Appeal No. 2006-2161
Application No. 10/248,326
coolant through Lake’s battery pack in the manner Kothmann
describes for evenly cooling fuel cell stacks and
eliminating the problems caused by uneven cooling of fuel
cell stacks. Answer at 5. The examiner relies exclusively
on Kothmann’s teaching to reverse coolant flow through a
fuel cell stack to support his determination that it would
have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the
art similarly to reverse coolant flow through Lake’s battery
pack system and alleviate uneven cooling of the battery
cells thereof. The examiner points to no incentive or
motivation to reverse the flow of coolant through Lake’s
battery pack than that provided by Kothmann’s disclosure.
We find that the examiner’s evidence as a whole is
insufficient to establish the prima facie obviousness of
subject matter encompassed by the claims on appeal.
Therefore, we must reverse the examiner’s rejection.
The fuel cell system disclosed in Kothmann differs
substantially from the battery pack system described by
Lake. Kothmann’s fuel cells are arranged in stacks to form
a composite fuel cell system. Kothmann, col. 1, l. 19-22.
The cooling system described by Kothmann positions cooling
modules between every third to eighth fuel cell in a stack.
Each of Kothmann’s cooling modules is designed and
positioned to cool multiple fuel cells in a stack. See
Kothmann, col. 3, l. 67, through col. 4, l. 5. The
9
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007