Appeal No. 2003-2056 Page 3
Application No. 09/377,442
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 provides for a spacecraft radiator system comprising a
crossing heat pipe system that utilizes heat pipes to thermally couple radiator panels on
opposite sides of the spacecraft. The invention is recited in claim 1 in the following
manner.
1. Heat dissipating apparatus for use in a spacecraft, comprising:
first and second radiator panels disposed on opposing faces
of a spacecraft that each comprise an outer panel faceskin,
an inner panel faceskin, and a heat pipe matrix disposed
between the outer and inner panel faceskins;
a transverse panel interconnecting the first and second
radiator panels that is oriented transverse to the first and
second radiator panels; and
a plurality of crossing heat pipes extending between and
thermally coupled to the heat pipe matrices of the first and
second radiator panels that extend outside the transverse
panel.
The examiner has rejected this claim as being obvious in view of the combined
teachings of Esposto and Miyasaka. The test for obviousness is what the combined
teachings of the prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See,
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