Appeal No. 2003-0671 Page 3
Application No. 09/099,632
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to
the appellants’ specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the
respective positions articulated by the appellants and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
The appellants’ invention relates to heat exchangers that include a
microchanneled structured surface defining small discrete channels for active flow of a
heat transfer medium. The microstructure is replicated onto inexpensive but versatile
polymeric films to define flow channels. According to the appellants, the resulting heat
exchanger offers a number of advantages over those of the prior art, including the fact
that they can wholly or partially be flexible and thus provide a high heat transfer area to
the object to be acted upon. The invention is set forth in independent claim 1 in the
following manner:
1. A heat exchanger for use with active fluid transport, comprising:
(a) a first layer of polymeric film material having first and second
major surfaces, wherein the first major surface includes a structured
surface having a plurality of flow channels that extend from a first point to
a second point along the surface of the first layer and that have a
minimum aspect ratio of the channel’s length to its hydraulic radius of
about 10:1 and a hydraulic radius1 of no greater than about 300
micrometers;
1Wettable cross-sectional area of a channel divided by its wettable channel circumference
(specification, page 15)
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