Office Action 2: Notice of Allowance (2025-03-06)

CLAIMS:
AMENDMENTS TO THE CLAIMS:

Please amend the current claims as follows:

1\. (Currently Amended) A hydrogen duct system arrangement for an aircraft, comprising:a hydrogen duct system installation mounted on an outside of a fuselage of the aircraft, andSVG {EMBED HERE} 0.1530.63 a variable fairing for covering a-thehydrogen duct system installation , wherein the fairing comprises at least one fairing body to be mounted on the outside of the fuselage, an air inlet and an air outlet and at least one movable closure mechanism configured to open and close a top portion of the fairing.

2\. (Cancelled)
3\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1,wherein the hydrogen duct system installationis mounted on a top of the fuselage.
4\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the closure mechanism comprises at least one or several of the following:
a firs fairing door, a second fairing door, or an actuating apparatus for driving a movement of the closure mechanism.
5\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the closure mechanism comprises the first fairing door and the second fairing door,and wherein the first and the second fairing door are at least one of:
split along a longitudinal axis of at least one of the fairing or the fuselage, or

configured to be hinged to fuselage or to the fairing body.
6\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet and the air outlet comprise fixed openings in the at least one fairing body.
7\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1, comprising a control configured to control the movable closure mechanism depending on at least one or several of the following:
a flight condition of an aircraft,
an aircraft speed,
a ground condition of the aircraft, or a hydrogen accumulation within the fairing.

8\. (Cancelled)

9\. (Currently Amended) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1,wherein the hydrogen duct system installation comprises at least one er of the following components:
at least one pipe for transporting hydrogen (H2),
at least one pipe coupling,
at least one component of a H2 feed unit for supplying a hydrogen consumer of the aircraft with hydrogen,
at least one valve,
at least one vent system for releasing H2 to the outside,
at least one security valve,
at least one component of a H2 refueling system for at least one of fueling a hydrogen tank with H2 or venting a hydrogen tank during fueling, or a H2 system unit combining at least two of the aforementioned components.
10\. (Currently Amended) An aircraft comprising a hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1.
11\. (Currently Amended) An operation method for hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1, comprising opening the variable fairing on ground for allowing hydrogen to escape upwards and closing the fairing during flight allowing airflow through the fairing via the air inlet and the air outlet.

12\. (Original) The operation method according to claim 11, wherein the variable fairing is opened during a lower aircraft moving speed and closed during a higher aircraft moving speed.
13\. (Currently Amended) A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions to execute the steps of an operation method for a hydrogen duct system arrangement according to claim 1, comprising opening the variable fairing on ground for allowing hydrogen to escape upwards and closing the fairing during flight allowing airflow through the fairing via the air inlet and the air outlet.
14\. (New) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to
wherein the closure mechanism comprises an actuating apparatus for driving a movement of the closure mechanism, wherein the actuating apparatus comprises a linearly movably telescopic cylinder.

15\. (New) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to
wherein the outlet comprises two fixed outlet openings in the rear part of the fairing.
16\. (New) The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to The hydrogen duct system arrangement according to
wherein the inlet comprises one fixed outlet openings in the front part of the fairing.

OFFICE ACTION:
Notice of Pre-AIA  or AIA  Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s reasons for allowance:
Regarding Claim 1, there is no prior art nor reasons to modify any prior art to have a hydrogen duct system installation mounted on an outside of a fuselage of the aircraft and a variable fairing for covering the hydrogen duct system installation and an air inlet and an air outlet and at least one movable closure mechanism configured to open and close a top portion of the fairing. The limitations stated along with the other limitations of the independent claim give reason for allowance. Claims 3-7 and 9-16 are allowable as being dependent on Claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the
issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions
should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion

APPLICANT REBUTTAL: REMARKS
Objections to the Claims
In the Office Action, claims 4 and 5 were objected to because of informalities. Applicant has amended claim 4 as suggested by the Examiner, and withdrawal of the objection to claims 4 and 5 is respectfully requested.
35 U.S.C.
&
102 and 103 Rejections
Claims 1-3, 6-7 and 11 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by
Martino Gonzalez
(US 2008/0099611 Al). Claims 4-5 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Martino Gonzalez
in view of
Chavignier
et al. (US 2016/00229546 Al). Additionally, claims 8-10 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Martino Gonzalez
in view of
R
emy
et al. (US 8,056,344 B2). Claim 12 was rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Martino Gonzalez
in view of
Mah
i
oub
(US 2006/0196633 Al). Finally, claim 13 was rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Martino Gonzalez
in view of
Chavignier.
Applicant respectfully traverses the foregoing and requests reconsideration.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, solely in an effort to expedite prosecution, Applicant has amended claim 1 to recite "A hydrogen duct system arrangement for an aircraft, comprising: a hydrogen duct system installation mounted on an outside of a fuselage of the aircraft, and a variable fairing for covering the hydrogen duct system installation, wherein the fairing comprises at least one fairing body to be mounted on the outside of the fuselage." This amendment is supported by the Specification and adds no new matter. See claims 2 and 8; Published Application FIG. 1.
The Examiner acknowledges that
Martino Gonzalez
fails to disclose a hydrogen duct system installation as recited in original claim 8, which has been incorporated into amended claim 1. See Office Action page 6. FIG. 3 of
Martino Gonzalez
shows "a conventional embodiment of said tail cone 2 on which a firewall bulkhead 5 safeguards the rest of the fuselage 4 against possible risks of fire."
Martino Gonzalez
0102. As shown in FIG. 26,
Martino Gonzalez
discloses a "movable fairing 9 [which] is comprised
of a primary lateral movable fairing 39 and a secondary lateral movable fairing 40." This movable fairing 9, "makes it possible to close and open the cover of the tail cone 2 and allows access to the auxiliary power unit 3."
Martino Gonzalez
0106. Thus,
Martino Gonzalez
discloses a movable fairing 9 which is part of the fuselage, meaning it would be counterintuitive to modify
Martino Gonzalez
such that the fairing includes at least one fairing body to be mounted on the outside of the fuselage.
Remy
fails to resolve the deficiencies of
Martino Gonzalez.
Remy
discloses a hydrogen-injection arrangement 48 which "includes a source of gaseous hydrogen, here represented for example by gas containers 50, 51; hydrogen duct 52; and 65 second controllable valves 54 for closing and opening the hydrogen ducts 52."
Remy
Col. 5, lines 63-67. However,
Remy
fails to disclose or suggest a hydrogen duct system installation mounted on an outside of a fuselage of the aircraft. The other cited references similarly fail to disclose or suggest the features of claim 1.
Accordingly, the cited references fail to disclose or suggest all of the features of claim 1. Thus, claim 1 should be allowable over the cited art. Those claims that depend therefrom should be allowable as well-at least by virtue of their claim dependency.
New Claims
, 0052, and 0055.
Applicant respectfully submits that claims 14-16 are allowable over the cited references.
Conclusion