Appeal 2006-2489
Application 09/900,771
temperatures. Instead of a conductive material and coating as in Long,
Okamoto uses a phase-change material with temperature dependent radiation
properties (Okamoto ¶ 0011). Okamoto arranges a several hundred micron
thick film of phase-change substance directly onto the surface of the
spacecraft (Fig. 5 and ¶ 0017). It is arranged on the spacecraft surface as a
film, according to Okamoto, so that it is space-saving and light weight
(Okamoto ¶ 0014).
Long’s materials, unlike Okamoto’s phase-change material, do not
become insulators as the temperature changes.
According to the Examiner, Long describes a radiator body 30 and
coating 44 (radiator 22) meeting the requirements of the claimed base
material. According to the Examiner, one of ordinary skill in the art would
have been motivated to apply the phase change material of Okamoto onto
the radiator 22 of Long to allow the internal temperature of a spacecraft to
be passively controlled within a desired temperature range and would have
controlled the thickness of the phase change film to obtain a coating having
a balance between weight and desired heat radiation/conduction properties.
C. Principles of Law
The examiner bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case
of obviousness. In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444
(Fed. Cir. 1992). To support the prima facie case, the examiner must show,
by a preponderance of the evidence, that a person of ordinary skill in the art,
possessed with the understandings and knowledge reflected in the prior art,
and motivated by the general problem facing the inventor, would have been
led to make the combination recited in the claims. In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977,
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