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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/19/2025 has been entered.
Status of the Claims
The status of the claims as filed in the reply dated 10/9/2025 are as follows:
Claim 1 is amended,
Claims 11-21 are withdrawn,
Claims 1-21 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, lines 32-34 recites “the ensures a balanced and continuous distribution of cooling in both space and time, thereby improving actual efficiency and of cold conduction and working time”, which is indefinite. It is unclear what “actual efficiency” means or is in relation to, for examining purposes the limitation will be treated under it merits.
Claims 2-10 are rejected as they depend on claim 1.
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) 1-4, 7, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. (Chinese Patent Publication CN109853518A, “Hu”, previously cited) in view of Lin (Chinese Patent Publication CN1917193A, previously cited)
Regarding claim 1, Hu discloses a heat-release retardative cold conduction device with multi-cavity and multi-phase change, which is applicable to permafrost engineering and comprises:
an inner cavity (of pipe 1), wherein the inner cavity is a hollow sealing structure with an unobstructed central core and two closed ends (2, 13), and a refrigerant is placed in the cavity (page 2, lines 4-6); and
a heat dissipation cavity (see annotated fig 1 below) encasing the outside of the inner cavity and located in a region above the phase-change cold storage cavity, wherein a unidirectional heat conductive material (2) is placed in the heat dissipation cavity;
wherein, the heat-release retardative cavity and a corresponding portion of the inner cavity encased by the heat-release retardative cavity constitute a heat-release retardative evaporation section (see annotated fig 1 below), the phase-change cold storage cavity and a corresponding portion of the inner cavity encased by the phase-change cold storage cavity constitute an intensive condensation section, and the heat dissipation cavity and a corresponding portion of the inner cavity encased by the heat dissipation cavity constitute a condensation section (see annotated fig 1 below).
PNG
media_image1.png
838
481
media_image1.png
Greyscale
However, Hu does not explicitly disclose a heat-release retardative cavity encasing a bottom region outside of the inner cavity, wherein a phase-change heat storage material is placed in the heat-release retardative cavity, the phase-change heat storage material undergoes phase transition at low temperatures to regulate spatiotemporal distributions of heat;
a phase-change cold storage cavity encasing the outside of the inner cavity and located in a region above the heat-release retardative cavity, wherein the phase-change cold storage cavity does not completely encase a top region outside of the inner cavity, and a phase- change cold storage material is placed in the phase-change cold storage cavity. Lin, however, discloses a heat pipe with a heat-release retardative cavity (see annotated fig 3 below) encasing a bottom region (A) outside of the inner cavity, wherein a phase-change heat storage material is placed in the heat-release retardative cavity, the phase-change heat storage material undergoes phase transition at low temperatures to regulate spatiotemporal distributions of heat (as paraffin wax is a solid to liquid phase transition material, see page 2, lines 23-24);
a phase-change cold storage cavity (see annotated fig 3 below) encasing the outside of the inner cavity and located in a region above the heat-release retardative cavity, wherein the phase-change cold storage cavity does not completely encase a top region (see annotated fig 1 below) outside of the inner cavity, and a phase- change cold storage material is placed in the phase-change cold storage cavity. Lin teaches that this allows for the heat pipe to avoid hot spots and improve heat exchange efficiency (col 4, lines 8-12). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Hu to provide the phase change material of Lin in order to improve heat exchange efficiency.
This would result in when an outer wall temperature of the phase-change cold storage cavity reduces to a phase change temperature of the phase-change cold storage material (such as during the cold season, see page 1, lines 22-38), the phase-change cold storage material undergoes phase transition to store cold energy, thereby reducing the outer wall temperature of the phase-change cold storage cavity (as heat would be outputted), and
a double temperature difference is formed between the heat-release retardative evaporation section and the intensive condensation section, as well as between the heat-release retardative evaporation section and the condensation section, this ensures a balanced and continuous distribution of cooling in both space and time (as these sections would be distributing heat to one another), thereby improving actual efficiency of cold conduction and working time.
PNG
media_image2.png
592
474
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. Hu, as modified, further discloses a heat insulation cavity (for insulation 10 of Hu) encasing the outside of the inner cavity (fig 1 of Hu) and located in a region above the heat-release retardative cavity and in a region below the phase-change cold storage cavity (see rejection of claim 1), wherein a heat insulation material (10 of Hu) is placed in the heat insulation cavity.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. Hu further discloses wherein the heat insulation cavity (for insulation 10) and a corresponding portion of the inner cavity encased by the heat insulation (10) cavity constitute a heat insulation section (fig 1).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. Hu, as modified, further discloses wherein radiating fins (12 of Hu) are further the outer wall of the heat dissipation cavity (see rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. Hu, as modified, further discloses wherein the phase-change cold storage material is composed of a single phase-change material or a plurality of phase-change materials that undergo solid-liquid phase transition (see page 2, lines 18-23, Lin).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. Lin further discloses wherein the refrigerant is liquid ammonia (page 2, lines 39). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Hu, as modified, to provide the ammonia of Lin in order to provide optimal heat transfer.
