Richdel, Inc. v. Sunspool Corp.
| Decision Date | 03 August 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-611,83-611 |
| Parties | RICHDEL, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SUNSPOOL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Alan H. MacPherson, Santa Clara, Cal., argued, for defendant-appellee.
Before RICH, Circuit Judge, COWEN, Senior Circuit Judge, and KASHIWA, Circuit Judge.
This appeal is from the October 22, 1982, judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California holding claim 1 of U.S. patent No. 4,191,166 (the '166 patent), owned by appellant Richdel, Inc. (Richdel), invalid and unenforceable and dismissing the suit. We affirm.
Jurisdiction in this court is under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1), the above judgment being a "final decision."
The '166 patent, entitled "Solar Heat System," was granted March 4, 1980, to Saarem et al. on an application filed December 27, 1977. Figure 1 thereof is reproduced below:
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
The figure is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the claimed invention. Shown in the drawing are solar collector 10, valve module 20, pump module 12, storage tank 16, and control module 32. Solid lines represent fluid flow pathways and evenly broken lines show electrical connections. The dot-and-dash lines encompass the module elements. Also shown in the drawing are temperature sensors 34 and 36 disposed to sense the temperatures of the water in the collector and storage tank, respectively.
The sensors, control module, and valve module cooperate to perform several functions, most notably to shut the system down and drain the collector when it is so cold outside that the water would otherwise freeze in and damage the collector. The sensors detect the dangerously cold condition, and the control module responds, causing valve 28 to close and valves 22 and 26 to open, thereby draining the collector. This feature is sometimes referred to as automatic drain-down. The other functions performed are prevention of excessively hot water, and shut down when the sensors indicate that no solar heat is available.
Claim 1, the only claim on appeal, in numbered, paragraphed form stipulated to by the parties, reads as follows:
In a solar water heater system which includes a collector, a storage tank, a circulating pump, and pipeline means intercoupling the collector, storage and circulating pump to enable the pump to circulate a fluid through the collector to be heated therein, and returned to the storage tank, said pipeline means including a supply line extending from the pump to the collector and a return line extending from the collector to the storage tank; the combination of:
(1) a drain line,
(2) an electrically energized valve module coupling the pipeline means to the drain line, and
(3) a control module connected to the valve module for selectively establishing the valve module in an energized operating condition in which a circulating path for the fluid is established from the pump through the collector to the storage tank, and for selectively establishing the valve module in a de-energized operating condition in which the fluid in the collector is discharged through the drain lines;
said valve module including:
and said valve module further including
(c) a first valve interposed in the supply line, said first valve being set to an open operating position by said electrically activated means when said valve module is in its energized operating condition, and said first valve being set to a closed operating position by said spring means when said valve module is in its de-energizing operating condition, and
(d) said valve module including a pair of valves respectively coupling the supply line and the return line to the drain valve, said pair of valves being set to a closed position by said electrically activated means when said valve module is in its energized operating condition, and said pair of valves being set to an open position by said spring means when said valve module is in its de-energized operating condition.
Figure 6 of the '166 patent shows the type of valve disclosed. While the valve module figures prominently in the claim, the claim appears to be directed to a sub-combination in a solar heater system, not to the valve module per se. Realistically read, the claimed combination includes practically all the elements of the entire system.
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
The figure on the left shows the valve, which Richdel describes as a multi-port disc valve, in an open or normal operating position, in which the disc 68 is held in turned position by a stalled motor. In this position, port V communicates with central port D. To drain the system, the motor is de-energized, and a biasing spring turns disc 68 to the position shown in the right hand figure. In this position, port V communicates with port P and ports C1 and C2 with port D. Ports C1 and C2 correspond to valves 22 and 26 in Fig. 1. Valve 28 in Fig. 1 is a diaphragm valve with an actuating chamber containing port V. This means that valve 28 is open or closed according to whether port V is open or closed. A valve such as valve 28 which is controlled by the flow of fluid through a smaller associated valve is called a pilot-operated valve, and the smaller valve is called the pilot valve.
The prior art relied upon by the district court includes U.S. patent No. 4,119,087 to Cook. The Cook system is shown in Fig. 1 of his patent, reproduced below:
NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE
The Cook system has a solar energy collector 10, solenoid valves 20, 24, 25, and 26, a solar circulator or pump 17, storage tank 1, control box 27, and sensor 19. The figure does not show that the control box 27, sensor 19, and the solenoid valves are electrically interconnected to effect freeze protection.
The other prior art is a system manufactured by Sunsav, Inc., a valve package manufactured by Heliotrope General, and U.S. patent No. 4,061,132 to Ashton et al. The Sunsav system is similar to the Cook system except that it uses a pair of three-way solenoid valves rather than three separate valves. The Heliotrope General valve package comprises a pair of solenoid valves. It was designed to be used with an existing solar water heating system and, when used with a separately available control system, implemented automatic drain-down in that system. The Ashton patent discloses a solar swimming pool heater which drains automatically The type of valve used in all of these prior art systems is a pilot-operated solenoid valve. In such a valve, the flow through the pilot valve is controlled by a rod inserted into the hollow center of a cylindrical coil. The rod moves according to the presence or absence of a solenoidal magnetic field created by the flow of electrical current through the coil. In this fashion, fluid flow can be controlled by controlling the electrical current. The record indicates that these valves proved unsatisfactory for drain-down applications for several reasons: they are noisy; they consume large amounts of power; and, as pilot-operated valves, they depend on flow through small orifices which easily become clogged with particulate contaminants commonly found in water supplies.
when the sunlight is not heating the water.
None of the prior art relied on by the district court was cited by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) during the course of prosecution of the '166 patent.
Richdel alleged contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(c) by defendant Sunspool based upon its manufacture, use, and sale of "drain valves embodying the invention of" the '166 patent. Sunspool manufactures a multi-port spool valve which it bills as "The reliable drain-down valve for solar collector freeze protection." This spool valve has a thermosensitive actuator which contracts or expands along its length according to its temperature. The actuator is disposed in close proximity to an electrically resistive element. The amount of current through the element controls its temperature, and thereby controls the length of the actuator. Sunspool's valve is described in its literature as a "direct acting spool mechanism for positive flow control," and is therefore not a pilot-operated valve. Richdel's Vice President of Engineering, one of the '166 patentees, testified that Richdel redesigned the commercial embodiment of its solar water heating system to include spool valves instead of the disc-type valve described in the '166 specification after complaints about performance of the latter.
After hearing the case without a jury, the court...
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