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 under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the ship, compressor, and refrigerant circulation line must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) 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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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 Objections
Claims 1-6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 14: “reliquefied gas therefrom” should read “reliquefied gas from the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line”
Claims 2 and 6 are also objected to by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim 3 is also objected to by virtue of their dependency on claim 2.
Claim 4 is also objected to by virtue of their dependency on claim 3.
Claim 5 is also objected to by virtue of their dependency on claim 4.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, line 10 recites, “in the event of a trip of the reliquefaction system” which is unclear to the Examiner if “trip” is intended to mean a cycle or an indication of a problem within the reliquefaction system as no further definition of the term “trip” is provided in the specification. For purposes of examination, the Examiner will interpret the term “trip” to mean a cycle of the reliquefaction system.
Claims 2 and 6 are also rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim 3 is also rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 2.
Claim 4 is also rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 3.
Claim 5 is also rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 4.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et al. (KR 102246344), hereinafter Jang in view of Wook et al. (KR 101938176), hereinafter Wook, and Jin et al. (KR 20180082107, hereinafter Jin.
Regarding claim 1, Jang discloses a method of a reliquefaction system for ships (Fig. 1, gas
treatment system 1; Abstract, The present invention relates to a gas treatment system and a ship including the same… A boil-off gas liquefaction line for transferring the boil-off gas downstream of at least one stage of the compressor to the liquefied gas storage tank via the pressure reducing valve and the cooling unit; A gas-liquid separator for gas-liquid separating the boil-off gas that has been cooled or depressurized by a refrigerant and transferring the liquid phase to the liquefied gas storage tank),
wherein boil-off generated from a liquefied gas stored in a storage tank of a ship is compressed
by a compressor, cooled and reliquefied through a heat exchanger along a reliquefaction line, and returned to the storage tank after passing through a gas-liquid separator (Fig. 1, liquefied gas storage tank 10, compressor 20, compression end 21, boil-off gas heat exchanger 30, cooler 51, evaporative gas supply line L10, evaporative gas liquefaction line L20, 60; Abstract, The present invention relates to a gas treatment system and a ship including the same; Pg. 4, an evaporative gas liquefaction line (L20) is connected to the liquid main, so that at least the liquid evaporated gas liquefied by the pressure reducing valve 40 among the pressure reducing valve 40 and the cooling unit 50 is transferred through the liquid main to the liquefied gas storage tank. (10) It can be made to flow into the interior), and
wherein the reliquefaction system is provided with a pressure compensation line extending from a downstream side of the compressor to an upside of the gas-liquid separator without passing through the heat exchanger (Fig. 1, pressure line L23; Pg. 12, The pressurization line L23 allows the boil-off gas compressed by at least one stage of the compressor 20 to flow into the gas-liquid separator 60 by bypassing the cooling unit 50 and the pressure reducing valve 40).
However, Jang does not disclose the method to include a blow-down method, and
a nitrogen blanket line along which nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line.
Wook teaches include a blow-down method (Pg. 19, Therefore, the lubricating oil in the gas-liquid separator 700 can be discharged through nitrogen purging), and
a nitrogen blanket line along which nitrogen is supplied to different positions within a reliquefaction system (Fig. 10, nitrogen supply line NL, nitrogen valves 583; A nitrogen supply line NL may be provided so as to be merged into the third supply line L3 of the upstream side of the heat exchanger 100 to discharge the lubricating oil in the gas-liquid separator 700 by nitrogen purge. A plurality of nitrogen supply lines may be provided at different positions as required).
Jang fails to teach the method to include a blow-down method, and a nitrogen blanket line along which nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line, however Wook teaches that it is a known method in the art of LNG reliquefaction systems to include the method to include a blow-down method, and a nitrogen blanket line along which nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line. This is strong evidence that modifying Jang as claimed would produce predictable results (i.e. removing impurities from the system piping to improve overall system efficiencies). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jang by Wook and arrive at the claimed invention since all claimed elements were known in the art and one having ordinary skill in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no changes in their respective functions and the combination would have yielded the predictable result of removing impurities from the system piping to improve overall system efficiencies.
