Appeal No. 2005-1209
Application No. 10/078,086
(claim 4) be designed to convert a stream of water to a two phase
mixture of water and steam by using heat generated by the
combustion of fuel cell anode exhaust gas in a catalytic burner.
We find no reference in Kaufmann regarding the conversion of
a stream of water to a two phase mixture of water and steam. At
most, Kaufmann (page 3, para. 46) suggests that heat generated by
the combustion of anode exhaust gas in a catalytic burner can be
used in a heat exchanger “for evaporating operating medium and/or
water, and/or for reforming the operating medium.” In no sense
can this be taken as synonymous with the generation of a two
phase mixture of water and steam in the heat exchanger.
Evaporation of water does not necessarily imply that the water is
converted to steam.
Further, as explained by appellants, neither the turbine 7
nor the fan 5 disclosed in Kaufmann contains water and,
therefore, can not be said to have anything to do with converting
water into a two phase mixture of water and steam.
Moreover, with regard to claim 4, we find nothing in
Kaufmann to suggest feeding steam which has been so generated to
a catalytic fuel reformer.
With regard to dependent claim 7, we also note that Kaufmann
makes no reference to providing “a swirled mixture of air and
4
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