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 § 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 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.
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 claims 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 16-18, 20-22, 24-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over More (US2025/0215842 A1) in view of Logan (US2011/0011070 A1).
Regarding to Claim 16, More teaches an apparatus suitable for a hydrogen application, said apparatus comprising:
a hydrogen preparation unit adapted for supplying a hydrogen-containing gaseous medium with at least 85 volume percent hydrogen, at a pressure which, depending on the operating state of said apparatus, is between a lower limit and an upper limit, wherein said lower limit is less than or equal to said upper limit (Fig. 1, Part 16, Paragraph 35, regarding the volume percentage of the hydrogen, after reviewing the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for this limitation. Van der Walt (US11161076B1) teaches a hydrogen in certain range to improve the efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emission (Col. 1, Lines 34-50));
a hydrogen collector unit in communication with said hydrogen preparation unit, comprising one or more pipe elements which together define an interior space delimited by a wall (Fig. 1, Part 12, Paragraphs 35-38);
a hydrogen processing unit in communication with said hydrogen collector unit, adapted for the processing and/or use of said hydrogen-containing medium (Fig. 1, Part 24),
wherein said apparatus is adapted for, during operation,
feeding said hydrogen collector unit with said hydrogen-containing medium from said hydrogen preparation unit, for flow and/or temporary buffering of said hydrogen-containing medium in said interior space, wherein said wall is in contact with said hydrogen-containing medium, and wherein in said interior space there is a pressure being at most equal to said upper limit, and a temperature of at most 100°C (Paragraphs 35-36, and based on the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for the temperature range of the hydrogen, and one with ordinary skill in the art would understand and find a suitable temperature for the hydrogen);
supplying said hydrogen-containing medium from said hydrogen collector unit to said hydrogen processing unit (Paragraphs 35-38),
wherein said upper limit for said pressure is at most 50 bar (Paragraphs 35-38, especially Paragraph 35, would reflect the limitations under the broadest reasonable interpretation).
More fails to explicitly disclose, but Logan teaches apparatus, comprising:
each of said one or more pipe elements is a casting, made from a nodular cast iron with a tensile strength of at most 600 MPa [Logan teaches an engine is manufactured by certain material with certain tensile strength to achieve excellent oxidation resistance and yield strength (Logan, Paragraph 6).]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified More to incorporate the teachings of Logan to manufacture certain parts of engine with certain material with certain tensile strength in order to achieve excellent oxidation resistance and yield strength (Logan, Paragraph 6).
Regarding to Claim 17, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said upper limit for said pressure is at least 5 bar and is at most 50 bar, for example is equal to 10 bar (More, Paragraphs 35-38).
Regarding to Claim 18, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said apparatus is a hydrogen combustion engine (Abstract, Paragraphs 34, 35), in which
said hydrogen-containing gaseous medium functions as gaseous fuel, comprising at least 85 volume percent hydrogen;
said one or more pipe elements of said hydrogen collector unit together form a fuel rail, and
said hydrogen processing unit comprises one or more injectors, and a combustion chamber per injector, and
wherein said hydrogen combustion engine is adapted to, during operation,
temporarily buffer said hydrogen-containing medium in said fuel rail, at a temperature of at most 100°C, and at a pressure which, depending on the operating mode of said hydrogen combustion engine, is situated between said lower limit and said upper limit, and
distribute said hydrogen-containing medium from said fuel rail to said injectors, for combustion in said combustion chambers (Please see the rejection of Claim 16).
Regarding to Claim 20, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said nodular cast iron has a tensile strength between 400 MPa and 500 MPa (Logan, Paragraph 6).
Regarding to Claim 21, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said hydrogen preparation unit is adapted for supplying said hydrogen-containing gaseous medium, at a pressure which, in the nominal operating state of said apparatus, is situated between 3 and 4 bar, for example 3.5 bar (Logan, Paragraph 35, based on the Specification, the examiner considered the pressure range fails to provide any specific purpose).
