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 1, 2 and 6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “the interval of the flow channel” which should be amended to “an interval of the flow channel.”
Claim 2 recites “the top of the cover plate” which should be amended to “a top of the cover plate.”
Claim 6 recites “the depth of the first guide slot” and “the height of the fin plate” which should be amended to “a depth of the first guide slot” and “a height of the fin plate.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
a heating element in claim 10. In particular, the claim limitation “element” is a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language “heating” without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder “a heating element” is not preceded by a structural modifier.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
In this case, in para 0060, the specification states: the heating element 400 may be provided in a suitable form, such as a thin film heating element. Therefore, the heating element is taken to be a thin film heating element or any other structures in the disclosure which positively perform the function, and functional equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu (US20230173888A1).
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Fig. 4 of Xu
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Annotated Fig. 6 of Xu
Regarding claim 1, Xu teaches an electric heater (20), comprising a heating cavity assembly (10),
wherein the heating cavity assembly (10) comprises a cavity cover plate (15), a cavity bottom plate ([0041] second shell) and a fin plate (30, [0043] flow channel structure 30 is located in the heat exchange cavity 12) arranged between the cavity cover plate (15) and the cavity bottom plate ([0041] a second shell, the second shell being mounted on a second side of the heating cavity assembly 10),
the fin plate (30) comprises a plurality of flow channel areas (43) spaced apart from each other ([0056] FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
and the cavity cover plate (15) is provided with spaced isolation grooves (Annotated Fig. 6) corresponding to the interval of the flow channel areas (43, 44 [0064] To facilitate the mounting of the cover plate 15, as shown in FIG. 4 , the flow channel interval 43 is provided with at least one mounting position 44 at a position that does not interfere with the medium flow channel 31, such as a circular area marked with 44 as shown in FIG. 4).
Regarding claim 2, Xu teaches the electric heater of claim 1,
wherein the cavity cover plate (15) is fixed at least to the top of the fin plate (30, [0064]).
Regarding claim 12, Xu teaches a thermal management system, comprising the electric heater of claim 1 ([0020] an electric heater of an electric vehicle).
Regarding claim 13, Xu teaches an electric vehicle, comprising the thermal management system of claim 12,
the electric vehicle being a hybrid vehicle or a pure electric vehicle ([0020] electric vehicle).
Regarding claim 14, Xu teaches an energy storage system, comprising the thermal management system of claim 12,
the energy storage system being an electrochemical energy storage system employing a storage battery ([0002] battery of an electric vehicle).
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 3, 4, and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US20230173888A1) as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Martin (US20060243431A1) and further in view of She (CN110486976B) with citations made to attached machine translations.
Regarding claim 3, Xu teaches the electric heater of claim 2, but is silent on wherein the cavity cover plate divides a cavity between the cavity cover plate and the cavity bottom plate into a plurality of primary fluid channels by the isolation grooves, and a plurality of secondary fluid channels is formed in each primary fluid channel by the fin plate.
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Fig. 1 of Martin
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Fig. 18 of Martin
Martin teaches wherein the cavity cover plate ([0035, 0052] cover plate 168 is identical to the cover plate 18 with the exception that the alternating embossed ribs 170 and 172; where elements shown in the embodiment in Fig. 1 are understood to apply to the cover plate of Fig. 18) divides a cavity between the cavity cover plate (168) and the cavity bottom plate into (38) a plurality of primary fluid channels (174) by the isolation grooves (170, 172).
Xu and Martin are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heaters. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu to incorporate the teachings of Martin to have a cavity cover plate that divides a cavity between the cavity cover plate and cavity bottom plate into a plurality of channels by isolation grooves in order to improve performance by increasing the attack angle at which air, being a fluid, hits the fin plate (Martin [0059]).
Xu and Martin are silent on a plurality of secondary fluid channels is formed in each primary fluid channel by the fin plate.
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Fig. 5 of She
She teaches a plurality of secondary fluid channels is formed in each primary fluid channel by the fin plate ([0067] as shown in FIG. 5, a single high pressure channel plate 50 and a single low pressure channel plate 60 form a complete throttle refrigeration unit, with arrow X, Y indicating the direction of flow of the working fluid; where the windings in plate 60 define further channels within the windings of plate 50).
