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 § 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 Cl. aimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the Cl. aimed invention is not identically disCl. osed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the Cl. aimed invention and the prior art are such that the Cl. aimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the Cl. aimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the Cl. aimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the Cl. aims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-9, and 11-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arbabian (US 5,165,466) in view of D, Souza (US 2005/0126746).
Reg. Cl. 1, Arbabian discloses; A modular heat exchanger comprising at least two heat exchanger units in the form of gas-solid heat exchangers (Fig. 8), each having a multitude of flow channels, and at least one connecting element (146) by which the heat exchanger units are connectable to one another.
Reg. Cl. 2, Arbabian discloses; in which the at least two heat exchanger units are in plate form, with a polygonal or round cross section, or in the form of circle segments (Figs. 1-8, col. 8; 23-26).
Reg. Cl. 3, Arbabian discloses; in which at least two heat exchanger units are in an arrangement that enables parallel flow.
Reg. Cl. 4, Arbabian discloses; in which at least one heat exchanger unit is connected in series with at least one further heat exchanger unit in an assembled state.
Reg. Cl. 5, Arbabian discloses; in which at least one of the flow channels in at least one of the heat exchanger units has a rectangular, hexagonal, polygonal or round cross section and/or at least one of the flow channels has a cross section which is variable over the length of the heat exchanger unit and/or at least one of the channels is in straight or sinuous form.
Reg. Cls. 6, 7, 17 Arbabian fails to disclose; however, D, Souza teaches in which there is an arrangement of channels (1.2) having different cross sections in at least one of the heat exchanger units, especially with cross sections that differ with regard to a basic shape and/or size(Fig. 1A -1C); in which at least one heat exchanger unit has a channel structure that varies in a regular manner over its cross section, especially channels having greater diameter in an inner region and channels having a smaller diameter in the outer region ([0012], [0026], [0028]); and in which the at least two heat exchanger units are of different construction, and especially have different lengths, different channel structures and/or different materials.
.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arbabian's invention with D, Souza's teachings of an arrangement of channels having different cross sections in at least one of the heat exchanger units, especially with cross sections that differ with regard to a basic shape and/or size; and in which at least one heat exchanger unit has a channel structure that varies in a regular manner over its cross section, especially channels having greater diameter in an inner region and channels having a smaller diameter in the outer region; and in which the at least two heat exchanger units are of different construction, and especially have different lengths, different channel structures and/or different materials. Doing so would provide an apparatus and method for transferring heat using regenerative heat-transfer techniques that are economical to manufacture, transport, and install at the job-site.
Reg. Cl. 8, Arbabian discloses; at least one blockade body which is in the form of circle segments and does not have any flow channels and which is connectable via the at least one connecting element to at least one of the heat exchanger units.
Reg. Cl. 9, Arbabian discloses; in which at least one of the heat exchanger units comprises a ceramic, a polymer material, especially polystyrene or ABS, or a metallic material, especially a stainless steel.
Reg. Cl. 11, Arbabian discloses; in which the connecting element is formed on at least one of the heat exchanger units.
Reg. Cl. 12, Arbabian discloses; in which the connecting element is a separate component, especially a connecting element disposed between the heat exchanger units in an assembled state or an acceptor disposed around at least parts of the heat exchanger units (146, 148) or a housing around the heat exchanger units (Fig. 8).
Reg. Cl. 13, Arbabian discloses; having a dividing wall between the at least two heat exchanger units, by means of which two air streams are fully fluidically separable from one another, where the dividing wall is in particular a straight wall or a closed ring.
Reg. Cl. 14, Arbabian discloses; a spacer disposed between the at least two heat exchanger units in an assembled state, where the spacer is formed on at least one of the heat exchanger units or as a separate spacer or as part of the connecting element.
Reg. Cl. 15, Arbabian discloses; in which the spacer is designed and/or arranged so as to fluidically separate a first set of channels of a heat exchanger unit from a second set of channels of that heat exchanger unit in the assembled state.
Reg. Cl. 16, Arbabian discloses; in which there is a porous material disposed between the at least two heat exchanger units, where the porous material is especially a wadding, a fleece, a foam material.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arbabian (US 5,165,466) in view of D, Souza (US 2005/0126746) as applied to claims above, and further in view of Zhou (US 2008/0128121).
Reg. Cl. 10, Arbaboan as modified by D, Souza, fails to disclose; however, Zhou
teaches in which at least one of the channels of at least one of the heat exchanger
units has an internal coating or internal structuring (Abstract, [0005], [0013], [0027-
0028]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Arbabian's invention with Zhou's teachings of at least one of the channels of at least one of the heat exchanger units has an internal coating or internal structuring. Doing so would provide a highly-efficient and energy-saving heat exchanger with a coating layer for facilitating heat exchange.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arbabian 8(US 5,165,466) in view of D, Souza (US 2005/0126746) as applied to claims above, and further in view of Rush et al (US 3,965,695).
Reg. Cl. 18, Arbaboan as modified by D, Souza, fails to disclose; however, Rush
et al. teaches in which the at least two heat exchanger units are in a mutually twisted
arrangement in an assembled state. (Figs. 2-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to furthermore modify Arbabian's invention with Rush et. al’s teachings in which the at least two heat exchanger units are in a mutually twisted arrangement in an assembled state. Doing so would provide improved thermal efficiency for facilitating heat exchange.
Claims 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peter Moser (EP 10 2012 204 865) in view of Arbabian (US 5,165,466).
Reg. Cls. 19-21, Moser discloses; A ventilation system having at least one ventilator which is in particular bidirectionally operable. Moser fails to disclose, however, Arbabian teaches at least one modular heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1; a flow homogenizer which is made of porous material and is disposed between the bidirectionally operable ventilator and the modular heat exchanger, and the deflectors of which deflect air molecules so as to compensate for dead zones that arise behind the ventilator (Cl. 8; lines 8-27); and a twin ventilation system for interior ventilation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Moser's invention with Arbabian’s teachings of at least one modular heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1; a flow homogenizer which is made of porous material and is disposed between the bidirectionally operable ventilator and the modular heat exchanger, and the deflectors of which deflect air molecules so as to compensate for dead zones that arise behind the ventilator. Doing so would provide an efficient heating and cooling ventilation system using heat exchange supply and exhaust air from a building.
Regarding a twin system for interior ventilation having a common housing, both
Moser and Arbabian disclose heat exchangers within the scope of the claimed invention except for twin systems for interior ventilation having a common house. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to a twin system for interior ventilation having a common housing, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8. Doing so would provide a supply of conditioned heating or cooling air based on an given design characteristic.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The applicant is advised to review all the prior art on the PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRELL L MCKINNON whose telephone number is (571)272-4797. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8:00 am to 4:30 pm..
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/TERRELL L MCKINNON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3632
