DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Wu (CN 106051759 A).
Regarding claim 1, Wu discloses a powder fuel burner mounted in a combustion chamber of a boiler, the powder fuel burner comprising:
a cylindrical air-fuel mixture conveying tube (Fig. 1; 2), through which an air-fuel mixture is conveyed and which injects, from a distal end thereof, the air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber, the air-fuel mixture being a mixture of a powder fuel and conveying air;
a swirl vane mounted at the distal end of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube (Fig. 1 shows a swirl vane downstream the concentrator 4 and upstream the combustion ring 7; see also Comment 1 below); and
a rod-shaped center flow blocker (see Figs. 1 and 3 showing a concentrator 4 located on the gun assembly 6) mounted on a center axis of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube at a position upstream of the swirl vane in a conveying direction of the air-fuel mixture, the center flow blocker including a cylindrical surface that is concentric with the air-fuel mixture conveying tube and that extends in a direction of the center axis.
Comment 1. The swirl vane is anticipated by Fig. 1 of Wu because a swirl vane for a burner is commonly drawn as such in many powder fuel burner patents. Moreover, it is drawn similarly to the swirl vane 64 of the present application. Nevertheless, even if one argues that anticipation is not met, Fig. 1 suggests it to be a swirl vane, and it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of effective filing of the application to modify Wu to include a swirl vane to better mix the fuel and air for more complete combustion.
Regarding claim 2, Wu discloses the powder fuel burner according to claim 1, further comprising:
a cylindrical peripheral flow blocker mounted along an inner wall surface of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube (concentrator 4 located on the inner wall surface of the conveying tube, opposite the rod-shaped center flow blocker), the peripheral flow blocker including a cylindrical inner peripheral surface that faces the cylindrical surface of the center flow blocker and that is spaced apart from the cylindrical surface of the center flow blocker by a predetermined distance (Figs 1 and 3).
Regarding claim 4, Wu discloses the powder fuel burner according to claim 1, wherein the powder fuel is a petroleum residue fuel, a biomass fuel, or a mixed fuel of biomass and pulverized coal (the burner can burn any of the recited fuels).
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Tang (CN 104566357 A).
Regarding claim 1, Tang discloses a powder fuel burner mounted in a combustion chamber of a boiler, the powder fuel burner comprising:
a cylindrical air-fuel mixture conveying tube (Fig. 6; 42), through which an air-fuel mixture is conveyed and which injects, from a distal end thereof, the air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber, the air-fuel mixture being a mixture of a powder fuel and conveying air;
a swirl vane (424; para. 135) mounted at the distal end of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube; and
a rod-shaped center flow blocker (462) mounted on a center axis of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube at a position upstream of the swirl vane in a conveying direction of the air-fuel mixture, the center flow blocker including a cylindrical surface that is concentric with the air-fuel mixture conveying tube and that extends in a direction of the center axis.
Regarding claim 2, Tang discloses the powder fuel burner according to claim 1, further comprising:
a cylindrical peripheral flow blocker (Fig. 6; 421) mounted along an inner wall surface of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube, the peripheral flow blocker including a cylindrical inner peripheral surface that faces the cylindrical surface of the center flow blocker and that is spaced apart from the cylindrical surface of the center flow blocker by a predetermined distance.
Regarding claim 3, Tang discloses the powder fuel burner according to claim 2, further comprising:
an internal cylinder (Fig. 6; 425) that is concentric with the air-fuel mixture conveying tube and that is, at the distal end of the air-fuel mixture conveying tube (42), mounted inside the air- fuel mixture conveying tube, wherein the swirl vane (424) is located inside the internal cylinder.
Conclusion
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/JASON LAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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