Xu, Martin, and She are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heat exchangers. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu and Martin to incorporate the teachings of She to have a plurality of secondary fluid channels within the primary fluid channels in order to be able to adjust the fluid channels to increase heat exchange amongst the fluids (She [0022]).
Regarding claim 4, Xu, Martin, and She teach the electric heater of claim 3, and Xu teaches
wherein the cavity (10) comprises an inlet flow channel (41) and an outlet flow channel (42), but is silent on silent on the cavity cover plate is provided with an inlet communicating with the inlet flow channel and an outlet communicating with the outlet flow channel and the cavity cover plate is provided with a guide structure for guiding a fluid medium from the inlet flow channel uniformly flow to each of the primary fluid channels.
Martin teaches the cavity cover plate (168, 18) is provided with an inlet communicating with the inlet flow channel and an outlet communicating with the outlet flow channel (114, 116 [059] Fig. 18),
and the cavity cover plate (168) is provided with a guide structure ([0035, 0052] sidewall flange 22, show in Fig. 1 on cover plate 18; where cover plate 168 is identical to the cover plate 18 with the exception that the alternating embossed ribs 170 and 172) for guiding a fluid medium from the inlet flow channel uniformly flow to each of the primary fluid channels (174 [0052]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu and She to incorporate the teachings of Martin to have the cavity cover plate have an inlet flow and outlet flow channel with a guide structure to define a variety of flow paths to guide the fluid (Martin [0052]).
Regarding claim 8, Xu, Martin, and She teach the electric heater of claim 3, and Xu teaches wherein the fin plate (30) comprises a plurality of rows of fins extending in a length direction, and adjacent rows of the fins are staggered (Fig. 4 431, 432, 433, 434 being a plurality of rows, with staggering).
Regarding claim 9, Xu, Martin, and She teach the electric heater of claim 3, but Xu and She are silent on wherein the cavity cover plate is provided with end grooves distributed at both ends of the fin plate, and the end grooves are fixed to the cavity bottom plate to separate the inlet flow channel from the outlet flow channel.
Martin teaches wherein the cavity cover plate (168, 18) is provided with end grooves (26) distributed at both ends of the fin plate (16),
and the end grooves (26) are fixed to the cavity bottom plate (38) to separate the inlet flow channel from the outlet flow channel (Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu and She to incorporate the teachings of Martin to have the cavity cover plate with end grooves at the end of the fin plate that are fixed to the cavity bottom plate to separate the inlet and outlet flow channels in order to define a variety of flow paths to guide the fluid (Martin [0052]).
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US20230173888A1) in view of Martin (US20060243431A1) and She (CN110486976B) as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Tong (US20170294693A1).
Regarding claim 5, Xu, Martin, and She teach the electric heater of claim 4, but are silent on wherein the guide structure comprises a first guide slot extending from one end of the cavity cover plate towards the other end.
Tong teaches wherein the guide structure (11a) comprises a first guide slot (11a) extending from one end of the cavity cover plate towards the other end ([0057]).
Xu, Martin, She, and Tong are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heaters. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu, Martin, and She to incorporate the teachings of Tong to have a guide structure with a first guide slot in order to improve the heat dissipation efficiency to a maximum in a limited space through reasonably designing the shape of the heating device (Tong [0056]).
Regarding claim 6, Xu, Martin, She, and Tong teach the electric heater of claim 5, Xu, Martin, and She are silent on wherein the depth of the first guide slot is smaller than the height of the fin plate and/or the first guide slot is gradually closer to an edge of the inlet flow channel from said one end of the cavity cover plate towards said other end.
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Fig. 5 of Tong
Tong teaches wherein the depth of the first guide slot (11a) is smaller than the height of the fin plate (12a, Fig. 5) and/or the first guide slot is gradually closer to an edge of the inlet flow channel from said one end of the cavity cover plate towards said other end.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu, Martin, and She to incorporate the teachings of Tong to have the depth of the first guide slot be smaller than the height of the fin plate in order to improve the heat dissipation efficiency to a maximum in a limited space through reasonably designing the shape of the heating device (Tong [0056]).
Regarding claim 7, Xu, Martin, She, and Tong teach the electric heater of claim 5, Xu, She, and Tong are silent on wherein an end of the first guide slot is spaced apart from an end of the inlet flow channel, and a second guide slot for blocking the fluid medium is arranged between the end of the first guide slot and the end of the inlet flow channel; and/or, the first guide slot has portions with different depths along the extension direction of the first guide slot.
