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.
(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, 7, and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hirota et al. (Hirota) (Patent/Publication Number 2011/0265455).
Regarding claim 1, Hirota discloses an engine device (1) comprising an engine (1, 2, 3) which is operated by a fuel containing at least ammonia (13, 14) (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0067]), the engine device comprising: an exhaust passage (20, 21) through which an exhaust gas exhausted from the engine is flowed in an exhaust direction (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0069]); in the exhaust passage, a selective reduction catalyst (22) which reduces nitrogen oxides contained in the exhaust gas by a reducing agent (60) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0069] On the other hand, the exhaust port 10 is connected to an exhaust purifying catalyst 22 through an exhaust manifold 20 and an exhaust pipe 21. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, this exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is made an oxidation catalyst, a three-way catalyst, an NOx storage reduction catalyst, an NOx selective reduction catalyst, or the like able to purify ammonia and NOx contained in the exhaust gas. ....) (e.g. See Figure 16-17; Paragraphs [0069, 0175-0177]); in the exhaust passage on an upper stream side than the selective reduction catalyst in the exhaust direction, an ammonia adsorption catalyst (71) which adsorbs ammonia contained in the exhaust gas (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0210-0213]); a first bypass passage (70) connected to the exhaust passage to bypass the ammonia adsorption catalyst (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0210-0213]); and a first path switch valve (72) which switches whether a flow of the exhaust gas is to pass through the ammonia adsorption catalyst or not (e.g. See Paragraphs [0210] As shown in FIG. 21, the ammonia burning internal combustion engine of the present embodiment is provided with a bypass pipe 70 branched from the exhaust pipe 21, an ammonia adsorbent 71 arranged in the bypass pipe 70, and a flow rate control valve 72 provided in the branch portion from the exhaust pipe 21 to the bypass pipe 70. The bypass pipe 70 merges with the exhaust pipe 21 at an upstream side of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22. Further, the flow rate control valve 72 can control the flow rate of the exhaust gas flowing in the exhaust pipe 21 as it is and the flow rate of the exhaust gas flowing into the bypass pipe 70 (that is, flowing into the ammonia adsorbent 71). The ammonia adsorbent 71 adsorbs the ammonia in the inflowing exhaust gas when the temperature thereof is low and makes the adsorbed ammonia disassociate and releases it when that temperature becomes high. As such an ammonia adsorbent 71, use is made of, for example, the high surface area zeolite, porous ceramic, activated carbon, etc.) (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0210-0213]).
Regarding claim 2, Hirota further discloses wherein the first path switch valve (72) is provided on an upper stream side than the ammonia adsorption catalyst in the exhaust direction (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0210-0213]).
Regarding claim 7, Hirota further discloses a control device (30) which controls an operation of the first path switch valve, wherein the control device controls the operation of the first path switch valve based on proportion data and/or amount of emissions data of ammonia and nitrogen oxides contained in the exhaust gas in operational conditions of the engine (e.g. See Paragraphs [0214] Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the flow rate control valve is controlled so that the exhaust gas exhausted from the engine body flows into the bypass passage at the time of cold start of the internal combustion engine, the flow rate control valve is controlled so that a portion of the exhaust gas exhausted from the engine body flows into the bypass passage after temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst becomes the activation temperature or more, and the flow rate control valve is controlled so that all of the exhaust gas exhausted from the engine body flows through the engine exhaust passage after the amount of ammonia adsorbed at the ammonia adsorbent is reduced to a certain amount or less.) (e.g. See Figure 21; Paragraphs [0071, 0210-0214]).
