Bearing Sustainability Patent Snapshot 2026
The bearing sustainability patent space is a nascent but expanding field, with SKF as the dominant filer and China as the lead filing jurisdiction. The field is in a growth stage on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2019 peak and the most recent periods remain understated by publication lag.
SKF leads a fragmented field with moderate top-tier concentration
AB SKF holds the top position in bearing sustainability patenting, followed by NTN Corporation. The top five filers together account for 45% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, indicating moderate concentration at the apex but a long, fragmented tail of smaller entities.
Below the top two, the ranking disperses quickly across regional Chinese manufacturers, university research institutes, and individual inventors — a structure typical of a field that has not yet consolidated around a small set of visible players.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AB SKF | 8 | |
| 2 | NTN Corporation | 6 | |
| 3 | Pujiang County Xuanran Automobile Supplies Co. Ltd. | 2 | |
| 4 | Hangzhou Tenghua Automotive Transmission Co. Ltd. | 2 | |
| 5 | GEM (Wuhan) Urban Mine Recycling Industrial Park Development Co. Ltd. | 2 | |
| 6 | Academy of Armored Forces Engineering, PLA | 2 | |
| 7 | GEM Co. Ltd. | 2 | |
| 8 | Dalian University of Technology | 2 | |
| 9 | National Institute of Technology Manipur | 1 | |
| 10 | Sanli (Xiamen) Auto Parts Co. Ltd. | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Hebei Ruizhao Laser Electromechanical Engineering Co. Ltd. | 1 | |
| 12 | JIANGSHAN XIANJIN ELECTRICAL & MECHANICAL TECH SER… | 1 | |
| 13 | DR V S TRIVENI | 1 | |
| 14 | Shenzhen Tuositong Industrial Development Co. Ltd. | 1 | |
| 15 | GEETHANJALI COLLEGE OF ENG & TECH | 1 | |
| 16 | V SAANVI REDDY | 1 | |
| 17 | AMARJEET SINGH DADIALA | 1 | |
| 18 | Shanghai Xinfumei Transmission Technology Service Co. Ltd. | 1 | |
| 19 | Constant Velocity Systems | 1 | |
| 20 | Guru Amar Industries Ltd. | 1 |
SKF’s lead position, anchored in core bearing and coupling sub-classes, signals that established bearing OEMs are beginning to stake out IP positions in sustainability-oriented design. NTN’s distinct focus on polymer-additive and condensation-polymer classes indicates a complementary but non-overlapping technical strategy.
Filing counts for the most recent 18 to 24 months are likely understated due to publication lag; no late-period dip should be interpreted as a real decline in activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth with a broad, multi-class technology mix
Annual filing activity has expanded significantly on a multi-year basis relative to the prior window, though volume eased from a 2019 peak and recent years carry publication-lag suppression. The technology composition spans a wide range of IPC classes beyond the core bearing class, reflecting the cross-disciplinary nature of sustainability-oriented bearing development.
Annual filing trend
Activity was negligible before 2018, rose to an initial peak in 2019, quieted in 2020–2021, then recovered from 2022 onward. The 2024–2025 figures should be treated as floors rather than ceilings given publication lag.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F16C (shafts, bearings and couplings) is the visible class, as expected, but a substantial share of records also fall under B25B (hand tools and wrenches), polymer-chemistry classes (C08K, C08G, C08L), and surface and grinding classes (C23C, B24B), reflecting remanufacturing, material, and tooling dimensions of bearing sustainability.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Member for rolling bearing and rolling bearing
The present invention provides a member, for a resin-made rolling bearing, which has a low extent of a moisture absorption-caused change in its dimension and mechanical properties, keeps sufficiently high mechanical properties after the member absorbs moisture, and is excellent in its resistance to hydrolysis, grease deterioration, and heat and also… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method of and machine for grinding a workpiece | 56 |
| 2 | Vertical machining center remanufacturing assembly… | 12 |
| 3 | Bearing arrangement for a load-bearing roller | 9 |
| 4 | 自动变速器再制造用圆锥滚子轴承安装工具 | 5 |
| 5 | 自动变速器再制造用圆锥滚子轴承座圈安装工具 | 5 |
| 6 | Member for rolling bearing and rolling bearing | 5 |
| 7 | Member for rolling bearing and rolling bearing | 4 |
| 8 | Member for rolling bearing and rolling bearing | 3 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
AB SKF
SKF holds 8 patent records, the largest single-entity position in the corpus. Its filings are concentrated in F16C sub-classes covering shafts, bearings, and couplings (sub-classes 19, 23, and 33), reflecting a core-component approach to bearing sustainability. Momentum data flags SKF as a new entrant to this specific sustainability framing, suggesting the company has recently redirected existing bearing IP capability toward sustainability-oriented claims.
patent records: 8NTN Corporation
NTN Corporation holds 6 patent records and pursues a materially different technical route from SKF, with filings concentrated in polymer-additive (C08K 7), condensation-polymer (C08G 69), and polymer-composition (C08L 77) sub-classes. This suggests NTN is addressing bearing sustainability through material science — specifically sustainable or high-performance polymer components — rather than through mechanical design or remanufacturing processes.
patent records: 6Frequently asked questions
The current corpus covers 16 patent families in scope. This is a nascent field, and the small corpus size means individual filings have outsized influence on concentration and trend metrics.
AB SKF holds the largest position with 8 patent records, followed by NTN Corporation with 6. Together they account for a substantial share of the top-ranked filers’ combined total.
The field is classified as Growth: recent three-year filings are 133% above the prior three-year window on a multi-year basis. Annual volume eased from a 2019 peak, and the most recent years are further understated by publication lag.
China is the lead filing office, followed by the United States, WIPO PCT, Europe (EPO), and India. The China-heavy distribution reflects where manufacturing and remanufacturing ecosystems are most active.
Polymer-additive applications (C08K), grinding and polishing processes (B24B), conveying and material-handling systems (B65G), condensation polymers (C08G), and polymer compositions (C08L) each appear with low record counts and represent adjacent branches with relatively sparse coverage compared to the visible F16C bearing class.
One confirmed co-filing relationship exists: GEM Co. Ltd. and GEM (Wuhan) Urban Mine Recycling Industrial Park Development share 2 joint patent records. This is an intra-group collaboration; no cross-sector or cross-institution partnerships are recorded in the current evidence.
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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.
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