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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/18/2026 has been entered.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over us 2020/0165971 to Uechi et al. (Uechi) in view of JP 2005-42732 to Hitachi Ltd. (Hitachi) (Machine translation provided by applicant has been used for translational purposes).
Regarding claim 1, Uechi discloses a steam turbine system comprising:
a plurality of steam turbines (601, 602, 603, figs. 1-6; [40]-2]);
a main steam supply line (134, figs. 1-6) for supplying steam to a steam inlet of a most downstream turbine of the plurality of steam turbines;
an intermediate-stage steam (154, 304, figs. 1-6; [153]) supply line for supplying steam to an intermediate stage that is downstream of the steam inlet of the most downstream steam turbine.
However, Uechi does not explicitly disclose which Hitachi discloses:
a chemical injection device (202, fig. 1; [37]) for injecting a chemical for reforming steam into the intermediate- stage steam supply line (fig. 1; [8]-[18], [36]-[38], [42]) so that the steam in which the chemical for reforming the steam is added is supplied to the intermediate-stage via the intermediate-stage steam supply line (see fig. 1; 202 is added to the low pressure supply line to supply to intermediate stage turbines 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the chemical injection device as taught by Hitachi with the device of Uechi so as to provide a highly reliable water treatment method which treats water not only in the condensate and feedwater systems of a plant, but also in the steam system ([12]; Hitachi).
Regarding claim 2, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of steam turbines include a high-pressure steam turbine (601, figs. 1-6; Uechi), a medium-pressure steam turbine (602, figs. 1-6; Uechi), and a low-pressure steam turbine (603, figs. 1-6; Uechi),
the intermediate-stage steam supply line includes a low-pressure intermediate-stage steam supply line for supplying steam to the intermediate stage of the low-pressure steam turbine (figs. 1-6; Uechi), and the chemical injection device is capable of injecting the chemical into the low-pressure intermediate-stage steam supply line ([8]-[18], [36]-[38]; Hitachi).
Regarding claim 3, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate stage is a most downstream stage of the most downstream steam turbine or a stage on a first stage upstream side of the most downstream stage (figs. 1-6; Uechi).
Regarding claim 4, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate-stage steam supply line is branched from the main steam supply line (135 branches into two paths, figs. 1-6; Uechi).
Regarding claim 5, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein Uechi further discloses that the plurality of steam turbines is configured to be supplied with steam generated by a steam generator (210, figs. 1-6; [41], [48]), the steam generator includes
a heat medium flow path (128, figs. 1-6) through which a heat medium flows ([48], [50]),
a first economizer (301, figs. 1-6) provided in the heat medium flow path,
a second economizer (103, figs. 1-3) provided on an upstream side of the first economizer in a flow direction of the heat medium in the heat medium flow path,
a first evaporator (104, figs. 1-6) provided on an upstream side of the second economizer in the flow direction of the heat medium in the heat medium flow path,
a first superheater (109, figs. 1-6) provided on an upstream side of the first evaporator in the flow direction of the heat medium in the heat medium flow path,
a second evaporator (302, figs. 1-6) provided on the upstream side of the first economizer and on a downstream side of the second economizer in the flow direction of the heat medium in the heat medium flow path, and
a second superheater (102, figs. 1-6) provided on an upstream side of the second evaporator and on the downstream side of the second economizer in the flow direction of the heat medium in the heat medium flow path,
the main steam supply line is connected to the first superheater (figs. 1-6), and
the intermediate-stage steam supply line is connected to the second superheater (figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 6, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of steam turbines includes a high-pressure steam turbine (601, figs. 1-6), a medium-pressure steam turbine (602, figs. 1-6), and a low-pressure steam turbine (603, figs. 1-6), and
the intermediate-stage steam supply line supplies steam extracted from a device other than the low-pressure steam turbine (from 135, figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 8, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of steam turbines include a high-pressure steam turbine (601, figs. 1-6; Uechi), a medium-pressure steam turbine (602, figs. 1-6; Uechi), and a low-pressure steam turbine (603, figs. 1-6; Uechi), and
the most downstream steam turbine (603, figs. 1-6) is the low-pressure steam turbine.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uechi combined with Hitachi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2021/0095572 to Fujimura.
Regarding claim 7, Uechi combined with Hitachi discloses the steam turbine system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of steam turbine includes a high-pressure steam turbine (601, figs. 1-6), a medium-pressure steam turbine (602, figs. 1-6), and a low-pressure steam turbine (603, figs. 1-6).
However, , Uechi combined with Hitachi does not explicitly disclose which Fujimura discloses:
the steam turbine system comprises a gland steam supply line (44, fig. 2; [48]) for guiding steam to a high- pressure gland portion (41, fig. 2; [47]) that reduces steam leakage from a turbine body of the high-pressure steam turbine to an outside and to a medium-pressure gland portion (42, fig. 2; [47]) that reduces steam leakage from a turbine body of the medium-pressure steam turbine to an outside, and
the intermediate-stage steam supply line (24, fig. 2; [48]) is branched from the gland steam supply line and configured to supply steam from the gland steam supply line to the intermediate stage of the low- pressure steam turbine (fig. 2; [47]-[48]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the steam turbine system comprises a gland steam supply line (44, fig. 2; [48]) for guiding steam to a high- pressure gland portion (41, fig. 2; [47]) that reduces steam leakage from a turbine body of the high-pressure steam turbine to an outside and to a medium-pressure gland portion (42, fig. 2; [47]) that reduces steam leakage from a turbine body of the medium-pressure steam turbine to an outside, and
the intermediate-stage steam supply line (24, fig. 2; [48]) is branched from the gland steam supply line and configured to supply steam from the gland steam supply line to the intermediate stage of the low- pressure steam turbine (fig. 2; [47]-[48]) as taught by Fujimura with the device of Uechi combined with Hitachi so as to provide a system that recovers heat from gland steam to improve the efficiency of a steam turbine ([7]; Fujimura).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/6/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Uechi combined with Hitachi does not disclose “a chemical injection for injecting a chemical for reforming steam into the intermediate-stage steam supply line so that the steam in which the chemical for reforming the steam is added is supplied to the intermediate-stage via the intermediate-stage steam supply line” as required by claim 1. However, the office respectfully disagrees. Hitachi clearly discloses a chemical is injected via nozzles (202, fig. 1) into the inlet of every stage of the low pressure turbine (See paragraphs [37]) to prevent elution of iron by steam obtained from the steam generator ([15]). This reads on the limitation. As such, the claims stand rejected.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/DAPINDER SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746