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) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 201122067 Y) in view of Ogushi (JP 2005-114179 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Chen discloses a heat pipe (1, Fig. 1), comprising:
a pipe body (cylindrical tube body of the heat pipe 1, Figs. 2 and 3), having an evaporation portion (a heating section of the heat pipe 1 with both a first capillary tissue 1 and a second capillary tissue 3) and a condensation portion (a cooling section of the heat pipe 1 with the first capillary tissue 2) that are arranged along an axial direction of the pipe body so that the evaporation portion is connected to the condensation portion and (the heating section and cooling section are arranged and connected vertically or axially), the pipe body having a side wall (a cylindrical wall), a first end wall (lower cap of the heat pipe 1) located in the evaporation portion (located in the bottom end of heating section) and a second end wall (upper cap of the heat pipe 1) located in the condensation portion (located in the top end of cooling section), the first end wall and the second end wall connected to respective ends of the sidewall (the lower cap and upper cap are connected to distal ends of the cylindrical wall);
a first wick (the second capillary tissue 3), disposed on the sidewall of pipe body only within the evaporation portion (disposed on the cylindrical wall of the pipe 1 only within the heating section), the first wick being spaced apart from the condensation portion (the second capillary tissue is spaced apart from the cooling section); and
a working fluid (see the translation).
Chen fails to disclose a second wick disposed on the second end wall extending along the axial direction of the pipe body from the condensation end wall towards the evaporation portion without contacting with the first wick, and
wherein a gap between the second wick and the sidewall allows the working fluid flow back to the evaporation portion.
Ogushi discloses a second wick (second capillary body 1, Fig. 1) disposed on the second end wall (disposed on right end of the second capillary body fixed to a condensation end wall 108, Fig. 2) extending along the axial direction of the pipe body from the condensation end wall towards the evaporation portion (the capillary body 1 extends centrally in axial direction within the heat pipe 100 from the end wall 108 towards the evaporation portion 103); and
wherein a gap (a vapor space) between the second wick and the sidewall (between the capillary body 1 and the cylindrical wall, Fig. 2b of Ogushi) allows the working fluid flow back to the evaporation portion (allows the working fluid to condense in the condensation portion 105, paragraph 0011-0012 of the translation, to flow back to the evaporation portion 103).
Ogushi further discloses that providing the second capillary body 1 with the first capillary body 102 absorbs liquid slag 107 to allow vapor of the working fluid to occupy the vapor space. As a result, condensation of the working fluid is improved by removing the liquid slag 107 in the condensation portion 105 (paragraph 0011-0012 of the translation).
Therefore, the capillary body 1 may be provided and fixed at the cooling section. An end of the capillary body 1 may be fixed to the upper cap within the cooling section of the heat pipe 1 shown in Fig. 1 of Chen. The addition of the capillary body 1 is only provided in the colling section without contacting the first wick (the second capillary tissue 3 in Chen).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a second wick disposed on the second end wall extending along the axial direction of the pipe body from the condensation end wall towards the evaporation portion without contacting with the first wick, and wherein a gap between the second wick and the sidewall allows the working fluid flow back to the evaporation portion in Chen as taught by Ogushi in order to improve condensation of the working fluid (paragraph 0011-0012 of the translation of Ogushi).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Ogushi (JP 2005-114179) in view of North (WO 2020/018484) and Hamakawa (US 2016/0014931) is the best prior or record. Ogushi alone only discloses a first wick 102 that extends an entire length of the heat pipe. Ogushi can also be modified to provide the teaching of a reduced diameter end (transition portion as claimed) that spaces apart from the heat pipe end (Fig. 5 of North) and a third wick 52 that covers the first wick in the evaporation portion 21 and intermediate portion 23 (Fig. 4A of Hamakawa).
However, the combination discloses a first wick ends at the transition portion, and fails to disclose the limitation of “the first wick being … partially disposed on in the transition portion” as in claim 1.
Other pertinent prior arts including Hashimoto (US 7,258,160), Wang (US 2007/0240859), Huang (US 2012/0227934) either disclose a wick that entirely extends or is not extending along the transition portion, without a direct teaching that the wick extending or being disposed partially along the transition portion.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JIANYING C ATKISSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/F.K.L/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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