Further, Jang as modified does not explicitly disclose wherein, in the event of a trip of the reliquefaction system, nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line along the nitrogen blanket line and is delivered to the downstream side of the compressor to pass through the heat exchanger along the reliquefaction line such that the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line are blown down to remove compressed gas, and reliquefied gas therefrom while being subjected to nitrogen (N2) purging.
Jin teaches wherein, in the event of a trip of the reliquefaction system, nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line along the nitrogen blanket line and is delivered to the downstream side of the compressor to pass through the heat exchanger along the reliquefaction line such that the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line are blown down to remove compressed gas, and reliquefied gas therefrom while being subjected to nitrogen (N2) purging (Fig. 2, purging part 53; Pg. 11; The condenser 50 may be provided with a spreader 53 as shown in FIG. The purge part 53 can remove the liquefied gas and the evaporated gas remaining in the condenser 50. [ The condenser 50 can operate to condense the evaporation gas into the liquefied gas when the evaporation gas of the surplus is generated. Even if there is no evaporation gas of the surplus portion and the evaporation gas and the liquefied gas are not introduced into the condenser 50, (50) may contain evaporative gas and liquefied gas).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Jang as modified to include the step or limitation of wherein, in the event of a trip of the reliquefaction system, nitrogen is supplied to the pressure compensation line along the nitrogen blanket line and is delivered to the downstream side of the compressor to pass through the heat exchanger along the reliquefaction line such that the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line are blown down to remove compressed gas, and reliquefied gas therefrom while being subjected to nitrogen (N2) purging as taught by Jin. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to remove the gases remaining in the heat exchanger in order to prevent the occurrence of an accident (Jin, Pg. 11).
Regarding claim 2, Jang as modified disclose the blow-down method according to claim 1 (see the combination of references used in the), wherein the reliquefaction system comprises:
a bypass line connecting a downstream side of the heat exchanger to the storage tank without passing through the gas-liquid separator (Jang, Fig. 1, gas-liquid separation bypass line L22; Pg. 13, A gas-liquid separation bypass line L22 bypassing the gas-liquid separator 60 may be provided in the boil-off gas liquefaction line L20);
a first valve disposed on the reliquefaction line downstream of a junction between the reliquefaction line and the bypass line (Jang, Fig. 1, pressure reducing valve 40; Pg. 11, the cooling unit 50 and the pressure reducing valve 40 are provided in series in the boil-off gas liquefaction line L20); and
a second valve disposed on the bypass line (See annotated Fig. 1 below, second valve A), and
wherein the compressed gas and the reliquefied gas removed from the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line and the nitrogen are discharged along the bypass line (Jang, Pg. 13, A gas-liquid separation bypass line L22 bypassing the gas-liquid separator 60 may be provided in the boil-off gas liquefaction line L20. The gas-liquid separation bypass line (L22) can be branched upstream of the gas-liquid separator 60 in the boil-off gas liquefaction line (L20) and connected to the downstream of the gas-liquid separator (60), and the engine is running, the boil-off gas liquefaction line (L20). According to variables such as the flow rate of the boil-off gas of, the boil-off gas bypasses the gas-liquid separator 60 from the downstream of the pressure reducing valve 40 and is directly transferred to the liquefied gas storage tank 10. For example, when the engine load is large and excessive evaporation gas is not generated, the evaporation gas is sufficiently liquefied and thus separation of the gas phase may become unnecessary, and thus the gas-liquid separation bypass line L22 may be utilized. In addition, even when the boil-off gas is supercooled as described above, if the gas-liquid separation bypass line (L22) is used, there is no need to inject the boil-off gas through the pressurization line (L23) to the gas-liquid separator (60), As it flows into the storage tank 10, it may have an effect of suppressing the generation of boil-off gas in the liquefied gas storage tank 10. When the boil-off gas flows along the gas-liquid separation bypass line L22 as described above, gaseous emission through the gaseous discharge line L60 may be omitted or minimized: Further, the teachings of Jang as modified at least imply the compressed gas and the reliquefied gas removed from the heat exchanger and the reliquefaction line and the nitrogen are discharged along the bypass line in certain situation since it has been held in considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom (MPEP 2144.01)). Further, the limitations of claim 2 are the result of the modification of references used in the rejection of claim 1 above.
