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 .
Email Communication
Applicant is encouraged to authorize the Examiner to communicate via email by filing form PTO/SB/439 either via USPS, Central Fax, or EFS-Web. See MPEP 502.01, 502, 502.05.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 3/19/2025, 8/5/2025, 11/4/2025, 3/4/2026, 3/25/2026, 5/5/2026 have been fully considered and are attached hereto.
Any lined through citations were not considered because the Examiner was unable to find a provided copy of the cited document.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species II in the reply filed on 8/5/2026 is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the
Tank of claim 16;
Nozzle of claim 18;
Heat exchanger configured to cool and recirculate the immersion cooling liquid from the tray to the tank as in claim 20; and
Tank disposed above a ceiling above the rack frame as in claim 21
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
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.
Claims 16-17, 19-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Broderick et al. (US 2019/0045661 – hereinafter, “Broderick”) in view of Yoshikawa et al. (US 2017/0311485 – hereinafter, “Yoshikawa”).
With respect to claims 16 and 21, Broderick teaches (In Figs 1, 5) a rack system comprising: a rack frame (530) and a rack-mounted assembly (102/502a), including an electronic device (113) disposed within the rack-mounted assembly, the electronic device including a heat-generating component (¶ 0026, “heat generating components 113”); wherein the rack-mounted assembly (102/502a) includes a non-sealed immersion case (102, In the present application the top portion (524) of the immersion case (520) is open to allow coolant into the immersion case. Accordingly, the broadest reasonable interpretation in view of the specification of a non-sealed immersion case is a case which is otherwise sealed but has an opening in a top portion thereof to allow coolant into the non-sealed immersion case. This is what is taught by Broderick which teaches a case (102) with openings (505) in a top portion thereof to allow coolant into the case.) in which the electronic device is immersed in immersion cooling liquid (220/520a, ¶ 0026, “In embodiments, the exposed heat sinks 114 or the exposed heat generating components 113 may come into contact with coolant fluid, such as coolant fluid 220 of FIG. 2, that may surround all or part of the sealed enclosure 102 and that may be used to transfer heat from the PCB 110”), and wherein the immersion cooling liquid (220/520a) is channeled by gravity to flow into the non-sealed immersion case (502a, see Fig 5, see also ¶ 0048, “the coolant fluid 520 may flow through the enclosures primarily through gravity.”).
Broderick fails to specifically teach or suggest a tank for holding immersion cooling liquid disposed above the rack frame, the immersion cooling liquid is channeled by gravity to flow to the case from the tank (Cl. 16), wherein the tank is disposed in a ceiling above the rack frame (Cl. 21).
Yoshikawa, however, teaches (In Fig 9) a rack frame (1011) and a tank (2301) for holding cooling liquid disposed above the rack frame, the cooling liquid is channeled by gravity to flow to the rack frame from the tank (See Fig 9), wherein the tank is disposed in a ceiling (2001) above the rack frame (See Fig 9).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yoshikawa with that of Broderick such that Broderick includes a tank for holding immersion cooling liquid disposed above the rack frame, the immersion cooling liquid is channeled by gravity to flow to the case from the tank, wherein the tank is disposed in a ceiling above the rack frame, as taught by Yoshikawa, since doing so would provide a concealed reservoir which is able to provide an immediate continuous supply of coolant during peak workloads or sudden power fluctuations.
With respect to claim 17, Broderick as modified by Yoshikawa teaches the limitations of claim 16 as per above and Broderick further teaches a channel mounted in the rack frame above the rack-mounted assembly (502a) configured to channel the immersion cooling liquid from the tank (Taught by Yoshikawa), wherein the channel comprises an opening (Though not shown, must exist between the channel and the opening of 502a to allow coolant into 502a) through which the immersion cooling liquid pours into the non-sealed immersion case (See Fig A below).
Broderick as modified by Yoshikawa fails to specifically teach or suggest that the opening is a plurality of openings.
The Examiner hereby takes Official Notice of the conventionality of replacing a single opening with multiple openings.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the single opening taught by Broderick to be a plurality of openings since doing so would allow for more precise placement of coolant from the channel into the non-sealed immersion tank.
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With respect to claim 19, Broderick further teaches a tray (532) mounted in the rack frame below the rack-mounted assembly for receiving the immersion cooling liquid from the non-sealed immersion case (See Fig 5).
With respect to claim 20, Broderick as modified by Yoshikawa teaches the limitations of claim 19 as per above and modified Broderick further teaches a heat exchanger (536) configured to cool and recirculate the immersion cooling liquid from the tray to the tank (When Broderick is modified to include a tank above the rack-mounted assembly, as per the above rejection to claim 16, then the heat exchanger will cool and recirculate the liquid from (532) to the tank, as claimed).
With respect to claim 22, Broderick further teaches the rack-mounted assembly (502a) is mounted in an inclined orientation with respect to the rack frame (530), and more particularly vertically with respect to the rack frame (See Fig 5).
With respect to claim 23, Broderick further teaches a top and bottom portion of the non-sealed immersion case has a respective opening (424a, 424b, see Fig 4).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Broderick in view of Yoshikawa and further in view of Mao et al. (US 2020/0257342 – hereinafter, “Mao”).
With respect to claim 18, Broderick as modified by Yoshikawa teaches the limitations of claim 17 as per above but fails to specifically teach or suggest a nozzle to control the flow of the immersion cooling liquid from the channel into the non-sealed immersion case.
Mao, however, teaches (In Fig 1) a nozzle (33, cl. 10) to control the flow of immersion cooling liquid (20) from a channel (32) into a non-sealed immersion case (200, ¶ 0015, “When the electronic device 200 is immersed in the reservoir 10 for cooling, the insulating coolant 20 flows through the electronic device 200.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Mao with that of Broderick such that Broderick includes a nozzle to control the flow of the immersion cooling liquid from the channel into the non-sealed immersion case, as taught by Mao, since doing so would control the amount of inflow or outflow of the cooling liquid to achieve uniform flow of the cooling liquid to uniformly cool the rack-mounted assembly (Mao: ¶ 0015).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 11,602,075 to Zhong which teaches a cooling apparatus providing immersion cooling;
CN 201911267796 to Lin et al. which teaches a cooling device and single-phase immersion-type liquid cooling machine cabinet; and
US 10,390,458 to Tufty et al. which teaches a liquid submersion cooled electronic system and device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY M PAPE whose telephone number is (571)272-2201. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9am - 6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JAYPRAKASH Gandhi can be reached at 571-272-3740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZACHARY PAPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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