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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, Claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 07/202026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, and 7-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Crane et al (US Patent No. 7,207,183).
Crane teaches:
limitations from claim 1, a coolant distribution unit (300) of a liquid cooling system, the coolant distribution unit comprising: a plurality of pumps (302-303) configured to circulate coolant within the liquid cooling system (C. 6 Lines 9-10); and a controller (110) communicatively coupled to the plurality of pumps (via VSD 104), the controller configured to: determine whether a pump of the plurality of pumps has been enabled after previously being disabled (FIG. 6; Step 604); in response to determining that the pump has been enabled: adjust a pump speed of the pump to a first pump speed (start frequency; step 608); and adjust a pump speed of at least one other pump of the plurality of pumps to the first pump speed (C. 9 Lines 61-65 in which the operating compressors are powered at the start frequency); and after a first period, adjust the pump speed of the pump and the pump speed of the at least one other pump to a second pump speed (C. 10 Lines 26-30; see also C. 12 Lines 23-36);
limitations from claim 4, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the pump speed of the pump to the first pump speed over the first period (the period of time between the pump starting and reaching the start frequency; C. 9 Lines 61-65 in which the operating compressors are powered at the start frequency);
limitations from claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the pump speed of the at least one other pump to the first pump speed over a second period (the period of time between the non-starting pumps to move to the start frequency; (C. 10 Lines 26-30; see also C. 12 Lines 23-36);
limitations from claim 7, wherein the first pump speed (start frequency) corresponds to an intermediate operational speed (the start frequency is lower than a max frequency and thus acts as an intermediate speed);
limitations from claim 8, wherein the second pump speed corresponds to a final operational speed (the max VSD frequency for example);
limitations from claim 9, wherein the second pump speed corresponds to a setpoint speed (see C. 10 Lines 26-30 and/or Step 616 of FIG. 6 in which the compressors are each driven at a particular set VSD);
limitations from claim 10, wherein plurality of pumps includes three pumps (C. 1 Lines 12-14);
limitations from claim 11, wherein, in response to determining that the pump has been enabled, the controller is further configured to adjust a pump speed of each pump of the plurality of pumps to the first pump speed (C. 9 Lines 61-65 in which the operating compressors are powered at the start frequency; see also C. 12 Lines 23-36);
limitations from claim 12, wherein, after the first period, the controller is further configured to adjust a pump speed of each pump of the plurality of pumps to the second pump speed (C. 10 Lines 26-30; see also C. 12 Lines 23-36);
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.
Claim(s) 2-3 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crane et al (US Patent No. 7,207,183) as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Gable et al (US Patent No. 11,852,133).
Crane teaches bringing pumps (302-303) online individually by powering the pumps to a start frequency (C. 9 Lines 59-65), but does not teach that the pumps are ramped to the starting frequency;
However, Gable teaches a pump system (FIG. 1) including a plurality of pumps (214) driven via an electric motor (212) and VFD (216; C. 5 Lines 3-31); and wherein the pumps are brought online by ramping the pump speed to a desired level (FIG. 8 step 312 – “soft start”; C. 9 Line 37 through C. 10 Line 3)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps at the time the invention was filed to start each pump of Crane using a ramp, as taught by Gable, in order to slowly bring the pumps to operating level using a soft-start; therefore, the pumps are not immediately started at operating speed from a cold stop and the risk of wear/damage to the pump can be reduced.
Regarding claim 6:
Crane does not teach particular time periods for altering the speed of the starting and operating pumps, and therefore does not teach that a first time period is longer than a second time period;
However, Gable teaches ramping up pumps at the starting of those pumps, such that a soft-start is achieved on a cold pump; It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps at the time the invention was filed to various periods of time for changing speeds, such as to provide a longer ramp period for starting (cold) pumps as a matter of design choice, in order to allow for the pumps to warm and start safely. The examiner further notes that applicant provides no particular criticality to the timing of the pump adjustment periods.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 9,399,990, US 8,192,171, and US 6,773,224 teaches starting and stopping of multiple pumps to meet demand;
US 2004/0265133 teaches a multiple pump system in which pump speeds are adjusted when a new pump is added.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH whose telephone number is (571)270-5289. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5.
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/CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH/Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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