PNG
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Annotated Fig. 1 of Jang
Regarding claim 3, Jang as modified disclose the blow-down method according to claim 2 (see the combination of references used in the rejection of claim 2 above), wherein the reliquefaction system further comprises:
a fourth valve disposed on the nitrogen blanket line (Wook, Fig. 10, nitrogen valves 583); and
a fifth valve disposed on the pressure compensation line downstream of the junction between the pressure compensation line and the nitrogen blanket line (See annotated Fig. 1 below, fifth valve B).
However, Jang as modified does not explicitly disclose a third valve disposed on the pressure compensation line upstream of a junction between the pressure compensation line and the nitrogen blanket line.
Wook teaches the use of a plurality of nitrogen valves in a nitrogen purging system for a LNG reliquefaction system (Pg. 19, A nitrogen supply line NL may be provided so as to be merged into the third supply line L3 of the upstream side of the heat exchanger 100 to discharge the lubricating oil in the gas-liquid separator 700 by nitrogen purge. A plurality of nitrogen supply lines may be provided at different positions as required. A nitrogen valve 583 for regulating the flow rate and opening and closing of the fluid is provided on the nitrogen supply line NL and the nitrogen valve 583 is normally kept closed when the nitrogen supply line NL is not used, Liquid separator 700. When it is necessary to use the nitrogen line NL, the nitrogen valve 583 is opened. A plurality of nitrogen valves 583 may be provided).
Jang as modified fails to teach a third valve disposed on the pressure compensation line upstream of a junction between the pressure compensation line and the nitrogen blanket line, however Wook teaches that it is a known method in the art of LNG reliquefaction systems to include of a plurality of nitrogen valves in a nitrogen purging system for a LNG reliquefaction system. This is strong evidence that modifying Jang as modified as claimed would produce predictable results (i.e. flow control of nitrogen purging to allow for deliberate purging of specific flow paths within the system to improve overall system efficiencies). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jang as modified by Wook and arrive at the claimed invention since all claimed elements were known in the art and one having ordinary skill in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no changes in their respective functions and the combination would have yielded the predictable result of flow control of nitrogen purging to allow for deliberate purging of specific flow paths within the system to improve overall system efficiencies.
PNG
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580
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Annotated Fig. 1 of Jang
Regarding claim 4, Jang as modified disclose the blow-down method according to claim 3 (see the combination of references used in the rejection of claim 3 above), wherein a refrigerant circulated along a refrigerant circulation line is supplied to the heat exchanger to cool the compressed gas, and uncompressed boil-off gas from the storage tank is supplied to the compressor after passing through the heat exchanger such that the compressed gas is cooled in the heat exchanger through heat exchange with the refrigerant and the uncompressed boil-off gas (Jang, Fig. 1, cooling unit 50, refrigerant circulation line L50; Further, Fig. 1 of Jang depicts two heat exchanges used in conjunction for the liquefaction of the BOG as the BOG is first sent through L10 to boil-off gas heat exchanger to exchange heat with compressed BOG downstream of the compressor 20 in L20, this compressed BOG is then sent to cooler 51 where the compressed and cooled BOG exchanges heat with a refrigerant).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang as modified by Wook and Jin as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (KR 101245746), hereinafter Lee.
