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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/5/2024 and 1/9/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The term “periodic” is “consisting of or containing a series of repeated stages”. It seems applicant is defining the term in the same way.
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.
Claims 1, 3 and 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang US 8562295 in view of Wiese et al. US 2873944.
Regarding claim 1, Liang discloses: A turbine blade (Fig 5: 30) for a gas turbine engine (Col 1, line 16), the turbine blade comprising:
a blade body (Fig 6: Full body of blade) extending in a spanwise direction between and to a base end and a tip end (Spanwise direction is from root to tip),
the blade body extending in a chordwise direction between and to a leading edge and a trailing edge (Fig 5: Chordwise direction is from leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the blade body including a pressure side wall (31), a suction side wall (32), an intermediate wall (33), and at least one core body portion (41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55),
the pressure side wall or the suction side wall forming a hot wall of the blade body (Inner wall of 31 and 32 form the hot wall of the blade body),
the hot wall extends between and to the leading edge and the trailing edge (Inner wall of 31 and 32 extend between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the intermediate wall is disposed between the pressure side wall and the suction side wall (33 is between 31 and 32), and
the intermediate wall extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge (33 extends between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)), and
the at least one core body portion is disposed between the hot wall and the intermediate wall (41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 is between the inner wall of 31 and 32 and inner walls of 33).
However, Liang is silent as to:
the at least one core body portion forms at least one periodic passage through the blade body,
the at least one periodic passage includes at least one hot wall segment and at least one cold wall segment,
the hot wall segment is further formed by the hot wall and spaced from the intermediate wall by the at least one core body portion, and
the cold wall segment is further formed by the intermediate wall and spaced from the hot wall by the at least one core body portion.
From the same field of endeavor, Wiese teaches:
the at least one core body portion (Fig 3: 26 and 28) forms at least one periodic passage through the blade body (26 and 28 form a periodic passage),
the at least one periodic passage includes at least one hot wall segment (Segment of 26 and 28 has a segment of 13 and 14 (hot wall)) and at least one cold wall segment (Segment of 26 and 28 has a segment of 21 (cold wall)),
the hot wall segment is further formed by the hot wall and spaced from the intermediate wall by the at least one core body portion (Hot wall segment of 13 and 14 is spaced from 21), and
the cold wall segment is further formed by the intermediate wall and spaced from the hot wall by the at least one core body portion (Cold wall segment formed by 21 is spaced from 13 and 14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Liang’s core ribs to be a periodic passage forming insert as taught by Wiese to provide improved blade cooling, and to provide a cooled blade which is particularly well adapted to withstand the strains of use and which is practicable from the standpoint of fabrication (Col 1, line 39-44).
Regarding claim 3, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where Wiese teaches:
wherein the at least one periodic passage is periodic in the chordwise direction (Fig 3: Passages of 28 and 26 is periodic in the chordwise direction).
Regarding claim 8, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where Liang discloses:
wherein the pressure side wall, the suction side wall, the intermediate wall, and the at least one core body portion form a unitary component of the blade body (Fig 5: 32, 31, 33 are a unitary component of the blade body).
Regarding claim 9, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where Wiese teaches:
wherein the blade body further includes a plurality of ribs including a first rib (Fig 3: 23) and a second rib (24), the first rib and the second rib extend between and to the hot wall and the intermediate wall (23 and 24 are between 13, 14 and 21), and the at least one core body portion is disposed between the first rib and the second rib (26 and 28 are in-between 23 and 24).
Regarding claim 10, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where Liang discloses:
wherein the blade body has a mean camber line extending through the leading edge and the trailing edge, and the intermediate wall extends along the mean camber line between the leading edge and the trailing edge (Fig 5: a mean chamber line would extend from the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade) directly in the middle of 32 and 31 and 33 extends along it).
Regarding claim 11, Liang discloses: A turbine blade (Fig 5: 30) for a gas turbine engine (Col 1, line 16), the turbine blade comprising:
a blade body (Fig 6: Full body of blade) extending in a spanwise direction between and to a base end and a tip end (Spanwise direction is from root to tip),
the blade body extending in a chordwise direction between and to a leading edge and a trailing edge (Fig 5: Chordwise direction is from leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the blade body including a pressure side wall (31), a suction side wall (32), an intermediate wall (33), and a first core body portion (41, 42, 43), and a second core body portion (51, 52, 53, 54, 55),
each of the pressure side wall and the suction side wall extends between and to the leading edge and the trailing edge (31 and 32 extend between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the intermediate wall is disposed between the pressure side wall and the suction side wall (33 is between 31 and 32), and
the intermediate wall extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge (33 extends between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)), and
the first core body portion is disposed between the pressure side wall and the intermediate wall (41, 42, 43 is between 31 and 33),
the second core body portion is disposed between the suction side wall and the intermediate wall (51, 52, 53, 54, 55 is between 32 and 33).
