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 § 102
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 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) 1-6, 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2021-144948 to Ishikawa Energy Research Co., Ltd. (Ishikawa) (Machine translation has been used for translational purposes).
Regarding claim 1, Ishikawa discloses a scroll compressor that compresses a refrigerant used in a vapor compression refrigeration cycle, the scroll compressor comprising:
a fixed scroll (21, figs. 1, 6-7);
a movable scroll (20, figs. 1, 6-7) disposed in a manner capable of orbiting relative to the fixed scroll;
a compression space (43, figs. 1, 6-7) formed as a gap between the fixed scroll and the movable scroll;
a shaft (18, figs. 1, 6-7) that gives a drive force to the movable scroll;
a fan (17, figs. 1, 6-7) attached to the shaft; and
a first-stage compression chamber in which the fan is housed (figs. 1, 6-7; air is compressed where the fan is located within the housing effectively making the space a compression chamber), wherein the fan and the first-stage compression chamber are disposed upstream of the movable scroll in terms of a flow of the refrigerant (figs. 1, 6-7; [12], [24], [58]-[63]).
Regarding claim 2, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 1, wherein the fan has a first fan (17, figs. 1, 6-7) and a second fan (19, figs. 1, 6-7) disposed downstream of the first fan, and the first-stage compression chamber has a first first-stage compression chamber in which the first fan is housed and a second first-stage compression chamber in which the second fan is housed (figs. 1, 6-7; air is compressed where each of the fans is located within the housing effectively making the spaces compression chambers).
Regarding claim 3, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 1, wherein the fan has a main surface (base surface A of fan 17, annotated fig. 7) portion and an air blower wall (raised portion B from the base portion, annotated fig. 7),
the main surface portion is a substantially circular surface extending in a direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the shaft, and the air blower wall is a part formed by partially raising the main surface portion and extends radially outward in a shape of a wall (figs. 1, 6-7).
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Regarding claim 4, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 3, wherein the main surface portion has an upstream-side main surface portion (portion of the base portion A facing the flow direction, annotated fig. 7) facing an upstream side in terms of the flow of the refrigerant and a downstream-side main surface portion (back side of the base portion A away from the flow direction, , annotated fig. 7) facing a downstream side in terms of the flow of the refrigerant, and the air blower wall has an upstream-side air blower wall (tip side C of the wall, annotated fig. 7) formed at the upstream-side main surface portion and a downstream-side air blower wall (side D connected to the base portion, annotated fig. 7) formed at the downstream-side main surface portion.
Regarding claim 5, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 4, wherein a middle portion of the upstream-side air blower wall is shaped to curve in such a manner as to bulge in a direction in which the fan rotates (figs. 1, 6-7).
Regarding claim 6, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 4 or 5, wherein a middle portion of the downstream-side air blower wall is shaped to curve in such a manner as to be recessed in a direction in which the fan rotates (base portion A is recessed, annotated fig. 7).
Regarding claim 8, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 1, wherein in an up-down direction, a distance between a lower edge portion of the fan and the first-stage compression chamber is shorter than a distance between an upper edge portion of the fan and the first- stage compression chamber (tip C of the fan to the chamber formed by fan as longer length than the flatter portion at B of the fan to the chamber, annotated fig. 7).
Regarding claim 9, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion portion is formed at a side surface portion of the fan, protruding radially outward (see annotated fig. 7 below, a protrusion E projects outwards).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of US 2015/0308453 to Nakaniwa et al (Nakaniwa).
Regarding claim 7, Ishikawa discloses the scroll compressor according to claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose which Nakaniwa discloses:
a fan casing (5, fig. 1) configured to cover the fan (3, fig. 1; [29]), wherein the first-stage compression chamber is a space formed between an inner wall of the fan casing and the fan (fig. 1), the fan has an upstream-side main surface portion facing an upstream side in terms of the flow of the refrigerant, a downstream-side main surface portion facing a downstream side in terms of the flow of the refrigerant, and a side surface portion facing radially outward, and a thickness of a gap between the upstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, a thickness of a gap between the downstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, and a thickness of the side surface portion and the inner wall are substantially same (all shown in fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the fan casing of Nakaniwa in the system of Ishikawa so as to reduce a pressure loss in a return flow channel section of a centrifugal rotation machine such as a centrifugal compressor and thus to achieve high efficiency ([21]; Nakaniwa).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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.
Claim11-16 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 11, the closest prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious the combination including:
“in a comparison between L10, L11, and L12 where L10 is a thickness of a gap between the upstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, L11 is a thickness of a gap between the downstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, and L12 is a thickness of a gap between the side surface portion and the inner wall, any one of L10, L11, and L12 is equal to or less than two times the other two of L10, L11, and L12, and a protrusion portion is formed at a side surface portion of the fan, protruding radially outward.
Regarding claim 14, the closest prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious the combination including:
“in a comparison between L10, L11, and L12 where L10 is a thickness of a gap between the upstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, L11 is a thickness of a gap between the downstream-side main surface portion and the inner wall, and L12 is a thickness of a gap between the side surface portion and the inner wall, any one of L10, L11, and L12 is equal to or less than two times the other two of L10, L11, and L12, and in an up-down direction, a distance between a lower edge portion of the fan and the inner wall is shorter than a distance between an upper edge portion of the fan and the inner wall.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 8,864,479 to Watts et al.
US 6,922,999 to Kimura et al.
US 5,346,374 to Guttinger
US 2022/0056910 to Lee et al.
US 2015/0184656 to Forni et al.
US 2001/0041132 to Marx et al.
All references above describe general state of art.
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/DAPINDER SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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