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Claims 17-21 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 1/15/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 1-16 in the reply filed on 1/15/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1 and 5-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manzo (US Publication No.: 2018/0187984) in view of Doubina et al (US Publication No.: 2015/0299886 hereinafter “Doubina”).
With respect to claim 1, Manzo discloses a heat exchanger (Fig. 5) comprising: a shell (Fig. 5, shell 502); and a gyroid structure (Figs. 3-5, gyroid structures in figs 3-4 and 514 and 512 can be used within the heat exchanger shell 502) comprising a first plurality of holes forming a first fluid path and a second plurality of holes forming a second fluid path (Para 0048, holes for fluid path from inlet 504 to outlet 506 and inlet 508 to outlet 510), wherein the first fluid path and the second fluid path are mutually sealed off (Para 0048 and Fig. 5), wherein the first plurality of holes is configured to pass a coolant through the first fluid path of the heat exchanger, and wherein the second plurality of holes is configured to pass a fluid through the second fluid path of the heat exchanger (Para 0048, holes for fluid path from inlet 504 to outlet 506 and inlet 508 to outlet 510).
Manzo discloses the heat exchanger and be used for a wide variety of applications (Para 0076-0091) but is silent to the intended use limitation of configured to pass a plating chemistry fluid through the second fluid path.
Doubina teaches a heat exchanger used in a system using a plating chemistry fluid (Para 0108-0109 and 0139). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used the heat exchanger of Manzo within the system having a plating chemistry fluid of Doubina to aid in better controlling the temperature of the reaction (Para 0073 of Manzo).
It is noted that the phrases “is configured to pass…” are statements of intended use and the structure as disclosed by the combined teachings are capable of performing the function. Further, the teachings disclose all of the structural features of the claim.
With respect to claims 5-7, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo also discloses wherein each hole of the first plurality of holes has a first diameter (as per claim 5)(Fig. 16, holes in fluid flow path 1604 and 1610), wherein each hole of the second plurality of holes has a second diameter (as per claim 6)(Fig. 16, holes in fluid flow path 1612 and 1606), wherein the second diameter is larger than the first diameter (as per claim 7)(Fig. 16, holes in 1612 and 1606 are larger than the holes in 1610 and 1604 and Para 0067).
With respect to claim 8, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo also discloses wherein the coolant passes through the first plurality of holes of the first fluid path from a coolant inlet to a coolant outlet ( Fig. 5, coolant inlet 504 on top of shell passes to coolant outlet 506 on the bottom of the shell)
With respect to claim 9, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 8 as discussed above. Manzo also discloses wherein the coolant inlet is disposed on one side of the shell, and wherein the coolant outlet is disposed on another side of the shell (Fig. 5, coolant inlet 504 on top of shell passes to coolant outlet 506 on the bottom of the shell).
With respect to claims 10-11, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 8 as discussed above. Manzo also teaches wherein the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet are disposed on a same side of the shell (as per claim 10) wherein the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet are flush with the same side of the shell (as per claim 11)(Fig. 12, inlet 1208 and outlet 1210 are on a same side of shell 1202 and flush with 1202). It would have been obvious to have modified the inlet and outlet ports of the first embodiment with the embodiment in figure 12 to have a desired flow path.
With respect to claim 12, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo modified by Doubina also discloses wherein the plating chemistry fluid passes through the second plurality of holes of the second fluid path from a plating inlet to a plating outlet (Fig. 5, fluid can pass from inlet 504 to outlet 506).
With respect to claim 13, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 12 as discussed above. Manzo modified by Doubina teach the plating inlet is disposed on a top side of the shell, and wherein the plating outlet is disposed on a bottom side of the shell (Fig. 5, fluid can pass from inlet 504 at the top side of shell 502 to outlet 506 which is at the bottom of 502).
With respect to claim 14, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 12 as discussed above. Manzo modified by Doubina teach wherein the plating inlet and the plating outlet are disposed at a same angle (Fig. 5, 504 and 506 are at a same angle).
With respect to claim 15, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo also teaches wherein the shell is cylindrical (Figs. 10 and 12, shell 1002 and 1202 can be cylindrical).
With respect to claim 16, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo also teaches wherein the shell is a rectangular prism (Fig. 5 and Fig. 11, Para 0021).
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manzo (US Publication No.: 2018/0187984) in view of Doubina et al (US Publication No.: 2015/0299886 hereinafter “Doubina”) and further in view of Satoh et al. (US Publication No.: 2023/0156969 hereinafter “Satoh”).
With respect to claims 2-4, Manzo and Doubina teach the heat exchanger of claim 1 as discussed above. Manzo does not disclose wherein a material of the gyroid structure comprises Tungsten (as per claim 2), Tantalum (as per claim 3) or Zirconium (as per claim 4).
Satoh teaches a gyroid heat exchanger that comprises tungsten (Para 0083), tantalum (Para 0083) and zirconium (Para 0083). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the material of the gyroid of Manzo to be tungsten, tantalum or zirconium as taught by Satoh to have a suitable material property for a particular application (Para 0082).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLAIRE E ROJOHN III whose telephone number is (571)270-5431. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at (571)272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CLAIRE E ROJOHN III/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763