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
Note while an election of species could have been done between Figs. 1 and 3, it has not to expedite prosecution. Accordingly, no claims have been withdrawn from consideration.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the unlabeled rectangular box(es) shown in Figs. 1, 3 should be provided with descriptive text labels, especially those that have to do with the auxiliary compressor.
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 1-4 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1, last line “a turbine” repeats an element recited on line 3 of the claim. Accordingly “a turbine” should be –the turbine--. See also claim 3 for the same issue. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 4 does not further limit claim 2. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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, 2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hermitte (2,365,551). Hermitte teaches (1) A method for increasing the capacity of a gas turbine, comprising: providing a gas turbine comprising a compressor section having a first compressor 1, 21, a combustion chamber 6, and a turbine 13; compressing air using a second compressor 10 [fan 10 pressurizes/compresses the air, see e.g. col. 2, lines 27-42] to produce compressed air 8 from the second compressor; feeding the compressed air 8 from the second compressor into the first compressor 1, 21 [Fig. 3] at a location 23 between the inlet 2 and outlet 5 of the first compressor 1, 21 to produce a combined compressed air stream exiting from the outlet of the first compressor 5; passing the compressed air exiting from the first compressor to the combustion chamber 6; feeding a fuel 7 to the combustion chamber; combusting the compressed air and the fuel in the combustion chamber to produce a gas stream; and passing the gas stream through a turbine 13 to rotate the turbine. (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port [where 4 joins the compression sections 1, 21 is a port].
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lagelbauer (2,626,502) . Lagelbauer teaches (1) A method for increasing the capacity of a gas turbine, comprising: providing a gas turbine comprising a compressor section having a first compressor 11, 12 together, a combustion chamber 16, and a turbine 10; compressing air using a second compressor 24 to produce compressed air from the second compressor; feeding the compressed air from the second compressor 24 into the first compressor 11, 12 at a location between the inlet 60 and outlet 61 of the first compressor to produce a combined compressed air stream exiting from the outlet of the first compressor; passing the compressed air exiting from the first compressor to the combustion chamber 16; feeding a fuel 66 to the combustion chamber; combusting the compressed air and the fuel in the combustion chamber to produce a gas stream; and passing the gas stream through a turbine 10 to rotate the turbine. (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air from the second compressor 24 into the first compressor comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor 24 into the first compressor through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port [flow from 24 connects to bleed / extraction 28].
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Skog (5,680,752). Skog [Fig. 1a] teaches (1) A method for increasing the capacity of a gas turbine, comprising: providing a gas turbine comprising a compressor section having a first compressor C, 20, a combustion chamber BK, and a turbine GT; compressing air using a second compressor AC to produce compressed air 18 from the second compressor; feeding the compressed air 18 from the second compressor AC into the first compressor C at a location 20 between the inlet 8 and outlet of the first compressor to produce a combined compressed air stream exiting from the outlet of the first compressor [Fig. 1a]; passing the compressed air exiting from the first compressor to the combustion chamber; feeding a fuel to the combustion chamber [col. 2, lines 49-52]; combusting the compressed air and the fuel in the combustion chamber to produce a gas stream; and passing the gas stream through a turbine GT to rotate the turbine. (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air 18 from the second compressor AC into the first compressor comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor C through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port 20.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al (2017/0016395). Kim et al teach (1) A method for increasing the capacity of a gas turbine, comprising: providing a gas turbine comprising a compressor section having a first compressor 16, a combustion chamber 24, and a turbine 28; compressing air 14 using a second compressor 108 to produce compressed air from the second compressor 108; feeding the compressed air 200, 202 from the second compressor into the first compressor 16 at a location [right 202, note 12 is the inlet] between the inlet 12 and outlet 18 of the first compressor 16 to produce a combined compressed air stream exiting from the outlet of the first compressor; passing the compressed air exiting from the first compressor to the combustion chamber 24; feeding a fuel 22 to the combustion chamber; combusting the compressed air and the fuel in the combustion chamber to produce a gas stream; and passing the gas stream through a turbine 28 to rotate the turbine. (3) [claim 3 incorporates all the limitations of claim 1, which are already cited above and further includes] … passing the gas stream through a turbine 28 to rotate the turbine 28 and producing an exhaust gas stream 34 from the turbine; and passing the exhaust gas stream to a heat recovery steam generator 36 [¶ 0018]. (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port [right 202].
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over any of Hermitte (2,365,551), Lagelbauer (2,626,502), and Skog (5,680,752), as applied above, and further in view of Kim et al (2017/0016395). Claim 3 incorporates all the limitations of claim 1, which are already cited above. The applied prior art all teach producing an exhaust gas stream from the turbine but do not teach passing the exhaust gas stream to a heat recovery steam generator. Note Lagelbauer also teaches the applicability to steam turbine cycles [col. 5, lines 65]. Kim et al teach passing the gas stream through a turbine 28 to rotate the turbine 28 and producing an exhaust gas stream 34 from the turbine; and passing the exhaust gas stream to a heat recovery steam generator 36 [¶ 0018], in order to extract additional heat from the exhaust gas. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to pass the exhaust gas stream [from the turbine] to a heat recovery steam generator, as taught by Kim et al, in order to recover additional heat from the exhaust gases [¶ 0018], e.g. in a manner suitable for using a steam turbine.
Claim(s) 2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over any of Hermitte (2,365,551), Lagelbauer (2,626,502), and Skog (5,680,752), Kim et al (2017/0016395) references individually or combined with Kim et al, as applied above, and further in view of Either Millhaem et al (11,047,306) OR Rasmussen (10,443,622) and Dyer (8,522,521). The prior art were already applied as teaching (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor into the first compressor through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port. For an alternative treatment of this limitation, Millhaem et al also teach (2,4) wherein said feeding the compressed air 64 from the second compressor into the first compressor 16 comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor 14 into the first compressor 16 through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port 29, 30 [col. 3, lines 19-37], which is used in the reverse direction so as to reduce fuel nozzle coking [col. 4, lines 54-59]. Rasmussen also teaches feeding the compressed air 122 from the second compressor 120, 122 [ground air/auxiliary power unit (apu), which are inherently compressed, see Dyer col. 2, lines 23-56, which shows these types of air sources are from a compressor] into the first compressor 252 comprises: feeding the compressed air from the second compressor 122, 120 into the first compressor through a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port 132 or openings for airflow122 below 132 [Fig. 1]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ a pre-existing bleed port or extraction port, as the air feeding location into the first compressor, as taught by Millhaem et al or Rasmussen (with Dyer), in order to use fewer connections / ports than by adding additional ports to perform the task or in order to save costs when adapting to existing engines or to facilitate easier retrofit by reusing existing openings.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TED KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-4829. The Examiner can be reached on regular business hours before 5:00 pm, Monday to Thursday and every other Friday.
The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571-273-8300.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Boyer Ashley, can be reached at 571-272-4502. Alternate inquiries to Technology Center 3700 can be made via 571-272-3700.
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/Ted Kim/
Telephone
571-272-4829
Primary Examiner
Fax
571-273-8300
August 28, 2025