), a packing member (Fig. 23, #24), a second outer member (Fig. 23, #242) made of elastically deformable material (Para. [0076]) ) (i.e. a variable seal comprising a body elastically grounded to an outer peripheral surface of the seal mount) which may be pressed toward the cartridge and therefore may be brought into tight contact with the cartridges (Para. [0080]) (i.e. and a rib elastically transformed with respect to the body and being in close contact with the seal ground portion); wherein the pressure of the dry gas received in the second outer groove may act in a direction in which the distance between the second outer members is increased (Para. [0080] (i.e. a back pressure passage as pressure is building up, communicating between the main chamber and a seal ground portion) wherein depending on the pressure of the dry gas received in the second outer groove, the second outer member may be pressed toward the cartridge (Para. [00080]) (i.e. wherein a ground pressure of the rib on the seal ground portion is formed to increase in correspondence to a pressure of dry air of the main chamber introduced through the back pressure passage when the dry air is supplied).
Kim et al. does not teach the dry air is supplied through a cooler.
However, Handgraetinger et al. teaches a fuel cell system comprising a humidifying device (claim 1) wherein supply air passes into a humidifier via an intercooler (Para. [0026], [0041]) (i.e. air is supplied through a cooler).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim et al. to incorporate the teaching of supplying the dry air through a cooler as taught by Handgraetinger et al., as such a modification would provide the capability of cooling the hot supply air flow from the fuel cell, discharging excess heat from the air (Para. [0026], [0029]), providing cooling power (Para. [0030]) and providing an integrated cooling with the humidifying device (Para. [0010]) which is meaningful with respect to operational management (Para. [0042]).
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2023/0290971A) in view of Handgraetinger et al. (US 2014/0227618A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ahn et al. (US 2022/0181655A).
Regarding Claim 2, Kim et al. as modified by Handgraetinger et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1 as explained above.
Kim et al. further teaches a second outer groove (Fig. 23, #241) formed in one side of the body (i.e. the variable seal comprises a first groove formed in one side of the body).
Kim et al. does not teach and a second groove formed to be spaced apart from the first groove to accommodate the dry air pressure, and the rib has a predetermined variable angle and is formed by opening outward and extending from the second groove.
However, Ahn et al. teaches a packing portion including a main body and a wing portion (Fig. 8, #231b) (i.e. a variable seal comprising a body portion and a rib), the packing portion including a groove (Fig. 8, #G3) (i.e. a first groove formed in one side of the body) and a groove (Fig. 8, #G1) (i.e. a second groove) which allows the wing portion (i.e. rib) to be pressurized and come into tight contact with the cartridge (Para. [0091]) (i.e. formed to be spaced apart from the first groove to accommodate the dry air pressure), and the wing portion (see Fig. 8, # 231b) is inclined relative to the main body at a predetermined angle and may come into tighter contact with the end of the cartridge (Para. [0092]) (i.e. the rib has a predetermined variable angle and is formed by opening outward and extending from the second grove).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim et al. to incorporate the teaching of the first and second grooves and wing portion with a predetermined variable angle as taught by Ahn et al., as the wing portion may perform a vibration absorption function, and therefore it is possible to prevent damage to the humidifier due to vibration (Para. [0094]).
Regarding Claim 4, Kim et al. as modified by Handgraetinger et al. and Ahn et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 2 as explained above.
Kim et al. teaches the packing members made of rubber (Para. [0051], [0076]) (i.e. the variable seal is configured as an elastic member comprising a rubber material).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2023/0290971A) in view of Handgraetinger et al. (US 2014/0227618A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Katagiri et al. (JP2002/066265A). The English machine translation of Katagiri et al. is attached and referenced below.
Regarding Claim 5, Kim et al. as modified by Handgraetinger et al. teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1 as explained above.
Kim et al. further teaches the humidifier comprising three cartridges (Fig. 14, #21, #21’, #21’’) (Para. [0087]) having open hollow fiber membranes (Para. [0114]) and packing members (Fig. 2, #23 and #23’) on a first side wall of the cartridge housing and a second sidewall of the cartridge housing (i.e. an arrangement of an upper stream distribution opening, a middle stream distribution opening, and a lower stream distribution opening formed on a first side wall of the cartridge housing; and an arrangement of an upper stream discharge opening, a middle stream discharge opening, and a lower stream discharge opening formed on a second side wall of the cartridge housing, wherein the distribution openings are formed in a multiple-layer arrangement).
Kim et al. does not teach an opening area increases gradually toward a lower stream side from an upper stream side, and the discharge openings are formed in a multiple-layer arrangement so that an opening area increases gradually toward an upper stream side from a lower stream side.
However, Katagiri et al. a humidifier for use with fuel cells (Para. [0002]) wherein a housing has multiple hollow fiber membranes provided inside along the longitudinal direction of the housing, wherein perforated plates are arranged so that the opening area of the perforated plates increases as you move from the top to the bottom of the perforated plates (Para. [0027]) and the hole diameter of the perforated plates increases from the top to the bottom of the housing (Para. [0028]) and wherein in Figure 5(a), the gas inlet holes and outlet holes are drilled circumferentially such that they are small near the inlet path and outer path, and become larger in diameter as they move away from the inlet path and outlet path (i.e. an opening area of distribution openings increases gradually towards a lower stream side from an upper stream side, and the discharge openings are formed in a multiple-layer arrangement so that an opening area increases gradually toward an upper stream side from a lower stream side) (Para. [0025]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim et al. to incorporate the teaching of an opening area of distribution openings increases gradually towards a lower stream side from an upper stream side, and the discharge openings are formed in a multiple-layer arrangement so that an opening area increases gradually toward an upper stream side from a lower stream side as taught by Katagiri et al., as such a structure provides evenly distributed gas exchanges and a higher humidification efficiency can be achieved (Para. [0025]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARMINDO CARVALHO JR. whose telephone number is (571)272-5292. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30a.m.-5p.m..
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/ARMINDO CARVALHO JR./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1729
