DETAILED ACTION
This is a Non-Final action on the merits of application 18844537.
Claims 1-24 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 24 below claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: there are two claim 24’s it is believed the first claim 24 is misnumbered and should be numbered claim 21. Appropriate correction is required. For examination purposes it will be referred to as [24/21].
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) 1-4, 7-10, 13-16, 19-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL Sundman Stig ET AL: "Jack H. Raisanen Atmospheric Sciences MSc Student // INAR // University of Helsinki Independent Environmental & Sustainability Consultant Unanchored Floating Wind Turbines An invention for deep water wind farms", EERA DeepWind conference in 2022, 21 January 2021 (2021-01-21), pages 1-18 [Filed in the record].
Claim 1, 7, 13, 19 and 22, Raisanen discloses an autonomous roaming offshore wind turbine (AROWT) comprising: a floating hull; a lifting keel extending outwardly from an underside of the hull; ballast; a propeller mounted to a portion of the hull; and a wind turbine mounted to an upper side of the hull opposite the underside thereof; wherein when deployed in a body of water, [see figs. 1-2 on pg. 5] He does not disclose the AROWT moves in a figure- eight station-keeping pattern; and wherein when moving in the figure-eight station-keeping pattern, the AROWT includes: a wind turbine having a rated power between 5 MW and 25 MW; a rated wind speed of between 8 m/s and 20 m/s; a wind turbine blade diameter within the range of 100 m to 300 m; a lifting keel depth of between 30 m and 100 m; a hull speed to wind speed ratio of between 0.1 and 0.3; a pattern beam to wind turbine blade diameter ratio of between 0.5 and about 5.0; and a pattern beam to pattern surge ratio of between 0.02 and about 0.1. However, since the AROWT has a propulsion it can move in any direction and return to its starting point thus it obviously can move in a figure- eight station-keeping pattern. Also, it has been held that finding an optimal range is of ordinary skill. Consequently, it 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 to use said ranges based on preferred design choice characteristics of the wind turbine desired performance.
Claim 2, 8 and 14, Raisanen discloses wherein the AROWT is floating in a body water and has no moorings that attach the AROWT to a seabed. [see figs. 1-2 on pg. 5]
Claim 3, 9 and 15, Raisanen discloses wherein the floating hull includes a tank defining an upper hull [see pg. 6 (2.7 paragraph), and wherein the lifting keel extends outwardly from an underside of the upper hull. [see fig. 1-2 on pg. 5]
Claim 4, 10 and 16, Raisanen discloses wherein the wind turbine and production equipment within the floating hull are configured to produce liquid ammonia (NH3) from seawater and store the NH3 in a compartment within the floating hull. [see pg. 8 fig. 3, paragraph discloses electrolysis of water produces ammonia as fuel therefore it inherently must have a compartment in the hull to store the ammonia as fuel.
Claims 20, [24/21], 23 and 24, Raisanen discloses the aforementioned limitations of claims 19/22, he does not disclose upwind hull speed to wind speed WS ratio range or net downwind hull speed to wind speed WS ratio range, but it has been held that finding an optimal range is of ordinary skill, thus it 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 to use said ranges based on design choice characteristics of the wind turbine desired performance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 11-12, 17-18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: prior art does not disclose the limitation of claims 5, 11 and 17.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art of record is relevant due to the wind turbine configuration.
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/JOVON E HAYES/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
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