DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 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 prior art does not appear to teach or fairly suggest the vertically oriented gaps and their particular plating arrangements are recited in claim 13, in addition to the limitations of the claims from which it depends.
Claim 14 depends from claim 13.
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) 6-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2023/0268251) in view of Lang (US 2022/0214121).
Regarding claim 6, Chen teaches: a heat sink (203) formed of copper (Para. [0067]) with a plurality of fins (205; see Fig. 1 showing unitary structure); an aluminum (Para. [0070]) heat sink (“cooler”) formed by aluminum or an aluminum alloy; wherein a flow channel is formed between the copper and aluminum heat sinks (see Fig. 1; not liquid flow lines) to enable flow of a coolant; the copper and aluminum heat sinks are bonded by friction stir welding (Paras. [0062] and [0087]) so as to form one or more bonding surfaces (see Fig. 6); the aluminum heat sink may lack any coating or plating (Para. [0070]).
Chen does not teach the aluminum or titanium coating of the copper heat sink.
Lang teaches that it is old and well-known to coat copper (Para. [0023]) with pure titanium (both titanium and titanium alloys are listed, implying that the titanium is pure; Para. [0028]) at a thickness of less than 10 μm (Para. [0027] lists initial deposition of 10μm prior to partial removal, which will inherently result in a thickness of less than 10μm).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the device of Chen with the coating on copper, as taught by Lang, in order to take advantage of the thermal transfer properties of copper and the ruggedness of titanium (see Lang Paras. [0001]-[0002]).
Chen further teaches that: the aluminum heat sink has a plurality of water holes that are in spatial communication with the flow channel (in Fig. 1, the water holes are the openings in the cooler cover which communicate with the flow channel formed between the cooler cover and cooler framework), per claim 7; the aluminum heat sink (the cooler) is formed by bonding a first aluminum member (cooler framework) and a second aluminum member (cooler cover; see Fig. 1 welding points) with the water holes formed in one of the members (Fig. 1), per claim 8; the first and second aluminum members are bonded by friction stir welding (Para. [0087]), per claim 9; the copper fin may be a pin fin (Para. [0057]), per claim 10.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2023/0268251) in view of Lang (US 2022/0214121) and Bogen (US 2015/0061112).
Regarding claim 11, Chen does not teach fins on the aluminum heat sink.
Bogen teaches that such heat sinks (4) may comprise integrally formed aluminum fins (24) as pin fins (see Fig. 2; Para. [0062]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the device of Chen, as modified, with the fins of Bogen, in order to increase the thermal dissipation from the system.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2023/0268251) in view of Lang (US 2022/0214121) and Chou (US 2025/0351265).
Regarding claim 12, Chen does not teach PVD techniques.
Chou teaches that it is old and well-known to apply titanium coatings to copper surfaces via sputtering (a PVD technique).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to form the device of Chen, as modified, via sputtering, as taught by Chou, as these are well-known coating techniques.
It is noted that the additional structures are method steps which the applicant relies on for criticality are not claimed and therefore PVD by itself carries no criticality.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2023/0268251) in view of Bogen and Sawchuk (US 2016/0061372) .
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches: a heat sink (203) formed of copper (Para. [0067]) with a plurality of fins (205; see Fig. 1 showing unitary structure); an aluminum (Para. [0070]) heat sink (“cooler”) formed by aluminum or an aluminum alloy; wherein a flow channel is formed between the copper and aluminum heat sinks (see Fig. 1; not liquid flow lines) to enable flow of a coolant; the copper and aluminum heat sinks are bonded by friction stir welding (Paras. [0062] and [0087]) so as to form one or more bonding surfaces (see Fig. 6); both of the copper (Para. [0067]) and aluminum (Para. [0070]) heat sinks may be nickel plated to protect them from the coolant.
Chen does not illustrate gaps between the copper and aluminum heat sinks.
Bogen teaches that it is old and well-known to friction stir weld heat sinks to each other (see welds 17) such that a gap exists between the two heat sinks (see space between the weld and 5 and 7 in Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide such a gap in the device of Chen to allow for differential expansion of the components. It is noted that no criticality has been attempted in the applicant’s disclosure for the size of the gap. Therefore it would have been obvious to supply the gap in the combined teachings above at any distance sufficient to accommodate differential expansion between the components, including 0.1 mm.
Chen does not specify the details of the nickel plating.
Sawchuk teaches that it is old and well-known to form protective nickel coatings of greater than 5.5 wt% phosphorous between 5 and 13 microns thick (Para. [0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the nickel coating of Chen with the parameters of Sawchuk as Chen has left such decisions entirely to one of ordinary skill.
Chen further teaches that: the aluminum heat sink has a plurality of water holes that are in spatial communication with the flow channel (in Fig. 1, the water holes are the openings in the cooler cover which communicate with the flow channel formed between the cooler cover and cooler framework), per claim 2; the copper fin may be a pin fin (Para. [0057]), per claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, Bogen teaches that such heat sinks (4) may comprise integrally formed aluminum fins (24) as pin fins (see Fig. 2; Para. [0062]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the device of Chen, as modified, with the fins of Bogen, in order to increase the thermal dissipation from the system.
Regarding claim 5, Bogen further teaches that the plated gap is horizontally oriented (Fig. 2) and a normal to the gap (up-down in Fig. 2) is perpendicular to the flow direction of coolant (into the page in Fig. 2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Devon Lane whose telephone number is (571)270-1858. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, 9-4.
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/DEVON LANE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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