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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tanaka (US 2024/0011716 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tanaka discloses (Figure 1-8) a boiling cooler (vapor chamber 1) comprising: a boiler (at evaporator 3 which evaporates liquid phase working fluid per paragraph 0046-0047) boiling a refrigerant by transferring heat from a heat source (heat generating body 5 transfers heat to be evaporated in the evaporator 3 per paragraph 0046-0047); and a condenser condensing the refrigerant vaporized in the boiler (condenser 4, per paragraph 0046) and returning the condensed refrigerant to the boiler (per paragraph 0047-0049 where evaporated working fluid is condensed in the condenser and returned to the evaporator), wherein the boiler includes a mounting surface on which the heat source is mounted (heat generating body 5 is mounted to an opposite surface of sheet 12 from the surface on which grooves 21 and 22 are present as seen in figure 5A and 5B), and a boiling surface part on a surface that is opposite to the mounting surface and is in contact with the refrigerant (the surface 12a on which grooves 21 and 22 are present), and the boiling surface part includes a groove(s) (at grooves 21 and/or 22) that extends/extend in a line shape (as seen in figures 1-2) and has/have an irregularly protruding/recessed shape (as seen in figure 3-4 with micro uneven shapes 14a-14c) shaped by melting and solidification of a material by energy beam processing (while the patentability of a product or apparatus does not depend on its method of production or formation, see MPEP § 2113, the prior art of Tanaka does disclose the grooves are formed in the manner claimed via laser processing per at least paragraph 0044).
Regarding claim 2, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 above and Tanaka further discloses the groove(s) (21 and /or 22) includes/include a space formed of at least one of a hole opened in the boiling surface part, a hollow with at least a part of an opened part of the hole being covered, a lateral hole extending laterally from the hole or the hollow, and a tunnel-shaped pathway with a part of an opening in the groove being covered (at the space between walls 21f and 21f’ as seen in figure 3, which forms the walls of the main grooves 21, additionally as covered in not further defined covered could be if any portion of the groove 21 is covered in any way such as at the overhang of the walls 21f at h2 in figure 3 or covered by the first metal sheet 11 as seen clearly in figure 5B).
Regarding claim 3, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 2 above and Tanaka further discloses the space is a structure partially formed in a part of the groove (at the space between walls 21f and 21f’ as seen in figure 3, which forms the walls of the main grooves 21).
Regarding claim 5, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 above and Tanaka further discloses the grooves are a plurality of grooves formed in the boiling surface part; and the plurality of grooves include two or more first grooves (grooves 21) extending in a first direction along the boiling surface part (as seen in figure 1-2), and two or more second grooves (grooves 22) extending in a second direction different from the first direction along the boiling surface part and intersecting the two or more first grooves (as seen in figure 2).
Regarding claim 6, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 5 above and Tanaka further discloses the boiler includes a communication part through which the refrigerant flows between the boiler and the condenser (where working fluid flows form the evaporator 3 to the condenser 4 and back per paragraph 0046-0049 with the internal space S for gas phase to flow F(g) to flow from the from the evaporator 3 to the condenser 4 and liquid F(L) to flow from the condenser to the evaporator as seen in figure 5(B)); the first direction is a direction from the boiling surface part toward the communication part side in the boiler ( as seen in figure 5(B) with the flow direction between the evaporator 3 and condenser 4 with a communication part between the two); and a number of the first grooves is greater than a number of the second grooves (as the first grooves and second grooves are not further limited to the total of all of the grooves the second grooves the second grooves could just be defined as two of the grooves 22 and not the total number of grooves between the adjacent grooves 21).
Regarding claim 9, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 above and Tanaka further discloses the groove(s) (groove 21) has/have a maximum opening width not smaller than 1µm and smaller than 1mm (a groove with of at least 10 μm and no more than 100 μm is disclosed in paragraph 0029).