Regarding claim 5, Jang as modified disclose the blow-down method according to claim 4 (see the combination of references used in the rejection of claim 4 above), wherein the refrigerant circulated along the refrigerant circulation line is nitrogen (Jang, Pg. 9, At this time, the refrigerant used by the cooling unit 50 may be nitrogen or a mixed refrigerant).
However, Jang as modified does not heat exchanger is a brazed aluminum heat exchanger (BAHE).
Lee teaches heat exchanger is a brazed aluminum heat exchanger (BAHE) (Fig. 1, condenser 14; Pg. 4, Here, the condenser 14 may be a multi-stream heat exchanger (multi-stream heat exchanger). Specifically, the present embodiment can be applied to the implementation of the condenser 14 in the form of a, ALPEMA (the brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger manufacturers' association) of the multi-stream of aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger (multi-stream brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger) can be used).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the heat exchanger of the method of Jang as modified to be brazed aluminum heat exchanger as taught by Lee. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to reduce the number of heat exchangers required by the system to improve system simplicity.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang as modified by Wook and Jin as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (KR 20160044103), hereinafter Lee ‘103.
Regarding claim 6, Jang as modified disclose the blow-down method according to claim 1 (see the combination of references used in the rejection of claim 1 above).
However, Jang as modified does not explicitly disclose wherein, upon delivery of the reliquefied gas from the gas-liquid separator to the storage tank, a pressure in the gas-liquid separator is maintained by flash gas generated from the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator, and, when the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator is in a subcooled state and fails to generate enough flash gas to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator, boil-off gas or nitrogen is supplied to the gas-liquid separator along the pressure compensation line to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator.
Lee ‘103 teaches wherein, upon delivery of the reliquefied gas from the gas-liquid separator to the storage tank, a pressure in the gas-liquid separator is maintained by flash gas generated from the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator, and, when the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator is in a subcooled state and fails to generate enough flash gas to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator, boil-off gas or nitrogen is supplied to the gas-liquid separator along the pressure compensation line to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator (Fig. 2, phase separator 42b, blanket gas supply device 80, Pg. 10, In an embodiment of the present invention, a blanket gas supply device 80 may be further included. The blanket gas supply device 80 is connected to the phase separator 42b and can supply the blanket gas to the phase separator 42b when the pressure of the phase separator 42b becomes lower than a preset pressure. Here, the predetermined pressure may be a pressure of 25 to 30 bar. That is, when the phase separator 42b is below the preset pressure, the blanket gas supply device 80 supplies the blanket gas to the phase separator 42b so that the phase separator 42b can maintain the preset pressure So that the phase separator 42b can smoothly supply the fuel to the consumer 20. The blanket gas supply device 80 may further include a blanket gas supply line 81 and may be connected to the phase separator 42b through the blanket gas supply line 81 and may be connected to the blanket gas supply line 81, It is possible to supply the blanket gas to the phase separator 42b).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Jang as modified to include the step or limitation of wherein, upon delivery of the reliquefied gas from the gas-liquid separator to the storage tank, a pressure in the gas-liquid separator is maintained by flash gas generated from the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator, and, when the reliquefied gas supplied to the gas-liquid separator is in a subcooled state and fails to generate enough flash gas to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator, boil-off gas or nitrogen is supplied to the gas-liquid separator along the pressure compensation line to maintain the pressure in the gas-liquid separator as taught by Lee ‘103. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to maintain a desired pressure within the gas-liquid separator to prevent undesired reliquefaction from occurring in the phase separator to improve overall system efficiencies.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Edwards (US 20150000334) discloses a similar blow-down method of a reliquefaction system for ships.
Tadano et al. (WO 2019064347) discloses a similar blow-down method of a reliquefaction system for ships.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEVON T MOORE whose telephone number is 571-272-6555. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Frantz Jules can be reached at 571-272-6681. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEVON MOORE/Examiner, Art Unit 3763 January 13th, 2026
/FRANTZ F JULES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763