Aircraft Fuel Systems Patents: Who Leads, Filing Trends 2026
- 87.8% concentration. The top 5 of 17 ranked assignees account for 159 of 181 records in scope — an unusually tight field for an onboard systems category.
- Filing has cooled since 2018. Activity peaked at 45 records in 2018; by the 2022 midpoint it had fallen to 2, and the trend has not recovered since.
- Fire-fighting overlap is real. 56 of 181 records (30.9%) also sit in A62C fire-fighting classes, alongside the 96.7% that carry a B64D aircraft-equipment class.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks 181 published records at the intersection of aircraft fuel systems, fuel tank inerting, fuel gauging and fuel pump technology, filtered to documents whose claims or description reference nitrogen-enriched air generation, ice formation in fuel, explosion suppression or centre-of-gravity management. The scope is narrow by design: it is built to separate inerting and gauging work from the much larger general aerospace-fuel-hardware literature.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years of the trend understate real filing activity and should be read as provisional rather than as a genuine falloff.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 181-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records actually sit in.
A sharp peak, then a long decline
Filings rose to a peak of 45 records in 2018 from 5 in 2017, then dropped steadily; by the 2022 midpoint the count was down to 2 and has stayed low since. Read the final one to two years as undercounted given typical publication lag rather than as a confirmed drop-off.
Concentrated in aircraft equipment, with a fire-fighting overlap
B64D (aircraft equipment) touches 96.7% of the 181 records, which is expected given the search scope. The more informative signal is the 30.9% overlap with A62C fire-fighting classes and the 16.6% overlap with B01D separation processes — both point to inerting hardware that doubles as fire-suppression or gas-separation apparatus, rather than pure fuel-handling plumbing.
Shares are the percentage of the 181 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Aircraft Fuel Systems and Tank Inerting with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about aircraft fuel systems and tank inerting and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art everyone in this space cites
US20160118679A1 — Nitrogen enriched air generation and fuel tank inerting system
A fuel cell power module is used to provide nitrogen enriched air for, in one application, fuel tank inerting in an aircraft. The fuel cell power module has a recirculation line between its cathode side outlet and cathode side inlet, with at least one controllable device to allow the recirculation flow rate to be controlled so that the cathode exhaust reaches an oxygen concentration useful for inerting a fuel tank or suppressing fire.Filed by Hydrogenics Corporation, published 2016-04-28; cited 23 times within this corpus, placing it among the most-referenced documents in scope.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2002028714A1 | Aircraft fuel tank inerting | 79 |
| 2 | US20150217153A1 | Aircraft fuel systems | 63 |
| 3 | EP3279092A1 | Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft | 23 |
| 4 | US20160118679A1 | Nitrogen enriched air generation and fuel tank inerting system | 23 |
| 5 | US20180148188A1 | Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft | 17 |
| 6 | US20180148190A1 | Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft | 15 |
| 7 | US20160052639A1 | Aircraft fuel tank inerting system | 15 |
| 8 | US20180155050A1 | Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft | 14 |
| 9 | US20180148191A1 | Catalytic fuel tank inerting apparatus for aircraft | 14 |
| 10 | EP2623159A1 | Fire suppression system and method for fire suppression in an airborne vehicle | 14 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three findings that change where a team should and shouldn't spend drafting effort.
Five assignees hold most of the ground
The top 5 of 17 ranked assignees account for 159 of the 181 records in scope, with the leader alone holding 87. A field this concentrated leaves little room for a broad claim to inerting-system architecture; new entrants need to target a specific mechanism or sub-component rather than the system as a whole.
Activity has cooled sharply since 2018
The category peaked at 45 records in 2018 and had fallen to 2 by 2022, with no clear rebound in the years shown. Recent-year figures for the leading assignees also show no growth, including a -100% year-on-year change recorded for General Electric.
Inerting hardware doubles as fire suppression
Nearly a third of records (56 of 181) sit in A62C fire-fighting classes alongside the core B64D aircraft-equipment class, and 16.6% also touch B01D separation processes. Claims here often bridge nitrogen-generation, gas-separation and explosion-suppression mechanisms rather than treating them as separate systems.
