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 1–10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Saelens et al., EP 0 674 582 B1.1
Regarding claim 1, Saelens teaches a porous laminate that can be used in filtration, which reads on the claimed “porous hybrid matrix membrane support for a membrane separator.” See Saelens p. 2, ll. 3–20. The laminate comprises:
A woven metal wire mesh 2, which reads on the “porous membrane mesh support of at least one layer of mesh” (see Saelens Fig. 1, p. 2, ll. 55–59)
A non-woven web 3, which could be located upstream of the wire mesh 2 (as the web 3 is the portion of the laminate that performs filtration), which reads on the claimed “upstream porous membrane filament support of at least one layer of filaments” (see Saelens Fig. 1, p. 2, ll. 55–59)
The web 3 is densified, as claimed, because it is compressed by rollers 12, 14, 15. See Saelens Fig. 7, p. 3, ll. 25–31. The web 3 is densified to “an average crevice depth of 50 µm or less,” as claimed because thickness of the web 3 in the junction point 4 illustrated in Fig. 3 is at most 12 to 33 µm, meaning that crevices in the junction point 4 could not exceed 12 to 33 µm. The thickness of the web 3 in junction point 4 is at most 12 to 33 µm because the junction point 4 comprises three fibers 5 sinter bonded so that they sit directly on top of each other with each fiber 5 having a diameter of 4 to 11 microns (as the surface area of the fibers ranges from 5x10-5 to 7.5x10-4 mm2). See Saelens Fig. 3, p. 3, ll. 2–13.
The web 3 is diffusion bonded with the mesh 2 to form the laminate, as claimed, because they web 3 is sintered to the mesh 2. See Saelens p. 2, ll. 55–59.
With respect to the limitation–“a variability of flow permeability of 25 percent or less across a flow surface of the porous hybrid matrix membrane support”—the laminate of Saelens is presumed to exhibit this property because it has the same structure as the claimed porous hybrid matrix membrane support for a membrane separator. See MPEP 2112.01, subsection I (when the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims, claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent). Note also that the laminate has “a variability of flow permeability” of 0 percent across a flow surface of the laminate, as claimed, because the examples show a single average permeability for each sample. See Saelens Table, p. 4.
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Regarding claim 2, Saelens teaches that the web 3 comprises a mixture of fibers 5 (filaments) having different cross-sections, as claimed, as seen in Fig. 3.
Regarding claim 3, Saelens teaches that the web 3 comprises multiple fiber web layers with the fiber diameter of one layer differing from the other. See Saelens p. 4, ll. 52–55. One web 3 reads on the “first filament of a first filament cross-section” and another layer reads on the “second layer of a second filament cross-section that is different than the first filament cross-section.”
Regarding claims 4 and 5, Saelens teaches that the laminate comprises two wire meshes (see Saelens p. 4, ll. 48–54), which reads on “the membrane mesh support comprises a plurality of mesh layers.” The two wire meshes comprises layers of mesh having different mesh opening sizes, as claimed, because the wire mesh on one side consists of thinner wires than on the other size. Id.
Regarding claim 6, Saelens teaches that the laminate is configured with a flow permeability to separate components of a fluid, as claimed, because the laminate can be used as a filter. See Saelens p. 2, ll. 15–20.
Regarding claim 7, Saelens teaches a membrane filter (reading on the claimed “separator”) comprising the laminate (the “porous hybrid matrix membrane support of claim 1”) and a sol-gel suspension (the “membrane”) coupled to the laminate. See Saelens p. 5, ll. 8–11.
Regarding claim 8, Saelens teaches a method of making a porous laminate that can be used in filtration, which reads on the claimed “method of making a porous hybrid matrix membrane support for a membrane separator.” See Saelens p. 2, ll. 3–20, p. 3, ll. 14–43. The method comprises:
Obtaining the filaments of fiber web 11, which reads on “obtaining filaments” (see Saelens Fig. 7, p. 3, ll. 25–31)
Laying the filaments with to form the fiber web 11, which reads on “laying the filaments to form at least one layer of intermeshed filaments” (see Saelens Fig. 7, p. 3, ll. 25–31)
Compressing the fiber web 11 with rollers 12, 14, 15 into fiber web 3, which reads on “densifying the layer of intermeshed filaments into a porous membrane filament support.” See Saelens Fig. 7, p. 3, ll. 25–31. The web 3 is densified to “an average crevice depth of 50 µm or less,” as claimed because thickness of the web 3 in the junction point 4 illustrated in Fig. 3 is at most 12 to 33 µm, meaning that crevices in the junction point 4 could not exceed 12 to 33 µm. The thickness of the web 3 in junction point 4 is at most 12 to 33 µm because the junction point 4 comprises three fibers 5 sinter bonded so that they sit directly on top of each other with each fiber 5 having a diameter of 4 to 11 microns (as the surface area of the fibers ranges from 5x10-5 to 7.5x10-4 mm2). Id. at Fig. 3, p. 3, ll. 2–13.
Obtaining metal wire mesh 2, which reads on “obtaining a mesh for a membrane mesh support” (see Saelens Fig. 7, p. 3, ll. 25–31)
Sintering the fiber web 3 with the wire mesh 2 to form the laminate, which reads on “diffusion bonding the membrane filament support with the membrane mesh support to form the porous hybrid matrix membrane support” (p. 3, ll. 25–43)
With respect to the limitation–“a variability of flow permeability of 25 percent or less across a flow surface of the porous hybrid matrix membrane support”—the laminate of Saelens is presumed to exhibit this property because it has the same structure as the claimed porous hybrid matrix membrane support for a membrane separator. See MPEP 2112.01, subsection I (when the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims, claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent). Note also that The laminate has “a variability of flow permeability” of 0 percent across a flow surface of the laminate, as claimed, because the examples show a single average permeability for each sample. See Saelens Table, p. 4.
Regarding claim 9, Saelens teaches that the method further comprises densifying the wire mesh 2, as claimed, because the mesh 2 is compressed by roller 12 and rollers 14, 15. See Saelens p. 3, ll. 25–43.
Regarding claim 10, Saelens teaches that the method further comprises coupling a sol-gel suspension to the laminate to form an inorganic membrane filter (see Saelens p. 4, ll. 8–11), which reads on “coupling a membrane to the membrane support.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Gu et al., US 2023/0032023 A1 (porous membrane comprising sintered metal fiber powder).
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T. BENNETT MCKENZIE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1776
/T. BENNETT MCKENZIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
1 Saelens is in the record as the 10-page Foreign Reference filed October 31, 2024.
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