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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the use of solid gray/black shading reduces legibility and does not adequately contrast with the rest of the drawings. See 37 CFR 1.84(m).
Additionally, the drawings will not reproduce well due to the shading and the character of the lines. All drawings must be made by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. See 37 CFR 1.84(l).
(l) Character of lines, numbers, and letters. All drawings must be made by a process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black (except for color drawings), sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined. The weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction. This requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in sectional views. Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning.
(m) Shading. The use of shading in views is encouraged if it aids in understanding the invention and if it does not reduce legibility. Shading is used to indicate the surface or shape of spherical, cylindrical, and conical elements of an object. Flat parts may also be lightly shaded. Such shading is preferred in the case of parts shown in perspective, but not for cross sections. See paragraph (h)(3) of this section. Spaced lines for shading are preferred. These lines must be thin, as few in number as practicable, and they must contrast with the rest of the drawings. As a substitute for shading, heavy lines on the shade side of objects can be used except where they superimpose on each other or obscure reference characters. Light should come from the upper left corner at an angle of 45°. Surface delineations should preferably be shown by proper shading. Solid black shading areas are not permitted, except when used to represent bar graphs or color.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 1, claims 1-17, in the reply filed on 8/15/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 18-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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) 1-2, and 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Agostini (US 20100315781 A1).
As to claim 1, Agostini discloses:
An apparatus (Fig. 1-7) for cooling electronic components 40, comprising:
at least one thermosyphon 1 thermally coupled to at least one electronic component 40, wherein the at least one thermosyphon is configured to transfer heat away from the electronic component by phase change of a working fluid circulating within the at least one thermosyphon (see Abstract).
As to claim 2, Agostini discloses:
wherein: the at least one thermosyphon comprises a flat-shaped thermosyphon 1 (see Fig. 1-7) having an evaporator region 3, 10.1-10.15, a condenser region 5, 6, 7, 8, and a fluid return path 4.1-4.15, formed within a flattened enclosure (see Figures, 1 generally defines a flat plate shaped enclosure enclosing the working fluid); or the at least one thermosyphon comprises a two-phase closed thermosyphon (closed at 14, 15) or wickless heat pipe (a thermosyphon is a wickless heat pipe).
As to claim 3, Agostini discloses:
wherein the electronic component comprises at least one of a data center electronic device, an integrated circuit, a processor, a power electronic module (par. 0037-0038), or a printed circuit board assembly.
As to claim 13, Agostini discloses:
wherein the at least one thermosyphon has a working fluid filling ratio selected to reduce a maximum temperature at an evaporator plate during steady-state operation (any amount/ratio of fluid filling will reduce a maximum temperature vs an unfilled thermosyphon/heat sink).
As to claim 14, Agostini discloses:
wherein the flat-shaped thermosyphon is configured to be mounted directly to a heat-generating surface of the electronic component 40 (see Fig. 1).
As to claim 15, Agostini discloses:
further comprising a plurality of thermosyphons arranged in parallel (each of the tubes 4.1-4.15 can be construed as a separate thermosyphon arranged in parallel to each other) to cool multiple electronic components or multiple regions of a single electronic component 40, the plurality of thermosyphon including the at least one thermosyphon (any of the individual tubes 4.1-4.5 can be construed as the at least one thermosyphon).
As to claim 17, Agostini discloses:
wherein an evaporator surface 3 of the thermosyphon comprises a metallic heat transfer surface (par. 0058).
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) 4-7, 9-12, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agostini (US 20100315781 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lin (US 20070085054 A1).
As to claim 4, Agostini does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the working fluid comprises a self-rewetting fluid.
However, Lin discloses:
wherein the working fluid 20 comprises a self-rewetting fluid 21 (water and n-butanol; par. 0014; see also par. 0013-0016);
in order to provide a desired surface tension (par. 0014), avoid capillary limit and increase performance (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Agostini as suggested by Lin, e.g., providing:
wherein the working fluid comprises a self-rewetting fluid;
in order to provide a desired surface tension, avoid capillary limit and increase performance.
Additionally, all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined/modified the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination/modification would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S.___, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
As to claim 5, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the self-rewetting fluid exhibits a surface tension that increases with increasing temperature (see Abstract, par. 0013-14, 0018; Lin) over at least a portion of an operating temperature range, thereby promoting liquid migration toward heated regions of the thermosyphon.
As to claim 6, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the self-rewetting fluid comprises an aqueous solution containing an alcohol (par. 0014; Lin).
As to claim 7, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the alcohol comprises butanol (n-butanol; par. 0014; Lin).
As to claim 9, Agostini does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the working fluid further comprises a self-rewetting nanofluid including nanoparticles dispersed within the self-rewetting fluid.
However, Lin discloses:
wherein the working fluid 20 comprises a self-rewetting fluid 21 (water and n-butanol; par. 0014) including nanoparticles 22 (par. 0016) dispersed within the self-rewetting fluid;
in order to provide a desired surface tension (par. 0014), avoid capillary limit and increase performance (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Agostini as suggested by Lin, e.g., providing:
wherein the working fluid further comprises a self-rewetting nanofluid including nanoparticles dispersed within the self-rewetting fluid;
in order to provide a desired surface tension, avoid capillary limit and increase performance.
Additionally, all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined/modified the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination/modification would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S.___, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
As to claim 10, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the nanoparticles comprise metal oxide nanoparticles.
As to claim 11, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the metal oxide nanoparticles comprise aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3; par. 0016; Lin).
As to claim 12, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the self-rewetting fluid is configured to reduce dry-out at an evaporator surface by attracting liquid toward regions of higher temperature (see Abstract, par. 0013-14, 0018; Lin).
As to claim 16, Agostini in view of Lin discloses:
wherein the self-rewetting nanofluid is configured to maintain stable thermal performance under high heat flux conditions relative to a thermosyphon using water as a working fluid (by avoiding capillary limit, having surface tension increasing with temperature; see Abstract, par. 0013-14, 0018; Lin).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agostini (US 20100315781 A1) in view of Lin (US 20070085054 A1) as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Liu (CN 210004836 U). Foreign reference and translation attached.
As to claim 8, Agostini in view of Lin does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the aqueous solution contains about 0.5% to about 5% alcohol by weight.
However, Liu discloses:
wherein the aqueous solution contains about 0.5% to about 5% alcohol (5% butanol; p. 5, 2nd par. of translation);
in order to provide a self-rewetting fluid (p. 5, 2nd par. of translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the related art(s) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Agostini in view of Lin as suggested by Liu, e.g., providing:
wherein the aqueous solution contains about 0.5% to about 5% alcohol by weight;
in order to provide a self-rewetting fluid; and
since it would have been obvious to try 5% by weight, since there are only two percentage options (percent by weight and percent by volume).
It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
It has also been held that discovering an optimum value of a result-effective variable (e.g., the relative percentage of alcohol/butanol by weight for effecting the desired results of operating temperature, surface tension, and/or cooling performance) involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Additionally, all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined/modified the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination/modification would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. See KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S.___, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ito (US 20210351102 A1), Kline (US 20110056655 A1), and Fukushima (US 20090020267 A1) disclose butanol working
fluids for thermosyphons.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB R CRUM whose telephone number is (571)270-7665. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jayprakash Gandhi can be reached at (571) 270-1985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JACOB R CRUM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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