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 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.
Claims 1-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goebel et al. US 2010/0227230 (hereafter Goebel).
Regarding claim 1, Goebel teaches a gas-liquid separator (Fig 3) comprising
a container (110) including an upper part (part comprising inlet 146), a bottom part (part comprising 116) and a side part (part comprising 130 and 154) connecting the upper part and the bottom part to form a gas-liquid separation chamber (chamber within 130) where a gas-liquid two-phase flow is separated into a gas phase (148) and a liquid phase (150), wherein
the side part includes a first side part (part including top of 130 and top of 114) and a second side part (154 to the left of 134 in Fig 3) opposed to each other,
the container includes an inlet (inlet for flow 146) provided at the upper part so that the gas-liquid two-phase flow flows into the gas-liquid separation chamber through the inlet, and an outlet (outlet near 122) provided at the first side part so that the gas phase separated in the gas-liquid separation chamber flows out of the gas-liquid separation chamber through the outlet, and
the gas-liquid separator further comprises
a flow path forming part (bottom part of 130) forming an inclined flow path extending diagonally downward so that the gas-liquid two-phase flow flowed into through the inlet collides with the second side part below the outlet (¶36).
[AltContent: textbox (Flow path forming part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Second side part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (First side part)][AltContent: textbox (Upper part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Bottom part)]
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Regarding claim 2, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 1. Goebel further teaches a shielding plate (154 to the right of 134) configured to separate a space in the container into a storage chamber (chamber between 134 and 144) where the liquid phase separated in the gas-liquid separation chamber is stored and the gas-liquid separation chamber above the storage chamber, under a state where the storage chamber and the gas-liquid separation chamber communicate with each other through a communication portion (134), and the shielding plate is provided so as to extend substantially horizontally below the flow path forming part (as shown in Fig 3).
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Shielding plate)][AltContent: textbox (Flow path forming part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Second side part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (First side part)][AltContent: textbox (Upper part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Bottom part)]
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Regarding claim 3, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 2. Goebel further teaches the flow path forming part includes a tube part (part comprising 128) extending in a vertical direction (as shown by flow arrow 148) to communicate with the inlet, and an inclined part (middle of venturi 138) extending diagonally toward the second side part to connect with a lower end portion of the tube part, and a cross-sectional shape of the inclined part is substantially concave with an upper space open (as shown in Fig 3).
Regarding claim 4, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 2. Goebel further teaches the communication portion is configured by a gap between a peripheral portion of the shielding plate and the side part (as shown in Fig 3, where the gas comprises porous media 134).
Regarding claim 5, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 2. Goebel further teaches the communication portion is configured by a through hole penetrating the shielding plate (as shown in Fig 3, where the through hole comprises porous media 134).
Regarding claim 6, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 2. Goebel further teaches the shielding plate is fixed to a lower end portion of the flow path forming part (as shown in Fig 3).
Regarding claim 7, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 1. Goebel further teaches a preventing part extending diagonally downward from the first side part below the outlet toward the second side part to prevent the gas-liquid two-phase flow from flowing toward the outlet (as shown in Fig 3).
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Preventing part)][AltContent: textbox (Flow path forming part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Second side part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (First side part)][AltContent: textbox (Upper part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Bottom part)]
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Regarding claim 10, Goebel teaches all the limitations of claim 1. Goebel further teaches wherein the inclined flow path includes a flow path inlet and a flow path outlet respectively provided an upper end portion and a lower end portion of the inclined flow path, and an opening area of the flow path inlet is smaller than an opening area of the flow path outlet (as shown in Fig 3).
[AltContent: textbox (Flow path outlet)][AltContent: textbox (Flow path inlet)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Preventing part)][AltContent: textbox (Flow path forming part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Second side part)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (First side part)][AltContent: arrow]
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-9 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 8, the closest prior art is Goebel US 2010/0227230 which teaches a gas liquid separator a container including an upper part, a bottom part and a side part and a flow path forming part. The prior art does not teach the lower and upper containers as claimed.
Claim 9 depends upon claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN HOBSON whose telephone number is (571)272-9914. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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/STEPHEN HOBSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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