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 .
Status of the Claims
Examiner acknowledges receipt of Applicant’s amendments and arguments filed with the Office on September 1st, 2026 in response to the Non-Final Office Action mailed on June 2nd, 2026. Per Applicant's response, Claims 1-2 & 5-9 have been amended. Claim 21 has been newly-added. Claim 3 has been cancelled. All other claims have been left in their previously-presented form. Consequently, Claims 1-2 & 4-21 now remain pending in the instant application, with Claims 10-20 remaining withdrawn. The Examiner has carefully considered each of Applicant’s amendments and/or arguments, and they will be addressed below.
Drawings
The drawings were objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). Applicant’s amendments have remedied these issues, thereby obviating the drawing objections.
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 “front connection face”, “peripheral joint”, “fluidic outlets”, “supply segment”, and “evacuation segment”, “front connection face” (2nd instance), “underside”, “peripheral joint” (2nd instance), “outlets of fluidic connections”, “fluidic outlets” (2nd instance), “single inlet port”, and “single outlet port” (of Claim 8), 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 1-9 were objected to because of minor informalities. Applicant’s amendments have remedied these issues, thereby obviating the claim objections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-9 were 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. Applicant’s amendments have remedied these issues, thereby obviating the 112(b) rejections.
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 8-9 & 21 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 8, line 6 recites the phrase “that comprises:”, but it is wholly unclear, given the new arrangement of the claim, what this phrase actually refers to. In this case, it could be referring to the scroll device, the first subassembly, the fixed scroll, the orbiting scroll, the second subassembly, the motor, the intermediate housing, the cooling fluid supply channel, or the cooling fluid return channel. Which element is being referred back to is left completely ambiguous. As such, the metes and bounds of the claim cannot be determined, rendering the claim indefinite. For examination purposes herein, the examiner has interpreted this phrasing as referring to the “intermediate housing”.
Claim 21, lines 2 and 4 recite the limitations “a supply inlet channel” and “a return outlet channel”; these limitations render the claim indefinite because the particular structural arrangement of the claim cannot be discerned. In this instance, it is not made clear whether these two limitations are 1) part of (i.e. further defining) the “single axial circulation fluid supply channel” and “single axial circulating fluid return channel” of Claim 1 or 2) introducing additional channels altogether. This issue is further complicated by the originally filed specification, which appears to show and describe that the supply inlet channel 151 and return outlet channel 152 form at least some of the “cylindrical segments” that make up the axial circulation fluid supply/discharge channels. Thus, as far as the examiner understands the invention, the “supply inlet channel” and “return outlet channel” are most likely further defining the structure of the “single axial circulation fluid supply channel” and “single axial circulating fluid return channel” of Claim 1. However, since these two channels are recited entirely separate within Claim 21, the examiner can only guess at Applicant’s true intent. As such, the metes and bounds of the claim cannot be determined, rendering the claim indefinite. For examination purposes herein, the examiner has applied the first interpretation noted above.
Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 are found to be provisionally allowable, pending Applicant overcoming the above-noted objections and rejections. Applicant should be aware that no claim(s) can be properly allowed until all of the issues detailed above have been fully and properly overcome by Applicant.
The Examiner further reminds Applicant that this application is nearing proper condition for allowance except for the presence of claims 10-20 directed to an invention non-elected with traverse in the reply filed on April 7th, 2026. In the spirit of expeditious prosecution, the Examiner respectfully reminds Applicant to cancel Claims 10-20 in the next reply in order to avoid future delays to allowance of the application.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Applicant’s invention as recited in Claim 1 is not disclosed nor rendered obvious by the best available prior art. The best available prior art is as follows:
1. US 3,986,799 to McCullough
2. US 2022/0170462 to Nicholas
3. US 2018/006665 to Perevozchikov
4. US 2020/0408201 to Wilson
5. US 2019/0338779 to Shaffer et al.
While each of the above-noted references generally discloses a scroll device having fixed and orbiting scrolls engaged with one another, the orbiting scroll being driven by a motor, and the assembly being cooled by an internal coolant flow path, none of these references discloses a fixed scroll cooled by a first fluid circulation circuit; an orbiting scroll cooled by a second fluid circulation circuit, a motor cooled by a third fluid circulation circuit; and an internal cooling network comprising: a single axial circulation fluid supply channel, formed by an alignment of cylindrical segments through the first fluid circulation circuit and the second fluid circulation circuit, and incorporating an inlet port for connection to an external fluidic source, the inlet port leading directly into the single axial circulation fluid supply channel; and a single axial circulating fluid discharge channel, formed by the alignment of cylindrical segments though the first fluid circulation circuit and the second fluid circulation circuit, and incorporating an outlet port for connection to an external fluidic discharge, the outlet port leading directly into an outlet channel; wherein each of the single axial circulation fluid supply channel and the single axial circulating fluid discharge channel extend axially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the scroll device and passes by the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll, and wherein the first fluid circulation circuit, the second fluid circulation circuit, and the third fluid circulation circuit are connected to the internal cooling network, as claimed.
Applicant’s specification makes clear that in contrast to series-flow scroll cooling arrangements in the prior art, the recited invention provides a parallel arrangement where the cooling fluid flow is split into separate, or discrete, parallel paths. In this parallel arrangement the restriction of each component in the system has a lower impact on the overall pressure drop of the system than that of a series arrangement (e.g., similar to a parallel arrangement of resistors in electrical circuits). This is due at least in part to the amount of cooling fluid flow each component receives. In the series arrangement or configuration, 100% of the cooling fluid flow is routed through each component in the system. In the parallel arrangement or configuration, the cooling fluid flow is split into two or more independent paths and a majority of the cooling fluid flow is allowed to route along or via the path of least resistance. This parallel arrangement generally results in about a 70%-30% split between the two paths.
The prior art fails to disclose or render obvious Applicant’s claimed parallel cooling arrangement.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendments filed September 1st, 2026 have necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER BRYANT COMLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-3772. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM CST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Laurenzi can be reached at 571-270-7878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER B COMLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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