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 .
Election/Restrictions
During a telephone conversation with John Carpenter on 8/20/2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Species 2, claims 1-16. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 17-20 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2017/0265329 to Dixit et al.
Dixit discloses;
As to claim 1, a system for electrical power management (100, FIG. 2), the system comprising: an electrical switch (120); a heat exchanger (130) in thermal communication with the electrical switch and configured to receive heat from the electrical switch; a liquid cooling conduit (150) configured to flow a working fluid therethrough, wherein the liquid cooling conduit is in thermal communication with the heat exchanger and configured to receive heat from the heat exchanger; and an exhaust device (140) in fluid communication with the liquid cooling conduit and configured to exhaust heat from the working fluid.
As to claim 2, the system of claim 1, wherein the electrical switch is an IGBT ([0024] “For example, cooling systems and methods according to further embodiments may be used in other types of apparatus, such as power converters (e.g., inverters), uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), power supply devices used in data centers, switchgear and other apparatus that include power electronic components that generate significant amounts of heat, such as power diodes, transistors (e.g., insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or power MOSFETs), silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs), gate turn-on devices (GTOs), thyristors and the like.”)
As to claim 3, the system of claim 1, wherein the electrical switch is configured to provide electrical power to a datacenter compute resource ([0002] “Power converters, such as rectifiers and inverters, are commonly used in industrial facilities, data centers and other applications.”)
As to claim 6, The system of claim 1, wherein the working fluid is a multi-phase working fluid and the exhaust device includes a condenser ([0025 & 0028] “The diode packages 120 are cooled by a thermosyphon cooling system including a condenser 140.”)
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) 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0366566 to Wei in view of US 2017/0265329 to Dixit et al.
As to claim 10, Wei discloses a method of thermal management in a datacenter (FIG. 1), the method comprising: flowing a cold working fluid (10 and 200 both providing cold working fluid) toward a datacenter compute resource (30); receiving heat from the datacenter compute resource with the cold working fluid to create a warm working fluid (the fluid will becoming warmer after contacting the heat generating components of the server rack); flowing the warm working fluid away from the datacenter compute resource toward a power source (40) of the datacenter; receiving heat from the power source with the warm working fluid to create a hot working fluid (the fluid will increase in heat when receiving further heat from the power source thus making a hot fluid); and exhausting heat from the hot working fluid (via 10).
Wei fails to explicitly disclose an electrical switch in the power rack.
Dixit teaches a liquid cooled electrical switch (120) for supplying power to a data center ([0002]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to include such electrical switches in the power rack of Wei in order to provide liquid cooling to high heat producing electrical switches as taught by Dixit.
As to claim 11, Wei in view of Dixit teaches the limitations of claim 10.
Wei fails to disclose wherein the hot working fluid is a gas phase working fluid.
Dixit teaches a hot working fluid exiting an electrical switch (evaporator 130 turning liquid coolant into at least a partial gas phase to be condensed by condenser 140) in a gas phase. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to utilize an evaporator and condenser for the heating and cooling of fluid exiting the electrical switch, in order to maximize the heat transfer potential in the fluid, the method being well known to those skilled in the art as demonstrated by Dixit.
Claim(s) 4-5 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2017/0265329 to Dixit et al. in view of US 2014/0366566 to Wei. further in view of US 2008/0266726 to Murakami et al.
As to claim 4, Dixit discloses all of the limitations of claim 1.
Dixit fails to disclose wherein the liquid cooling conduit is configured to communicate a working fluid to a second heat exchanger, and wherein the working fluid is configured to receive heat from the second heat exchanger before the exhaust device.
Wei teaches a liquid cooling conduit (see FIG. 1, path between 10-50-20-30-40-10) configured to communicate a working fluid between a power rack (40) and a server rack (30) and wherein the working fluid is configured to receive heat from the server rack before an exhaust device (the fluid receives heat from the sever rack before exhaust device 10, in that the path is from 30-40-10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the cooling circuit of Dixit to include heat from a sever rack (30, Wei) in addition to heat from a power source (40, Wei) in order to consolidate the cooling system of a data center as taught by Wei.
Dixit in view of Wei fail to disclose a second heat exchanger.
Murakami teaches a server rack (202) with a second heat exchanger (214).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the server rack of Wei with a second heat exchanger as taught by Murakami in order to transfer heat from the server to the liquid cooling conduit.
As to claim 5, Dixit in view of Wei and Murakami further teaches wherein the second heat exchanger (214 of Murakami) receives heat from a datacenter compute resource.
As to claim 7, Dixit teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Dixit fails to disclose wherein the liquid cooling conduit is a first liquid cooling conduit, and further comprising a cooling distribution unit (CDU) configured to distribute working fluid to the first liquid cooling conduit and a second cooling conduit.
Wei teaches a liquid cooling conduit (see FIG. 1, path between 10-50-20-30-40-10) with a first liquid cooling conduit (path between 40-10) and further comprising a cooling distribution unit (12) configured to distribute working fluid to the first liquid cooling conduit and a second cooling conduit (path between 30-40). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the cooling circuit of Dixit in view of Wei to include a CDU as taught by Wei in order to cool the heated fluid in the cooling circuit.
As to claim 8, Dixit in view of Wei further teach wherein the second cooling conduit is configured to receive heat from a datacenter compute resource (30, Wei).
As to claim 9, Dixit in view of Wei teaches the limitations of claim 7.
Dixit in view of Wei fail to teach wherein the second cooling conduit is configured to receive heat from a second electrical switch.
Dixit teaches a first electrical switch (120 topmost, FIG. 2) and a second electrical switch (120 second from top) receiving a cooling fluid in series. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the filing to modify the system of Dixit in view of Wei to include a second electrical switch in series as opposed to a server as a choice in design, Dixit demonstrating that it is well known in the art to cool switches in a series configuration.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is 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 allowability of Claim 12 being in the limitation of an electrical switch cooled downstream of a data center, whilst also being in parallel to a storage tank, in which the fluid path can alternately cool the electrical switch or fill the storage tank, these limitations not being found in the prior art.
Claims 13-16 are objected to as being dependent upon an objected to dependent claim (12), which itself is dependent on a rejected claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2026/0047046 to Haber et al. disclosing a bleed in reservoir.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMIL ALEXANDER DECKER whose telephone number is (571)272-6578. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm Mon-Fri.
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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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/JAMIL ALEXANDER DECKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2841
/MANDEEP S BUTTAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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