Appeal No. 2004-0804
Application No. 09/757,886
are all the claims pending in the above-identified application.1
The subject matter on appeal relates to a gas-liquid
contacting tray (claims 1-6) and to a column comprising a
plurality of axially spaced trays (claims 7-10). Further
details of this appealed subject matter are recited in
representative claims 1 through 3 and 6 through 9 reproduced
below:
1. A gas-liquid contacting tray comprising:
a bubble area; and,
one or more rectangular downcomers each having a
length and a width wherein the length is longer than
the width, and an upper and lower end, wherein each
downcomer shares two boundaries with the bubble area
along the length comprising:
two sloped downcomer walls along the length;
a downcomer opening at tray level; and,
one or more downward directed liquid discharge
openings at its lower end; wherein the downcomers are
so positioned on the tray that the bubble area is
present along the length, wherein the cross-sectional
area at the lower end of the downcomer is less than
about 40% of the cross-sectional area of the upper end
of the downcomer at tray level.
2. The tray of claim 1, in which the cross-
sectional area at the lower end of the downcomer is
between about 5 and 40% of the cross-sectional area of
the upper end of the downcomer at tray level.
3. The tray of claim 2, in which the cross-
sectional area at the lower end of the downcomer
is between about 10 and 30% of the cross-
1 In reply to the final Office action, the appellants
submitted a 37 CFR § 1.116 (2003)(effective Feb. 5, 2001)
amendment, proposing a change to claim 7. The examiner,
however, denied entry of this amendment. (Advisory action
mailed Jun. 25, 2003, paper 16.)
2
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