Martin teaches wherein an end of the first guide slot (Fig. 1 one of the lateral sidewalls 22) is spaced apart from an end of the inlet flow channel (114), and a second guide slot (Fig, 1 one of the longitudinal of sidewalls 22) for blocking the fluid medium is arranged between the end of the first guide slot (Fig. 1 one of the lateral sidewalls 22) and the end of the inlet flow channel (114); and/or, the first guide slot has portions with different depths along the extension direction of the first guide slot.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu, She, and Tong to incorporate the teachings of Martin to have an end of the first guide slot be apart from the inlet flow channel and a second guide slot for blocking fluid between the first guide slot and the inlet flow channel in order to define a variety of flow paths to guide the fluid (Martin [0052]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US20230173888A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dang (CN211352461U) and Tyler (US 20150072209 A1).
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Annotated Fig. 1B of Xu
Regarding claim 10, Xu teaches the electric heater of claim 1,
comprising an upper cover (Annotated Fig. 1b) disposed at an upper side of the heating cavity assembly (10), but is silent on a lower cover disposed at a lower side of the heating cavity assembly, a heating element disposed between the heating cavity assembly and the lower cover, a PCB assembly disposed between the heating cavity assembly and the upper cover, a blade type high-voltage connector connected to the PCB assembly in a manner of passing through the upper cover, and an electrode connecting the heating element and the PCB assembly, wherein the cavity cover plate and the cavity bottom plate are each provided with an electrode via hole for allowing the electrode to pass through.
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Fig. 2 of Dang
Dang teaches a lower cover (17, 52) disposed at a lower side of the heating cavity assembly (11),
a heating element (one of the heating cores 11) disposed between the heating cavity assembly (plurality of heating cores 11, Fig. 2) and the lower cover (17),
and an electrode (41, 42) connecting the heating element (11) and the PCB assembly (21),
wherein the cavity cover plate and the cavity bottom plate (51, 52) are each provided with an electrode via hole for allowing the electrode to pass through (41, 42).
Xu and Dang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heat exchangers. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu to incorporate the teachings of Dang to have a lower cover at a lower side of the heating cavity assembly, a heating element between the heating cavity assembly and the lower cover, and an electrode connected to the PCB and heating element that passes through a hole in the cavity cover plate and cavity bottom plate in order to have heater that is easier to install, has reduced installation space, and enables the heating core to be electrically connected to the PCB board by inserting positive and negative electrodes into the PCB board (Dang [0028]).
Xu and Dang are silent on a PCB assembly disposed between the heating cavity assembly and the upper cover, a blade type high-voltage connector connected to the PCB assembly in a manner of passing through the upper cover.
Tyler teaches a PCB assembly (58) disposed between the heating cavity assembly (50) and the upper cover (52), a blade type high-voltage connector connected to the PCB assembly ([0099] the connectors 120 and 121 are bladed connectors configured to couple with the PCB assembly 58 via bladed portions 122 and 123) in a manner of passing through the upper cover (52).
Xu, Dang, and Tyler are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heat exchangers. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu and Dang to incorporate the teachings of Tyler to have a PCB between the heating cavity and upper cover with a blade type connector in order to ensure proper connection between the PCB and the power source (Tyler [0099]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US20230173888A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Xu (CN110197935B), referred to as Xu ‘935.
Regarding claim 11, Xu teaches the electric heater of claim 1, but is silent on wherein the cavity cover plate, the cavity bottom plate and the fin plate are all stamped parts and fixed to each other by brazing.
Xu ‘935 teaches wherein the cavity cover plate, the cavity bottom plate and the fin plate are all stamped parts and fixed to each other by brazing ([0031-0032] the periphery of the cover plate 1 may be stamped with the flange 1b, and optionally, the periphery of the base plate 2 may also be stamped with the flange 2 b; fixed in place by brazing).
Xu and Xu '935 are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of heat exchangers. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to have modified Xu to incorporate the teachings of Xu '935 to stamp and braze the components together in order to facilitate contact between the components and ensure a fixed relationship between the components (Xu '935 [0032]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIGAIL RHUE whose telephone number is (571)272-4615. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached at (571) 270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABIGAIL H RHUE/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 10/2/2026
