Appeal 2006-3265
Application 10/047,670
3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 14 stand objected to as depending from a rejected
claim. We have jurisdiction over this appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 6 (2002).
Appellants’ claimed invention is directed to a tank and cap assembly
for microchannel tubing in heat exchangers (Specification 1). The assembly
utilizes a cap having a slot therein through which the microchannel tubing is
inserted and a tank for receiving the cap therein (Specification 7 and 8). All
surfaces of the tank are free of braze clad or alloy, but the cap has braze clad
material on both its interior and exterior surfaces. Thus, when the tubing,
cap and tank are assembled as illustrated in Fig. 2 and subjected to a brazing
temperature, the braze cladding will flow to bond and seal the exterior
surface of the tubing with the cap within the slot and to seal the interface of
the cap with the tank. (Specification 9-10.) With Appellants’ assembly,
because braze clad or alloy is located only on the cap, in a region away from
the end of the tubing, braze clad or alloy is unlikely to migrate to the end of
the tubing and plug any of the ports or channels therein (Specification 13).
Independent claim 1 is illustrative of the claimed subject matter and reads as
follows:
1. A heat exchanger, comprising:
a flattened tube including a port extending to
an end of the tube;
a cap having a generally centrally located
slot sized to snugly receive said end and allow said
tube to pass fully through said slot, said cap having
a body in which said slot is formed and having an
exterior surface nominally concentric with said
slot, said exterior surface having a tube facing side
and an opposite side spaced therefrom, the
periphery of said cap at said tube facing side being
larger than the periphery at said opposite side; and
2
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Last modified: September 9, 2013