Regarding claim 10, Tanaka discloses (Figure 1-8) a method for producing a boiling cooler including a boiler (at evaporator 3 which evaporates liquid phase working fluid per paragraph 0046) boiling a refrigerant by transferring heat from a heat source (heat generating body 5 transfers heat to be evaporated in the evaporator 3 per paragraph 0046-0047), and a condenser condensing the refrigerant vaporized in the boiler (condenser 4, per paragraph 0046) and returning the condensed refrigerant to the boiler (per paragraph 0047-0049 where evaporated working fluid is condensed in the condenser and returned to the evaporator), the method comprising: forming the condenser (condenser 4); and forming the boiler including a mounting surface on which the heat source is mounted (heat generating body 5 is mounted to an opposite surface of sheet 12 from the surface 12a on which grooves 21 and 22 are present as seen in figure 5A and 5B), and a boiling surface part on a surface that is opposite to the mounting surface and is in contact with the refrigerant (the surface 12a on which grooves 21 and 22 are present), wherein the forming the boiler includes forming on the boiling surface part a groove(s) (at grooves 21 and/or 22) that has/have an irregularly protruding/recessed shape (as seen in figure 3-4 with micro uneven shapes 14a-14c) shaped by melting and solidification of a material by energy beam processing by applying groove formation processing by irradiating the boiling surface part with an energy beam (the grooves 21 and 22 are formed in the manner claimed via laser processing per at least paragraph 0062 and 0064-0067) in a line-shaped pattern (as seen in figures 1-2 and 8).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka (US 2024/0011716 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 112923762 A).
Regarding claim 4, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 above however Tanaka does not explicitly disclose at least a part(s) of the groove(s) has/have a bottom wider than an opening width of the groove in a cross section perpendicular to an extension direction of the groove(s) as the Tanaka is silent as to the dimensions of the bottom of the grooves relative to the top and the figures are not necessarily to scale.
Yang teaches (Figures 1-5) a boiling cooler (at the heat pipe formed of upper and lower plates 1 and 2) with a boiling surface part that includes a groove (at orthogonal channel array 4 which is at the boiling end per the sixth paragraph of page 6 of the machine translation provide by the examiner) least a part(s) of the groove(s) has/have a bottom wider than an opening width of the groove in a cross section perpendicular to an extension direction of the groove(s) (as seen in figure 2 and 5 with walls of the channel tapering at an angle theta seen in figure 5).
It would have been obvious at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the walls of the grooves of Tanaka to include the tapering walls disclosed by Yang doing so could provide a structure that can improve the super wetting property by including the dovetail shape with the a surface nano structure as recognized by Yang (per the firs paragraph under the beneficial effects at the top of page 5 of the machine translation provided by the examiner).
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka (US 2024/0011716 A1) in view of Matsunaga et al. (WO 2021/145332 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Tanaka discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 above however Tanaka does not explicitly disclose the boiling surface part includes a plurality of first regions in which the groove(s) is/are formed, and a second region(s) arranged between the plurality of first regions having no groove.
Matsunaga teaches (Figures 8-14) a boiling cooler (at boiling cooling device 30) with a boiling surface part that includes a groove (at surface layers 20 which are porous sections and have groove like structures as seen in figure 8 and 9 between the plurality of protrusions) the boiling surface part includes a plurality of first regions in which the groove(s) is/are formed (at surface layers 20 as seen in figure 12), and a second region(s) arranged between the plurality of first regions having no groove (as seen in figure 12 where the surface layers are provided with flat portions between the layers 20 per the description of the third and fourth embodiments on page 10 of the machine translation provided by the examiner).
It would have been obvious at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the of the grooves of Tanaka to be spaced with flat portions having no grooves as disclosed by Matsunaga doing so would provide regions that would reduce resistance to flow as recognized by Matsunaga (per the description of the third and fourth embodiments on page 10 of the machine translation provided by the examiner)
Regarding claim 8, Tanaka as modified discloses the claim limitations of claim 7 above and Matsunaga further discloses the plurality of first regions (20) and a plurality of second regions (flat portions between the layers 20 as seen in figure 12 and per the description of the third and fourth embodiments on page 10 of the machine translation provided by the examiner) as the second regions are alternately arranged in the boiling surface part (as seen in figure 12); and each of the plurality of first regions is formed in a stepped shape shifted with respect to the second region adjacent to the first region in a thickness direction of the boiling surface part (where the first regions at 20 may protrude form the surface 10a at the protruding portion 10e as seen in figure 11 where the their embodiment of figure 12 may incorporate the protruding portions 10e of figure 11 of the second embodiment per the description of the third and fourth embodiments on page 10 of the machine translation provided by the examiner).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Delano et al. (US 20180156545 A1) and Yang (US 20190271510 A1) disclose similar boiling heat transfer structures formed with lasers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HANS R. WEILAND whose telephone number is (571)272-9847. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6-3 EST and alternating Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HANS R WEILAND/Examiner, Art Unit 3763
/ERIC S RUPPERT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
