Air Cycle Machines Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Air Cycle Machines and Pack Design Patents
82.0% of filings sit with five assignees. the leader alone accounts for 1,277 of the 2,041 records in scope, leaving a long tail for everyone else. Filings peaked at 274 in 2017. From 2021 to 2024 — the most recent span that can be read as complete once publication lag is accounted for — filings dropped from 127 to 75, a 41% decline. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as still filling in rather than as evidence of a further fall.
- 1HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORP1,277
- 2HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC166
- 3THE BOEING CO94
- 4RTX CORP75
- 5AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH62
See the full air cycle machines and pack design analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on air cycle machine patents
How concentrated is patent ownership in air cycle machines and pack design?
Very concentrated at the top. The top five assignees together hold 1,674 of the 2,041 records in scope, or 82.0% of the field, and the single leading assignee accounts for 1,277 records on its own. Beyond the top ten — which reach 90.2% combined — coverage falls off quickly into a long tail of assignees with only a handful of filings each. This means most freedom-to-operate questions in this field come back to a small handful of incumbents rather than a diffuse field of small filers.
Is patent filing activity in this field growing or shrinking?
Filing volume has declined from a 2017 peak of 274 to 75 in 2024, a 41% drop between 2021 and 2024 specifically. That said, publication lags actual filing dates by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset will look artificially low and should not be read as continued decline. The honest read is that the field cooled off after 2017 rather than that it is actively contracting today.
Which technology areas within pack design have the most patent coverage?
B64D, the aircraft-equipment classification, appears on 76.9% of the 2,041 records in scope, making it by far the densest claim area. F25B refrigeration and heat-pump claims (17.1%) and F02C gas-turbine plant claims (14.0%) follow well behind. Separation processes, heat-exchanger detail, turbine mechanics, pump hardware and general air-conditioning control classes each sit at or below 10.3%, marking the areas with comparatively lighter claim density.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Air Cycle Machines and Pack Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.