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 § 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.
Claims 2, 5-7, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ferreira (US 2014/0053580).
As to claim 2, Ferreira discloses a refrigeration system comprising:
at least one compressor 201;
at least one condenser 103;
at least one evaporator 104;
at least one ice sensor 601 configured to measure a thickness of ice or frost accumulated on the at least one evaporator 104 (paragraph 38; paragraph 50, lines 10-11); and
a controller 606 (paragraph 38; also see claim 1) configured to:
receive measurements from the sensor 601 (Fig. 6; Fig. 9, step 802);
determine if a measured ice thickness exceeds a threshold thickness level (paragraph 50, lines 12-14); and
initiate a defrost operation in response to the determination that the measured ice thickness exceeds the threshold thickness level (paragraph 50, lines 12-14).
As to claim 5, Ferreira discloses a defrost operation comprising a hot gas defrost operation (Fig. 3).
As to claims 6-7, Ferreira discloses a hot gas defrost line 204 fluidly coupling the compressor 201 to the evaporator 104; and a discharge gas bypass valve 203 located along the line 204; wherein the controller is configured to operate the valve 203 to route hot gas refrigerant to the evaporator 104 for defrost (Fig. 3; paragraph 36).
As to claims 19-20, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would nec-essarily perform the method claimed then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method it can be assumed the device will inherently perform the claimed process. Thus the method as claimed would necessarily result from the normal operation of the apparatus of Ferreira.
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.
Claims 3-4, 8-18, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ferreira as applied above.
As to claims 3-4, Ferreira does not explicitly teach use of an electric defrost operation and electric defrost heater as claimed. However, Official Notice is taken that electric defrost is a common and typical feature of refrigeration systems that would have been obvious to use in conjunction with the refrigeration circuit of Ferreira for the purpose of expediting the defrost operation of the system.
As to claims 8-9, Ferreira teaches a reversible system with a four-way valve 401 (Figs. 4-5), but does not explicitly teach reversing flow to perform defrost. However, Official Notice is taken that reversing refrigeration flow for defrost is a common and typical feature of refrigeration systems that would have been obvious to use in conjunction with the refrigeration circuit of Ferreira for the purpose of expediting the defrost operation of the system.
As to claims 10-11, Ferreira does not explicitly teach use of water defrost operation as claimed. However, Official Notice is taken that such a defrost operation is well-known in the art and would have been obvious to use in conjunction with the refrigeration circuit of Ferreira for the purpose of expediting the defrost operation of the system.
As to claims 12-16, Ferreira does not explicitly teach a liquid/vapor separator, suction flow modulation valve, economizer, economizer expansion valve, or liquid collector as claimed. However, Official Notice is taken that these are all common and well-known components of typical refrigeration systems. As such it would have been an obvious design choice to modify the system of Ferreira by having any or all of the claimed features, since applicant has not disclosed that having such components solves any stated problem or provides any unexpected result, and it appears that the system would perform equally well using any well-known system configuration.
As to claims 17-18 and 21, Ferreira is silent regarding the monitoring period of the ice thickness. However, Official Notice is taken that both continual and periodic monitoring of a sensor are well-known in the art. As such it would have been an obvious design choice to modify the system of Ferreira by using either continual or periodic monitoring, since applicant has not disclosed that having a particular monitoring strategy solves any stated problem or provides any unexpected result, and it appears that the system would perform equally well using either method of monitoring the ice thickness.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN BRADFORD whose telephone number is (571)270-5199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 - 4:00 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry-Daryl Fletcher can be reached at (571)270-5054. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN BRADFORD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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