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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 4-5 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/25/2026.
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) 1-3 and 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otani (US 20240125466 A1) in view of Hirokawa (JP H0642406 A).
Regarding claim 1, Otani teaches of:
A heat generating device comprising:
a heat generating container (Fig. 1, 11) configured to allow a hydrogen-based gas containing hydrogen to be introduced (Fig. 1, hydrogen based gas is introduced into 11 via opening in the bottom of 11);
a heat generating element (Fig. 1, 12) provided inside the heat generating container and configured to generate heat by occluding and discharging the hydrogen (The heat generating element 12 occludes hydrogen atoms from the hydrogen based gas introduced to container 11 and discharges the hydrogen atoms into the pipe 14 to generate heat; ¶ [0038], "At this point, in the container 11, the hydrogen-based gas is delivered into the gas path 14 connected to upper portions of the reactants 12 after having flowed in the reactants 12 through the mesh-shaped clearances thereof. At the same time, the reactants 12 are heated by action of the heaters 13. When the reactants 12 are, as described above, heated by the heaters 13 in a state in which the hydrogen-based gas has been supplied into the container 11, hydrogen atoms are stored in the metal nanoparticles provided on the reactants 12, and the reactants 12 generate an excess heat of equal to or higher than the temperature of heating by the heater 13.");
a first heat removal path configured to allow a first heat removal fluid heated by the heat generating element to flow therethrough (Fig. 1, 22)
Otani fails to explicitly teach:
a second heat removal path configured to allow a second heat removal fluid to flow therethrough in a direction opposite to a direction in which the first heat removal fluid flows.
Hirokawa teaches of:
a second heat removal path (Fig. 2, 63) configured to allow a second heat removal fluid to flow therethrough in a direction opposite to a direction in which the first heat removal fluid flows (63 flows in an opposite direction to first heat removal path 62)
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
replace 21, 22, 23 and 24 of Otani with the separator, pump and coils shown in Figs. 1-2 of Hirokawa made up of elements 30-32 and 61-65 and position the coils of Hirokawa so that they are within 11 of Otani with 64 and 65 of Hirokawa at the top of 11
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it increases the contact area of the water with the heating medium within 11, improving the heat transfer
Regarding claim 2, the combined teachings teach of the heat generating device according to claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the first heat removal path includes a high-temperature heat removal pipe spirally provided around the heat generating element (Hirokawa, Fig. 2, 63), and the second heat removal path includes a low-temperature heat removal pipe spirally provided around the first heat removal path (Hirokawa, Fig. 2, 62).
Regarding claim 3, the combined teachings teach of the heat generating device according to claim 2, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the heat generating container has a cylindrical side wall (Otani, ¶ [0027], “The container 11 is, as a whole, formed in a cylindrical shape”), the high-temperature heat removal pipe has a high-temperature inlet provided at a lower end of the side wall and a high-temperature outlet provided at an upper end of the side wall (See combination made in the rejection of claim 1 above, the inlet for 63 is at the bottom of container 11 and the outlet for 63 is 65 which is at the top of 11), and
the low-temperature heat removal pipe has a low-temperature inlet provided at the upper end (inlet for 62 is 64 which in the combined teachings is at the top of 11) and a low-temperature outlet provided at the lower end (the outlet for 62 is at the inlet for 63 at the bottom of 11).
Regarding claim 6, the combined teachings teach of the heat generating device according to claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the heat generating element heats the first heat removal fluid by at least one heating method selected from conduction, convection (Otani, ¶ [0041], “That is, the heat generated by the reactants 12 is transmitted to the water pipe 22a by convection (heat transfer) by the hydrogen-based gas in the container 11”), and radiation.
Regarding claim 7, the combined teachings teach of the heat generating device according to claim 1, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the first heat removal path is supplied with water as the first heat removal fluid (both the first and second heat removal paths are supplied with water), and
the water is heated by the heat generating element, and steam or warm water is discharged from the first heat removal path (Otani, Fig. 1, see steam exiting 21 from the heat removal path).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J GIORDANO whose telephone number is (571)272-8940. The examiner can normally be reached M-Fr 8 AM - 5 PM EST.
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/MICHAEL JAMES GIORDANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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