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 § 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 1-20 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.
Claims 1 and 9 each recite the limitations "the last fin" in lines 26, 27, and 28; “the rotor disc” in line 11; “the axial gap” in line 15; and “the primary flow path” in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Nowhere in Claim 1 or Claim 9 is “a last fin”, “a rotor disc”, “an axial gap”, or “a primary flow path” recited. Therefore, Claims 1 and 9 are indefinite due to a lack of antecedent basis.
Claims 1 and 9 each recite “the blade cascade” in lines 11-12. Claims 1 and 9 each recite “a rotor blade cascade” and “a stator blade cascade” before this. It is unclear if “the blade cascade” is referring to the rotor blade cascade or the stator blade cascade. Therefore, Claims 1 and 9 are indefinite in scope. (Examiner’s note: Examiner recommends changing “the blade cascade” in lines 11 and 12 to “the stator blade cascade”. While not indefinite, to avoid similar confusion, Examiner recommends changing “the blade cascade” in lines 6 and 7 to “the rotor blade cascade”).
Claims 2-8 and 20 are indefinite due to their dependency on Claim 1.
Claims 10-19 are indefinite due to their dependency on Claim 9.
Claims 5-7, 13, and 15-18 each recite the term “preferably”. It is unclear what is meant to be covered by the use of the term “preferably”, as it is unclear if the limitation in each claim following the term “preferably” is actually being claimed or not. Therefore, Claims 5-7, 13, and 15-18 are indefinite in scope.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 9 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claim 1 would be allowable for disclosing an unobvious improvement to turbine assemblies of axial flow turbines.
Elorza Gomez (US 8753070) is considered the closest prior art of record. With regards to Claim 1, Elorza Gomez discloses:
a turbine assembly of an axial-flow turbine, consisting of a stator wheel (Fig. 1 #102) and a rotor wheel (Fig. 1 #104) arranged in the direction of a working medium flow downstream, or turbine stage (Fig. 1),
wherein the stator wheel consists of airfoils of blades arranged side by side around the circumference of the stator wheel to form a stator blade cascade (Fig. 2), and a fixing part fixing the blades to the stator and also sealing the blade cascade at the outer circumference (Fig. 2), wherein the blade cascade is sealed to the rotor at the inner circumference by a shroud or a stator disc (Fig. 1 #144) with a non-contact seal (Fig. 1 #152), and
the rotor wheel consists of airfoils of blades placed side by side around the circumference of the rotor wheel to form a rotor blade cascade (Fig. 2), a fixing part fixing the blades to the rotor or rotor disc and which also seals the blade cascade on the inner circumference (Fig. 1 #124), wherein on the outer circumference the blade cascade is sealed against the stator by a shroud with a non-contact seal (Fig. 2), characterized in that wherein passages are formed in the fixing part of the rotor wheel at least between some adjacent blades for draining the working medium which has leaked through the non-contact seal (Figs. 1,2 #114), from the axial gap into the primary flow path, wherein
the inlet of the passage is located on the side of the fixing part facing the non-contact seal of the preceding stator wheel (Fig. 1).
However, Elora Gomez fails to teach the inlet of the passage is located on the side of the fixing part facing the non-contact seal of the preceding stator wheel radially between
a virtual circle with the centre on the axis of the turbine assembly and with a radius of
R8sin-0.6*Ar
and a virtual circle with the centre on the axis of the turbine assembly and a radius of
R8sout + 0.6*Ar
where
R8sin is the inner radius of the radial gap at the last fin of the non-contact seal,
R8sout is the outer radius of the radial gap at the last fin of the non-contact seal, and
Ar is the axial distance between the last fin of the non-contact seal and the side of the fixing part of the next rotor wheel facing the non-contact seal of the preceding stator wheel in operation,
the outlet of the passage exits into the primary flow passage between the blades at an axial distance of at least 1/5*Br from the leading edge of the blades, where Br is the total axial width of the rotor blade cascade at the point of its connection to the fixing part.
Elora Gomez is completely silent as to the specific location of the inlet and outlet of the passage relative any formulas or equations. None of the known prior art, alone or in combination, solves this deficiency. Therefore, the combination of features would be allowable.
Claim 9 would be allowable for similar reasons as Claim 1 above.
Claims 2-8 and 10-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 2-8 and 20 would be allowable due to their dependency on Claim 1.
Claims 11-19 would be allowable due to their dependency on Claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Inomata (US 20110274536), Sohma (US 3817654), Haller (US 11092028), and Fukuda (US 3746462) each teaches a turbine assembly for an axial flow turbine with a non-contact seal in the axial gap of a stator or rotor blade cascade, and a passage for fluid flow through a fixing part for a stator or rotor wheel.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACKSON GILLENWATERS whose telephone number is (469)295-9151. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00AM-6:00PM ET, M-F.
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, NATHANIEL WIEHE can be reached at (571) 272-8648. 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.
/JACKSON N GILLENWATERS/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745