Appeal No. 1999-0072
Application 08/692,466
system such as a gas turbine engine” (Abstract). The flow
control system includes a flow control subsystem 14 comprising
a throttling control valve 18 and a mass flow measurement
subsystem 16 comprising a flow restriction element 22 and
transducers 26 and 24 for measuring the pressure upstream of
the restriction and the pressure drop across the restriction.
As implicitly conceded by the examiner, none of these
references teaches or would have suggested the subject matter
recited in the claims on appeal. Nevertheless, the examiner
has concluded that
[i]t would have been obvious at the time of the . .
. invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to
modify the control system of Nogami by including the
phase splitter of Stoy as a source of fluids for the
two components (A and B; Nogami) in order to provide
a control system for providing desired steam quality
ratios; further, it would have been obvious at the
time of the . . . invention to one of ordinary skill
in the art to modify the flow sensors of Nogami by
substituting the flow sensors as taught by Statler
in order to provide flow sensors that only require
pressure and pressure drop readings across an
orifice and further are reliable and cost-efficient
[final rejection, page 2].
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