Claim(s) 5 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu and Lin as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (Chinese Patent Publication CN1553133A, “Kim”, previously cited).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. However, they do not explicitly disclose wherein the outside of the radiating fins is coated with a heat-insulating refrigeration coating. Kim, however, discloses providing a heat-insulating refrigeration coating on heat exchanger fins (page 2, lines 21-29). Kim teaches that the coating improves the strength of the fins (page 2, lines 10-21). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Hu, as modified, to provide the coating of Kim in order to improve the strength of the fins and thus improve the reliability of the device.
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Hu, Lin, and Kim discloses all previous claim limitations. wherein the heat-insulating refrigeration coating is a composite coating composed of a solar reflective material and a radiative refrigeration material,
wherein the solar reflective material includes TiO2 (page 2, lines 23-27 of Kim) and the radiative refrigeration material includes SiO2 (page 2, lines 23-27 of Kim).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu and Lin as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Li et al. (Chinese Patent Publication CN217711191U, “Li”, previously cited).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. However, they do not explicitly disclose wherein the heat insulation material includes aerogel, aluminum silicate fiber, and polyurethane. Li, however, discloses a heat insulation material includes aerogel, aluminum silicate fiber, and polyurethane (page 1, lines 30-50). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Hu, as modified, to provide the heat insulation of Li in order to provide optimal heat resistance.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu and Lin as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bao (Chinese Patent Publication CN217686788U, previously cited).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Hu and Lin discloses all previous claim limitations. However, they do not explicitly disclose wherein the structure of the heat-release retardative cold conduction device with multi-cavity and multi-phase is made of carbon steel coated with an anti-corrosion coating on its surface. Bao, however, discloses a heat pipe wherein the body is made of carbon steel coated with an anti-corrosion coating on its surface (page 3, lines 54-60). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for Hu, as modified, to provide the carbon steel and coating of Bao in order to ensure there is no corrosion and extend the life of the device.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/9/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues (page 14) that the “evaporating and cooling section” of Hu is based on pressure to cause the phase change of the refrigerant, while in the instant application the “heat-release retardative evaporation section” is based on the temperature to cause the phase change of temperature. The Examiner respectfully disagrees; change in pressure and temperature in a closed vessels are dependent on one another, that is a change in one results in a change in the other.
Applicant argues (pages 14-15) that while Hu teaches that there is an evaporative section at the bottom of the tube, the evaporation section of the instant application is composed of an additional heat-release retardative cavity, the storage material contained in the cavity, and the inner cavity, as such these structures are obvious different. However, this argument fails to point out how the claims language distinguishes over the cited reference.
Applicant argues (pages 18-19) that the outer layer of the copper tube in the technical proposal of Hu does not have a "heat-release retardative cavity", "phase-change cold storage cavity" and "heat dissipation cavity", nor does it contain the corresponding "phase-change heat storage material", "phase-change cold storage material" and "unidirectional heat conductive material" in each cavity. Therefore, Hu does not disclose the features 3-9 in the comparison table mentioned above. However, as outlined in the rejection, Hu independently is not relied to teach these limitations, rather the combination of Hu and Lin are relied upon to teach these limitations.
Applicant argues (pages 19-23) that the technical proposal disclosed by Hu with the present application, what are disclosed are two different refrigeration technologies corresponding to refrigeration devices, which have significant structural differences and working principle differences. Hu only reveals the single-chamber phase change driven by pressure changes, while the present application utilizes the phase-change cold storage material in the phase-change cold storage cavity to achieve the cooling principle of low-temperature phase change refrigeration. However, Hu is not relied upon to teach these limitations, rather Lin is relied upon to teach the phase-change cold storage material and the phase-change cold storage cavity.
Applicant argues (page 24) that Lin is not analogues to the instant application as Lin is suitable for cooling of electronics and the instant application is suitable for permafrost engineering. The Examiner respectfully disagrees; the instant application functions as heat pipe in that it is a vessel that depends on a phase change of fluid to transfer heat.
The arguments of pages 26-31 amount to allegations of patentability without pointing out the distinguishing language within the claims to overcome the current rejection.
Applicant argues (page 33) that a person of ordinary skill would have no motivation to combine Hu and Lin. The Examiner respectfully disagrees; a person of ordinary skill would recognize the stated motivation of improving heat exchange efficiency as applicable to the apparatus of Hu.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY E ARANT whose telephone number is (571)272-1105. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-6 ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jianying Atkisson can be reached at (571)270-7740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HARRY E ARANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763