Regarding claim 9, Hirota further discloses a temperature detection part (23, 30) which detects a temperature of the exhaust gas (Tcat) or a temperature of the ammonia adsorption catalyst, wherein the control device calculates or estimates an amount of ammonia adsorbed in the ammonia adsorption catalyst based on the proportion data and/or the amount of emissions data and detection results from the temperature detection part, and controls an operation of the first path switch valve based on the amount of ammonia adsorbed (e.g. See Paragraphs [0071] An electronic control unit 30 is comprised of a digital computer, provided with a ROM (read only memory) 32, RAM (random access memory) 33, CPU (microprocessor) 34, input port 35, and output port 36 all connected to each other through a bi-directional bus 31. The output signals of the intake air detector 19, temperature sensor 23, ammonia sensor 24, and NOx sensor 25 are input through corresponding AD converters 37 to the input port 35. ....) and (e.g. See Paragraphs [0104] FIG. 4 is a view showing the relationship between the temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 and the maximum purifiable NOx amount. As seen from FIG. 4, the higher the temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22, the larger the maximum purifiable NOx amount of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22. Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is detected by the temperature sensor 23, the maximum purifiable NOx amount is calculated by using the map as shown in FIG. 4 based on the detected temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22, and the flow rate of NOx flowing into the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is controlled so that it becomes not more than the calculated maximum purifiable NOx amount.) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0071, 0104, 0182, 0185, 0210-0213]).
Regarding claim 10, Hirota further discloses wherein when a ratio (FNOX/FNH) of ammonia is higher than a ratio of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas, or when a ratio of nitrogen oxides is higher than a ratio of ammonia in the exhaust gas, and the amount of ammonia adsorbed in the ammonia adsorption catalyst is more than a predetermined threshold of amount adsorbed, the exhaust gas is passed and exhausted through the ammonia adsorption catalyst and the selective reduction catalyst (e.g. See Paragraphs [0161-0162, 0172, 0184]), and when the ratio of nitrogen oxides is higher than the ratio of ammonia in the exhaust gas and the amount of ammonia adsorbed in the ammonia adsorption catalyst is less than the predetermined threshold of amount adsorbed, the exhaust gas is passed and exhausted through the selective reduction catalyst without being passed through the ammonia adsorption catalyst (e.g. See Paragraphs [0184] FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a control routine of the inflow ratio control controlling the ratio of NOx and ammonia flowing into the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 in the seventh embodiment. Steps S71 to S73 in FIG. 18 are same as steps S51 to S53 in FIG. 13, therefore an explanation will be omitted. At step S73, when it is determined that the ratio FNOX/FNH of NOx and ammonia is higher than the target ratio Rtgt, that is, when it is determined that the ratio of NOx is higher, the routine proceeds to step S74. At step S74, the added amount of ammonia from the ammonia addition device 60 is increased. On the other hand, when it is determined at step S73 that the ratio FNOX/FNH of NOx and ammonia is lower than the target ratio, that is, when it is determined that the ratio of ammonia is higher, the routine proceeds to step S75. At step S75, the added amount of ammonia from the ammonia addition device 60 is reduced.) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0161-0162, 0172, 0184]).
Regarding claim 11, Hirota further discloses wherein regardless of a ratio of nitrogen oxides and a ratio of ammonia in the exhaust gas, in a case where abnormalities occur to an operational state of the engine or the selective reduction catalyst, the exhaust gas is exhausted without being passed through the ammonia adsorption catalyst and the selective reduction catalyst (e.g. See Paragraphs [0200] Further, in the present modification, the purifying capability of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is determined based on the temperature of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22, the degree of deterioration of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22, and so on. For example, in a case where the temperature of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is lower than the activation temperature thereof or a case where the degree of deterioration of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is higher than the predetermined degree of deterioration, it is determined that the purifying capability of the exhaust purifying catalyst 22 is lower than the predetermined purifying capability.) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0182-0183, 0200, 0213]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 and 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; and also to overcome the claim objections set forth in this Office action, such as to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, and 112 2nd paragraph.
Since allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant is encouraged to submit Final Formal Drawings (If Needed) in response to this Office action. The early submission of formal drawings will permit the Office to review the drawings for acceptability and to resolve any informalities remaining therein before the application is passed to issue. This will avoid possible delays in the issue process.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and consists of seven patents:
Clayton et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2016/0169074), Mital et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2015/0238903), Zurbig et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 6173568), Kupe et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2006/0213187), Lim et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2015/0023854), Harris et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 10641153), and Barbier et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2020/0240308), all discloses an exhaust gas purification for use with an internal combustion engine.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner Binh Tran whose telephone number is (571) 272-4865. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors, Mark Laurenzi, can be reach on (571) 270-7878. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are (571) 273-8300 for regular communications and for After Final communications.
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Binh Q. Tran
/BINH Q TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3748
January 23, 2026