Regarding to Claim 22, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said lower limit for said pressure is at least 0.1 bar and at most 1 bar, for example 0.3 bar (Logan, Paragraphs 35-38, based on the Specification, the examiner considered the pressure range fails to provide any specific purpose).
Regarding to Claim 24, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said pipe elements consist of tubing pieces and branch pieces (More, Fig. 1, Part 12 and Part 18 areas),
wherein each of said tubing pieces comprises a sleeve (More, Fig. 1, Part 12 and Part 18 areas),
wherein said sleeve has an end adapted to be connected to an adjacent tubing piece, so that tubing pieces linked together form a continuous tube (More, Fig. 1, Part 12 and Part 18 areas), and
wherein said tubing piece has a transverse opening made in said sleeve (More, Fig. 1, Part 12 and Part 18 areas),
each of said branch pieces comprises a sleeve, wherein said sleeve has an end adapted to be connected to a tubing piece, at the position of said transverse opening, so that a branch is formed on said continuous tube (More, Fig. 1, Part 12 and Part 18 areas).
Regarding to Claim 25, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said hydrogen preparation unit comprises an expansion system placed between a high-pressure line and a low- pressure line and comprising one or more pressure controllers, said expansion system being adapted to reduce the pressure of said hydrogen-containing medium delivered via said high-pressure line to a pressure between said lower limit and said upper limit in said low-pressure line, wherein said low-pressure line is connected to said hydrogen collector unit (More, Fig. 1, Part 16, Paragraphs 35-38).
Regarding to Claim 26, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said one or more pressure controllers comprise: one or more pressure regulating valves, adapted to reduce said pressure to a set value situated between said lower limit and said upper limit, and/or one or more overpressure valves, adapted to reduce said pressure to a discharge value equal to said upper limit (More, Fig. 1, Part 16, Paragraphs 35-38).
Regarding to Claim 27, More in view of Logan teaches the modified apparatus, wherein said hydrogen combustion engine has a power of at least 500 kW (the examiner considered the Specification fails to show any specific purpose for the limitations, and based on the teachings of More, one with ordinary skill in the art would understand and design an hydrogen combustion engine with certain power).
Regarding to Claim 28, More teaches use of a hydrogen collector unit, said use comprising:
providing a hydrogen collector unit comprising one or more pipe elements which together define an interior space delimited by a wall (Fig. 1, Part 12, Paragraphs 35-38);
providing a hydrogen-containing gaseous medium, with at least 85 volume percent hydrogen (Paragraphs 35-38, regarding the volume percentage of the hydrogen, after reviewing the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for this limitation. Van der Walt (US11161076B1) teaches a hydrogen in certain range to improve the efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emission (Col. 1, Lines 34-50));
causing said hydrogen-containing medium to flow and/or temporarily buffering said hydrogen-containing medium and/or storing said hydrogen-containing medium in said interior space, at a temperature of at most 100°C and at a pressure situated between a lower limit and an upper limit, wherein said wall is in contact with said hydrogen- containing medium (Paragraphs 35-38, and based on the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for the temperature range of the hydrogen, and one with ordinary skill in the art would understand and find a suitable temperature for the hydrogen), and
wherein said lower limit is less than or equal to said upper limit (Paragraph 35);
wherein said upper limit for said pressure is at most 50 bar (Paragraph 35).
More fails to explicitly disclose, but Logan teaches use comprising:
each of said one or more pipe elements is a casting, made from a nodular cast iron with a tensile strength of at most 600 MPa [Logan teaches an engine is manufactured by certain material with certain tensile strength to achieve excellent oxidation resistance and yield strength (Logan, Paragraph 6).]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified More to incorporate the teachings of Logan to manufacture certain parts of engine with certain material with certain tensile strength in order to achieve excellent oxidation resistance and yield strength (Logan, Paragraph 6).