However, Liang is silent as to:
each of the first core body portion and the second core body portion forms at least one periodic passage through the blade body,
each of the at least one periodic passage extends between and to a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet,
each of the at least one periodic passage includes a plurality of hot wall segments and
a plurality of cold wall segments alternatingly positioned with the hot wall segments between the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet.
From the same field of endeavor, Wiese teaches:
each of the first core body portion and the second core body portion (Fig 3: Both sides of 26 and 28) forms at least one periodic passage through the blade body (26 and 28 form a periodic passage),
each of the at least one periodic passage extends between and to a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet (26 and 28 are between inlet 32 and top of the passages),
each of the at least one periodic passage includes a plurality of hot wall segments (Hot wall segment of 13 and 14 is spaced from 21) and
a plurality of cold wall segments alternatingly positioned with the hot wall segments between the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet (Cold wall segment formed by 21 is spaced from 13 and 14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Liang’s core ribs to be a periodic passage forming insert as taught by Wiese to provide improved blade cooling, and to provide a cooled blade which is particularly well adapted to withstand the strains of use and which is practicable from the standpoint of fabrication (Col 1, line 39-44).
Regarding claim 12, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 11, where Wiese teaches:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a first periodic passage and a second periodic passage (Fig 3: 26 and 28 form a periodic passage on both sides of the middle wall).
Regarding claim 13, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 11, where Liang discloses:
wherein the first periodic passage and the second periodic passage are fluidly independent (Col 3, line 21-25: The intermediate piece 33 extends from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the blade and separates a pressure side cooling circuit from a suction side cooling circuit in that the cooling circuits do not connect so that different pressures can be used).
Regarding claim 14, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 11, where Wiese teaches:
wherein the first periodic passage and the second periodic passage extend in a same direction (Under BRI, both side passages formed are extending from the root to tip).
Claims 2, 6-7, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang US 8562295 and Wiese et al. US 2873944 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of McMillan et al. US 20060104818.
Regarding claim 2, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where they are silent as to:
wherein the at least one periodic passage is periodic in the spanwise direction.
From the same field of endeavor, McMillan teaches:
wherein the at least one periodic passage is periodic in the spanwise direction (Fig 2: 104 and 105 with ribs 107a and 108a form the periodic passage in the spanwise direction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Liang’s blade and Wiese’s insert geometry to have ribs extending in the spanwise direction to the middle insert as taught by McMillan to provides vibration resistance as well as means to limit site of impact buckling by enhancing the resilient strength (Par 21).
Regarding claim 6, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 1, where Wiese teaches:
a first subset of the plurality of periodic passages are periodic in the spanwise direction (Fig 3: 26 and 28 form a periodic passage).
However, they are silent as to:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a plurality of periodic passages,
a second subset of the plurality of periodic passages are periodic in the chordwise direction.
From the same field of endeavor, McMillan teaches:
a second subset of the plurality of periodic passages are periodic in the chordwise direction (Fig 2: 104 and 105 with ribs 107a and 108a form the periodic passage in the spanwise direction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Liang’s blade and Wiese’s insert geometry to have ribs extending in the spanwise direction to the middle insert as taught by McMillan to provides vibration resistance as well as means to limit site of impact buckling by enhancing the resilient strength (Par 21).
The combination would result in:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a plurality of periodic passages.
Regarding claim 7, Liang and Wiese as modified by McMillan in the rejection of claim 6, where the combination would result in:
wherein the first subset of the plurality of periodic passages and the second subset of the plurality of periodic passages form a woven array of the plurality of periodic passages (Both passages would form a woven array).
Regarding claim 12, Liang as modified by Wiese in the rejection of claim 11, where Wiese teaches:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a first periodic passage (Fig 3: 26 and 28 form a periodic passage).
However, they are silent as to:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a second periodic passage.
From the same field of endeavor, McMillan teaches:
wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a second periodic passage (Fig 2: 104 and 105 with ribs 107a and 108a form the periodic passage in the spanwise direction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Liang’s blade and Wiese’s insert geometry to have ribs extending in the spanwise direction to the middle insert as taught by McMillan to provides vibration resistance as well as means to limit site of impact buckling by enhancing the resilient strength (Par 21).