Foundational inerting art still anchors the field
The most-cited record in scope, WO2002028714A1 on aircraft fuel tank inerting, carries 79 citations, well ahead of the next tier. High citation counts here mark documents that shaped later drafting conventions, not necessarily the technology still being actively pursued today.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aircraft fuel systems and tank inerting, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking covers all 17 assignees the data endpoint returns for this scope — not a top-50 or top-100 cut. It is dominated by a handful of aerospace primes and systems suppliers, with a long tail of single-digit filers.
One assignee dominates the ranking
The leading assignee holds 87 of the 181 records in scope on its own — nearly half the entire dataset. Any freedom-to-operate review in this space should start with that assignee's portfolio before looking elsewhere.
A thin middle tier of systems suppliers
Below the leader, filing counts drop quickly: fifth place sits at 7 records and tenth place at just 2. This is a field where a handful of aerospace and fire-suppression suppliers, rather than a broad competitive set, set the direction of claim drafting.
Co-filing is rare and narrow
Only three co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest of them links two Airbus operating entities. Co-filing between unrelated organisations is essentially absent, suggesting most inerting and gauging work is developed in-house rather than through joint ventures.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation | 0 | — |
| Eaton Intelligent Power Limited | 0 | — |
| EATON LTD | 0 | — |
| Airbus Operations Limited | 0 | — |
| Hydrogenics Corporation | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | -100% |
| Kidde Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Airbus Operations GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a mature, concentrated core with a few specific openings at its edges.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader first
With one assignee holding 87 of 181 records, any new filing or product design in fuel tank inerting should be screened against that portfolio before broader searching.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTrack whether filing activity actually rebounds
The drop from 45 records in 2018 to 2 at the 2022 midpoint could reflect a genuine slowdown or simply publication lag on recent applications; the next 12-18 months of data will clarify which.
Set up trend monitoring in EurekaProbe the fuel-cell and battery overlap
H01M battery and fuel-cell classes touch 5.0% of records, and the representative filing here uses a fuel cell module for inerting gas generation — a narrower but less contested mechanism than catalytic inerting.
Explore this branch in EurekaCommon questions on aircraft fuel system and inerting patents
One assignee dominates this dataset, holding 87 of the 181 records in scope — nearly half the total. The next four ranked assignees combined bring the top 5 to 159 records, or 87.8% of everything in scope, so the field is highly concentrated at the top rather than spread across many competitors. Anyone assessing competitive risk in this space should treat that leading portfolio as the primary reference point, not the wider ranked list of 17 assignees.
Fuel tank inerting reduces the oxygen concentration inside an aircraft fuel tank, typically using nitrogen-enriched air, to prevent an explosive atmosphere from forming. That is why 30.9% of records in this dataset (56 of 181) also carry A62C fire-fighting classification alongside the core B64D aircraft-equipment class: the same hardware that generates inert gas is often claimed as part of an explosion-suppression system. A further 16.6% of records touch B01D separation-process classes, reflecting the gas-separation membranes or catalytic units used to strip oxygen from bleed air.
Yes, based on the trend in this dataset: filings rose to a peak of 45 records in 2018 from 5 in 2017, then declined to 2 records by the 2022 midpoint with no recovery shown afterward. Recent-year momentum figures for several leading assignees, including a recorded -100% year-on-year change for one major filer, are consistent with that slowdown. That said, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any such dataset will understate true filing activity and should not be read as a confirmed end to R&D investment.
US20160118679A1, filed by Hydrogenics Corporation and published 2016-04-28, describes a fuel cell power module used to generate nitrogen-enriched air for fuel tank inerting or fire suppression in aircraft. Its distinguishing feature is a recirculation line between the cathode-side outlet and inlet with a controllable device that adjusts flow rate so the cathode exhaust reaches a target oxygen concentration. It has been cited 23 times within this corpus, making it one of the more influential documents on fuel-cell-based inerting specifically, as distinct from the older catalytic or membrane-based approaches.
The lower-count IPC overlaps point to the openings: H01M battery and fuel-cell classes touch only 5.0% of the 181 records, and B65D container/packaging classes touch just 2.8%, both well below the dominant B64D and A62C clusters. That suggests fuel-cell-integrated inerting gas generation and packaging-level solutions for gauging or inerting hardware are comparatively under-claimed. Co-filing is also rare, with only three co-assignee pairs across the whole dataset, indicating most work is done in-house rather than jointly — an opening for licensing or partnership-based entry rather than head-on competition.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.