Appeal No. 2000-1638
Application No. 08/829,699
would have appreciated from the teachings of Asaumi the
condensation-enhancing benefits of cross-cuts or reverse-
spiral notches in heat transfer pipes having fins and grooves
on their inner surface, such as the one taught by Yamamoto
(answer, page 4). Even accepting the examiner's assertion,
however, such a person would also have inferred from Asaumi's
teachings (translation, page 6) that the provision of such
notches or cross-cuts through the fins and/or projections of
Yamamoto's pipe would adversely affect the evaporation
performance of Yamamoto's pipe. In particular, the provision
of the notches would appear to facilitate escape of liquid
coolant from the grooves in an evaporation application, an
effect which Yamamoto seeks to prevent.
It is clear from the teachings of Yamamoto that Yamamoto
is primarily concerned with improving the evaporation
performance of the heat transfer pipe and that the arrangement
disclosed therein (in particular, the provision of projections
in the grooves between the fins) improves both evaporation
performance and condensation performance. Moreover, Yamamoto
teaches that inner crossed-grooved pipes have unbalanced
evaporation and condensation performance (translation, page
8
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