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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/07/2025 was filed on the filing date of the instant application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sanano (JP 2012/251762 A, refer to attached translation) in view of Zhejiang (CN 114791183 A, refer to attached translation).
Regarding claim 1, Sanano discloses a cooling module (refer to fig.9) comprising:
a flow path (26, 28) configured to allow a fluid to flow therethrough,
a branch flow path (40) branching from the flow path,
a merging flow path (42) merging with the flow path downstream of the branch flow path (40) in a flow direction of the fluid, and
a storage unit (22) communicating with the branch flow path (40) and the merging flow path (42) and configured to store the fluid flowing through the branch flow path and allow the stored fluid to flow from the merging flow path to the flow path (refer to fig.9).
While Sanano discloses the cooling module including the branch flow path, the merging flow path and the storage unit, Sanano fails to explicitly disclose a manifold in which the flow path is formed, and including inside the manifold the branch flow path, the merging flow path and the storage unit.
However, Zhejiang teaches that it is known in the art of refrigeration, to provide a manifold (refer to fluid management device 100) in which a flow path (1000) configured to allow a fluid to flow therethrough is formed, and a storage unit (liquid storage device 2400) communicating with the flow path is formed inside the manifold, in order to prevent leakage of the thermal management system (refer to the 1st par. of Summary of Invention, pg.1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sanano by providing a manifold having inside the branch flow path, the merging flow path and the storage unit in view of the teachings by Zhejiang, in order to prevent leakage in the system.
Regarding claim 2, Sanano discloses meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Sanano discloses a condenser (14a) and an expansion valve (16) that are attached to the manifold and connected to the flow path, wherein the merging flow path (42) is connected to the flow path on a side close to the expansion valve (16) in the flow path between the condenser (14a) and the expansion valve (refer to fig.9), and the branch flow path (40) and the merging flow path (42) are connected to the flow path downstream of the condenser (14a).
Regarding claim 3, Sanano discloses meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 1. Further, Sanano discloses wherein the storage unit (2400 as taught by Zhejiang) is disposed in a dead space of the manifold (a dead space of manifold 100 as taught by Zhejiang, wherein according to Applicant’s disclosure, more specifically par.26, a “dead space” is being considered as a space in which the refrigerant flow path L2, the branch flow path L3, the merging flow path L4, the first expansion valve 231, and the second expansion valve 232 are not provided is referred to as a "dead space") in a vicinity of the expansion valve (16).
Regarding claim 5, Sanano discloses meets the claim limitations as disclosed above in the rejection of claim 3. Further, Sanano discloses wherein the dead space is a region on a back side of a region (refer to fig.2 as taught by Zhejiang) in which an auxiliary device including the condenser (refer to the region including heat exchangers 2310 and 2320) is disposed inside the manifold.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 6 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANA M VAZQUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0611. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4.
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/ANA M VAZQUEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
