DETAILED ACTION
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
Applicant's election with traverse of the Species restriction in the reply filed on 10/24/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that 1) Fig 1-3 are not sufficiently distinct wot warrant an election and share the same core construction variants, and 2) Claim 13 (group 2) is directed to a method inseparable from the apparatus claimed. This is not found persuasive because:1) The embodiments of Figures 1-3 possess different features that cannot overlap, specifically Figure 1 has the combustion chamber and the heat exchanger in the common housing with the two turbines, Figure 2 has the heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger outside the common housing, and Figure 3 has the combustion chamber and the heat exchanger outside the common housing. As the defining feature between the Species is the location of the devices either inside or outside the common housing, they are not able to overlap and would require different art to read on them necessitating different search strategies and rejection combinations. As such the Species election is upheld.
2) The Apparatus as claimed can be used for a different method than that of Claim 13. Claim 13 is for network stabilization on a power grid where the apparatus of the other claims can be used in a different method, such as providing power to a battery, or providing power to directly power a different powerplant, or providing power to supply power to an electrical bus on an airplane. As such the method by which the apparatus is operated is not necessitated by Claim 13, and as such the grouping is upheld.
Applicant has elected Species 1 : Claims 1,2,4,6,8,9-13 and Group 1: Claims 1-12. Claim 6 is dependent from non-elected claim 5, and incorporates features of Species 2. As such Claim 6 will not be examined. Claim 7 is dependent from Claim 4 and possesses the features of Species 1, as such Claim 7 will be examined. The claims common to both Species 1 and Group 1 are Claims 1-2,4,7-12 which shall be examined on the merits herein.
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The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2,11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by US 3797234 to Schwarz
As to claim 1, Schwarz discloses a device configured to generate energy from compressed air, comprising: an air turbine (6) configured to expand gaseous air (from 1) starting out from a first pressure level to a second pressure level and produce first energy (Col 3, line 1-5); a combustion chamber (25) configured to receive air expanded in the air turbine and combust fuel (26); an exhaust gas turbine (7) configured to expand exhaust gas created during combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber and produce second energy; and a common housing (15,24,25 common housing) for at least the air turbine and the exhaust gas turbine (Fig 1).
As to claim 2, Schwarz discloses the common housing additionally for the combustion chamber (15,24,25 common housing).
As to claim 11, Schwarz discloses A system comprising: a device configured to generate energy from compressed air comprising: an air turbine (6) configured to expand gaseous air starting out from a first pressure level to a second pressure level and produce first energy; a combustion chamber (25) configured to receive air expanded in the air turbine and combust fuel; an exhaust gas turbine (7) configured to expand exhaust gas created during combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber and produce second energy; and a common housing for at least the air turbine and the exhaust gas turbine (Fig 1) and a compressed air energy storage device (upstream 1; Col 2, Line 55-65) which comprises a store for storing compressed gaseous air, wherein the compressed gaseous air can be fed to the air turbine (Fig 1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 1-2,9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Publication 20140137563 to Kerth
As to claim 1, Kerth discloses A device configured to generate energy from compressed air, comprising: an air turbine configured to expand gaseous air starting out from a first pressure level to a second pressure level and produce first energy; a combustion chamber configured to receive air expanded in the air turbine and combust fuel; an exhaust gas turbine configured to expand exhaust gas created during combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber and produce second energy; and a common housing for at least the air turbine and the exhaust gas turbine (120, 122,125,124; Fig 2).
While Kerth shows these features in a common housing (120), it calls 120 an “assembly”, however it also discloses that similar structure (104) can be defined as a common housing (Par 0015).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include how feature 120 is a common housing for the components above as Kerth has already disclosed similar construction to contain attached components, and it would compact the system reducing overall size while limiting heat loss to the atmosphere.
As to claim 2, Kerth discloses the common housing additionally for the combustion chamber (125, 120).
As to claim 9, Kerth discloses the air turbine and the exhaust gas turbine are oriented in an inline arrangement such that an outlet side of one of the two turbines faces an inlet side of another of the two turbines (122, 124 Fig 2).
Claims 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Publication 20140137563 to Kerth as applied to Claim 1 above in view of US Patent 9217370 to Wang
As to claim 4, Kerth does not expressly disclose a first heat exchanger connected between the air turbine and the combustion chamber, via which the air expanded in the air turbine and to be fed to the combustion chamber and the exhaust gas expanded in the exhaust gas turbine can be conducted to heat the air expanded in the air turbine upstream of the combustion chamber.
Wang discloses how it is commonly known to use a recuperator directly upstream of the combustion chamber to increase intake air to reduce fuel need (5, Col 4 Line 4-18).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Kerth to include a first heat exchanger directly upstream of the combustion chamber such that it is connected between the air turbine and the combustion chamber, via which the air expanded in the air turbine and to be fed to the combustion chamber and the exhaust gas expanded in the exhaust gas turbine can be conducted to heat the air expanded in the air turbine upstream of the combustion chamber using the teachings of Wang so as to preheat the air into the combustion chamber to reduce fuel consumption increasing overall efficiency.
Claims 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 11073080 to Conlon in view of US 3797234 to Schwarz
As to claim 10, Conlon discloses A system comprising: an air turbine (Fig 6, 150) configured to expand gaseous air starting out from a first pressure level to a second pressure level and produce first energy (“power”); a combustion chamber configured to receive air expanded in the air turbine and combust fuel (270); an exhaust gas turbine configured to expand exhaust gas created during combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber and produce second energy (260); a common housing for at least the air turbine and the exhaust gas turbine (Fig 6 “box”); and a liquid air energy storage device (120), which comprises a store for storing liquid air and an evaporator for evaporating the liquid air (140,280), wherein evaporated air can be fed to the air turbine (150).
While Conlon shows a common housing for the two turbines (Fig 6) it does not address this in the Specification. Schwarz discloses a common housing for an air expansion turbine and an exhaust expansion turbine (Fig 1).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the air expansion turbine and an exhaust expansion turbine and combustor in a common housing as disclosed in Schwarz so as to reduce overall size of the system while avoiding undesirable heat loss.
Claims 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 3797234 to Schwarz as applied to claim 11 above in view of US Patent 11105263 to Francini
As to claim 12, Schwarz discloses a generator (12) and how the pressurized air is stored but not how it is stored, and does not expressly disclose an electric machine coupled to the device that can be operated as a motor and as a generator.
Francini disclose how a motor generator is used to both harness power and power compression to store air for the pressurized air space to later be used across a turbine expansion system similar to Schwarz.
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Schwarz to include how the electric generator is an electric machine coupled to the device that can be operated as a motor and as a generator so as to power a compressor to facilitate to compression and storage of the pressurized air that is used in the system, increasing system compactness and use efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE SAMUEL BOGUE whose telephone number is (571)270-1406. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/JESSE S BOGUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746