Appeal 2007-4240
Application 10/663,949
Claim 1 illustrates Appellants’ invention of a tubular solid fuel cell,
and is representative of the claims on appeal:
1. A tubular solid fuel cell, comprising:
an air electrode;
an electrolyte formed on at least a portion of the air electrode; and
a ceramic-metal fuel electrode having a microstructure characterized
by accumulated molten particle splats formed on at least a portion of the
electrolyte.
The Examiner relies upon the evidence in these references of record
(Answer 2-3):
Jensen 5,035,962 Jul. 30, 1991
Cable 5,589,285 Dec. 31, 1996
T.A. Ramanarayanan, S.C. Singhal, and E.D. Wachsman (Ramanarayanan),
“High Temperature Ion Conducting Ceramics,” Interface 22-24 (The
Electrochemical Society. Summer 2001).
R.M.C. Clemmer and S.F. Corbin (Clemmer1), “Processing and properties of
porous Ni-YSZ metal/ceramic composites,” Metal/Ceramic Interactions
241-243 (2002).
Appellants request review of the following grounds of rejection
advanced on appeal (Br. 3-4):
Claims 1 through 4, 9 through 12, and 15 through 17 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
obvious over Ramanarayanan as evidenced by the prior art acknowledged by
Appellants at page 3 of the Specification (Answer 8);
Claims 1 through 8 and 12 through 18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Cable as evidenced by the prior art acknowledged by
Appellants at page 3 of the Specification (id. 6);
1 We do not find Clemmer listed on a PTO-892. However, this reference
was first applied in the Office Action mailed November 15, 2004 at 7, and is
contained in the electronic file as NPL Document dated November 15, 2004.
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013