Appeal No. 2000-1335
Application 09/131,930
surface area is in the region of the manifold and the minimum
surface area is in the region of the hub and (3) to be in
intimate heat conducting contact with each of the tubes.
Nomura’s flowpassage 10 does not have any sort of fin
assembly. The examiner’s reliance on Obosu to overcome this
deficiency is not well founded.
Obosu discloses a heat exchanger which makes use of fins
to enhance heat transfer between an internal flow of
refrigerant and
an external flow of air. The heat exchanger 10 has a
generally planar configuration (see Figure 1) and includes a
plurality of heat exchange tubes 12, 12' arranged in
vertically aligned rows between manifolds 14, 16, and a series
of plate-shaped fins 22, 22' installed on the tubes in closely
spaced relation. Each fin consists of a generally planar body
24 having centrally located, linearly arranged apertures 26
for receiving the tubes in one of the vertical rows.
In proposing to combine Nomura and Obosu to reject claim
1, the examiner concludes that it would have been obvious at
the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary
skill in the art “to employ in Nomura a plurality of fins . .
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