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 § 103
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.
Claim(s) 10-12, 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bultot (EP3683530A1) in view of Gao (WO2013189013A1).
Regarding claim 10, Bultot teaches a condensation plant (see Fig. 1-2, Fig. 1 reproduced below), comprising: upwardly directed tube bundles (11 & 12) for condensing steam, the tube bundles extending each at an angle (see angle thereof) with respect to a vertical and including heat exchanger tubes having ends connected to steam distributor lines (11a/12a) and to condensate collector lines (11b/12b), wherein the tube bundles are designed to run at a first spacing from one another at the steam distributor lines and to run at a second spacing from one another at the condensate collector lines, with the second spacing being a fraction of the first spacing (11a…12a…horizontal distance…greater than the horizontal distance separating..11b…12b – ¶[0009]); an air chamber having an upwardly widening trapezoidal cross section (see chamber defined by 11 & 12) with an upper side (see top side with fan 21) having an outlet opening for heated cooling air, a lower side (see bottom side thereof), two longitudinal sides which are inclined in opposite directions with respect to a vertical and are formed by the tube bundles, wherein one of the steam distributor lines and one of the condensate collector lines is arranged on each of the two longitudinal sides; and a fan (blower 21) situated in the outlet opening and designed to suck cold cooling air from outside through the tube bundles into the air chamber.
Bultot does not teach the tube bundles extending each at an angle ranging from 120 to 180 with respect to a vertical; with the second spacing being at least 1/3 of the first spacing, and end sides which are impermeable to cooling air.
Gao teaches (see Fig. 1-4) the tube bundles (227a/227b) extending each at an angle ranging from 120 to 180 (see overlapping range of theta 10-45 degrees, Page 4) with respect to a vertical; with the second spacing being at least 1/3 of the first spacing (see value of 410 cm/1000 cm, falling within the claimed range), and end sides (124) which are impermeable to cooling air.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Bultot to include the dimensions and end panels of Gao, in order to provide for airflow between modular units and access for maintenance (Page 8).
Regarding claim 11, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot as modified further teaches the tube bundles are arranged at an angle of 150 +/-10 to the vertical (as modified above, see overlapping range 10-45 of Gao).
Regarding claim 12, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot as modified further teaches the first spacing ranges from 9000 mm to 12000 mm (as modified above, see 1000 cm of Gao).
Regarding claim 14, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot further teaches the fan is arranged in a fan ring (28), the fan ring being arranged between the steam distributor lines (11a/12a).
Regarding claim 15, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot further teaches the air chamber is formed in a modular design (see Fig. 1/2) from a plurality of air chamber modules, each air chamber module having a substantially square cross section at a level of the steam distributor lines and being defined by a length, said fan ring (28) having a diameter which determines the first spacing between the steam distributor lines and the length of the air chamber module.
Regarding claim 16, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot as modified further teaches a framework (210 of Gao) for arrangement of the air chamber at a raised position, said framework being located below the lower side of the air chamber and defining a width of a footprint of the condensation plant, with the footprint being smaller than the first spacing between the tube bundles at the steam distributor lines.
Regarding claim 17, Bulttot as modified teaches the limitations of claim 16, and Bultot as modified further teaches the width of the footprint corresponds to a width of the condensation plant at a level of the condensate collector lines (W1 = W3).
Claim(s) 13 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bultot (EP3683530A1) in view of Gao (WO2013189013A1) and Bultot (US20190128614A1), hereinafter Bultot2.
Regarding claim 13, Bultot teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot does not teach the air chamber is formed in a modular design from a plurality of air chamber modules, each of the air chamber module including one of said fan, said air chamber modules being connected together on their end sides, so that the steam distributor lines and the condensate collector lines of the air chamber modules are connected together.
Bultot2 teaches the air chamber is formed in a modular design from a plurality of air chamber modules, each of the air chamber module including one of said fan, said air chamber modules being connected together on their end sides, so that the steam distributor lines and the condensate collector lines of the air chamber modules are connected together (see modular configuration of Figure 1 & 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Bultot to include the modular design of Bultot2, in order to optimize the use of free space for the condensers (¶[0196]).
Regarding claim 18, Bultot teaches the limitations of claim 10, and Bultot does not teach the tube bundles have a length ranging from 7000 to 11000 mm.
Bultot2 teaches the tube bundles have a length ranging from 7000 to 11000 mm (more than 2 m - ¶[0137]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Bultot to select the claimed range, which is overlapped by Bultot2, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.05(II).
Conclusion
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/ERIC S RUPPERT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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