Regarding claim 15, Liang and Wiese as modified by McMillan in the rejection of claim 12, where the combination would result in:
wherein the first periodic passage and the second periodic passage extend in different directions (Under BRI, the passage of Wiese extends in the spanwise direction and the passage of McMillan extends in the chordwise directions).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 4, the claim recites “wherein the at least one periodic passage includes a first helical periodic passage centered about a passage axis” and is considered allowable subject matter. The closest prior art of Morton US 20190003316 teaches the passages being helical, however, there is not an intermediate wall, as require by claim 1, extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge. There was not a proper motivation found that would modify this intermediate wall into Morton without splitting the helical passages and cutting off airflow.
Claim 5 depends from claim 4, therefore is allowable for containing the allowable subject matter on the claim on which it depends from.
Claims 16-20 are allowed.
Regarding claim 16, Liang discloses: A turbine blade (Fig 5: 30) for a gas turbine engine (Col 1, line 16), the turbine blade comprising:
a blade body (Fig 6: Full body of blade) extending in a spanwise direction between and to a base end and a tip end (Spanwise direction is from root to tip),
the blade body extending in a chordwise direction between and to a leading edge and a trailing edge (Fig 5: Chordwise direction is from leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the blade body including a pressure side wall (31), a suction side wall (32), an intermediate wall (33), and at least one core body portion (41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55),
the pressure side wall or the suction side wall forming a hot wall of the blade body (Inner wall of 31 and 32 form the hot wall of the blade body),
the hot wall extends between and to the leading edge and the trailing edge (Inner wall of 31 and 32 extend between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)),
the intermediate wall is disposed between the pressure side wall and the suction side wall (33 is between 31 and 32), and
the intermediate wall extends between the leading edge and the trailing edge (33 extends between the leading edge (left side of blade) to the tailing edge (right side of the blade)), and
the at least one core body portion is disposed between the hot wall and the intermediate wall (41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 is between the inner wall of 31 and 32 and inner walls of 33).
However, Liang is silent as to:
the at least one core body portion forms a first periodic passage and a second periodic passage through the blade body,
each of the first periodic passage and the second periodic passage includes a plurality of hot wall segments and a plurality of cold wall segments,
each of the plurality of hot wall segments is further formed by the hot wall and spaced from the intermediate wall by the at least one core body portion,
each of the plurality of cold wall segments is further formed by the intermediate wall and spaced from the hot wall by the at least one core body portion, and
at least one of the hot wall segments of the first periodic passage is disposed coincident with at least one of the cold wall segments of the second periodic passage.
From the same field of endeavor, Wiese teaches:
the at least one core body portion (Fig 3: 26 and 28) forms a first periodic passage through the blade body (26 and 28 form a periodic passage),
the first periodic passage includes at least one hot wall segment (Segment of 26 and 28 has a segment of 13 and 14 (hot wall)) and at least one cold wall segment (Segment of 26 and 28 has a segment of 21 (cold wall)),
each of the plurality of hot wall segments is further formed by the hot wall and spaced from the intermediate wall by the at least one core body portion (Hot wall segment of 13 and 14 is spaced from 21), and
each of the plurality of cold wall segments is further formed by the intermediate wall and spaced from the hot wall by the at least one core body portion (Cold wall segment formed by 21 is spaced from 13 and 14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Liang’s core ribs to be a periodic passage forming insert as taught by Wiese to provide improved blade cooling, and to provide a cooled blade which is particularly well adapted to withstand the strains of use and which is practicable from the standpoint of fabrication (Col 1, line 39-44).
From the same field of endeavor, McMillan teaches:
the at least one core body portion forms a second periodic passage through the blade body (Fig 2: 104 and 105 with ribs 107a and 108a form the periodic passage in the spanwise direction),
the second periodic passage includes a plurality of hot wall segments and a plurality of cold wall segments (105).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Liang’s blade and Wiese’s insert geometry to have ribs extending in the spanwise direction to the middle insert as taught by McMillan to provides vibration resistance as well as means to limit site of impact buckling by enhancing the resilient strength (Par 21).
The combination would result in: each of the plurality of hot wall segments is further formed by the hot wall and spaced from the intermediate wall by the at least one core body portion, each of the plurality of cold wall segments is further formed by the intermediate wall and spaced from the hot wall by the at least one core body portion.
However, none of the prior art anticipates or is obvious to teach:
at least one of the hot wall segments of the first periodic passage is disposed coincident with at least one of the cold wall segments of the second periodic passage.
The prior art found does not teach this limitation and is allowable subject matter.
Claims 17-20 depend off of an allowable claim, therefore allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Twelves et al. US 20170361418 discloses sim9ilar periodic passages to applicants in the chordwise direction. Lutjen et al. US 20170211392 discloses similar passages that could be considered periodic in shape. Pointon et al. US 20140093386 and Steinbauer JR et al. US 4312624 discloses a similar intermediate wall to applicants.
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/Andrew J Marien/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745