Regarding to Claim 29, More in view of Logan teaches the modified use, wherein said use comprises:
providing a hydrogen preparation unit, in communication with said hydrogen collector unit (More, Fig. 1, Part 16, Paragraph 35);
providing a hydrogen processing unit, in communication with said hydrogen preparation unit (More, Fig. 1, Part 24);
supplying said hydrogen-containing medium by said hydrogen preparation unit, at a pressure which, depending on the operating state of said apparatus, varies between said lower limit and said upper limit (More, Paragraphs 35-38);
feeding said hydrogen collector unit with said hydrogen-containing medium, from said hydrogen preparation unit (More, Paragraphs 35-38),
wherein said hydrogen-containing medium flows in and/or is buffered temporarily in said interior space (More, Paragraphs 35-38);
supplying said hydrogen-containing medium from said hydrogen collector unit to said hydrogen processing unit (More, Paragraphs 35-38);
processing and/or using said hydrogen-containing medium in said hydrogen processing unit (More, Paragraphs 35-38).
Regarding to Claim 30, More in view of Logan teaches the modified use, wherein said hydrogen collector unit is a fuel rail, used in a hydrogen combustion engine (More, Fig. 1, Part 12), and wherein
said hydrogen-containing medium functions as fuel, comprising at least 85 volume percent hydrogen (More, Paragraphs 35-38, regarding the volume percentage of the hydrogen, after reviewing the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for this limitation. Van der Walt (US11161076B1) teaches a hydrogen in certain range to improve the efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emission (Col. 1, Lines 34-50));
said hydrogen processing unit comprises one or more injectors, and a combustion chamber per injector (More, Fig. 1, Part 24), said use comprising:
temporarily buffering said hydrogen-containing medium in said fuel rail, at a temperature of at most 100°C and at a pressure which, depending on the operating mode of said hydrogen combustion engine, varies between said lower limit and said upper limit (More, Paragraphs 35-38, and based on the Specification, the examiner considered there is no specific purpose for the temperature range of the hydrogen, and one with ordinary skill in the art would understand and find a suitable temperature for the hydrogen);
distributing said hydrogen-containing medium from said fuel rail to said injectors (More, Paragraphs 35-38);
burning said hydrogen-containing medium in said combustion chambers (More, Paragraph 49).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over More (US2025/0215842 A1) and Logan (US2011/0011070 A1) as applied to Claim 16 above, and further in view of Kirehner (US2008/0193295 A1).
Regarding to Claim 19, More and Logan fail to explicitly disclose, but Kirehner teaches an apparatus, wherein said nodular cast iron meets grade EN-GJS-400 or EN-GJS-450 or EN-GJS-500 according to European standard DIN EN 1563, grade EN-GJS-400 [Kirehner teaches a cast iron with nodular would follow certain standard to achieve certain stiffness feature (Kirehner, Paragraph 12).]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified More and Logan to incorporate the teachings of Kirehner to use the said nodular cast iron with certain standard in order to achieve certain stiffness feature (Kirehner, Paragraph 12).
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over More (US2025/0215842 A1) and Logan (US2011/0011070 A1) as applied to Claim 16 above, and further in view of Kloss (US2020/0132014 A1).
Regarding to Claim 23, More and Logan fail to explicitly disclose, but Kloss teaches an apparatus, wherein each of said pipe elements is made double-walled, wherein a pipe element comprises a second wall, placed around said wall, wherein said second wall is separated at least partially from said wall by a cavity [Kloss teaches at least a portion of a pipe comprises two walls which are separated by a cavity (Kloss, Fig. 6) to enhance thermal performance (Kloss, Abstract).]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified More and Logan to incorporate the teachings of Kloss to design a pipe with two walls which are separated by a cavity in order to enhance thermal performance (Kloss, Abstract).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YI-KAI WANG whose telephone number is (313)446-6613. The examiner can normally be reached Flexible.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lindsay Low can be reached at 5712721196. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YI-KAI WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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