CAES Control System Patent Snapshot 2026
The CAES control system patent space is highly concentrated, with Kobe Steel holding a commanding lead and the top five filers collectively dominating activity among the largest hundred filers. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2017 peak, with the United States as the primary filing jurisdiction.
Kobe Steel leads a tightly concentrated field
Kobe Steel Ltd holds the top position by a wide margin, ranking first among all applicants. The top five filers — Kobe Steel Ltd, LightSail Energy Inc, Tsinghua University, China Three Gorges Corporation, and Southeast University — together account for 57% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, signaling a highly concentrated visible assignee structure.
The tier gap between Kobe Steel and the second-ranked LightSail Energy is substantial. Kobe Steel’s patent record count is four times that of LightSail Energy, leaving challengers well separated from the leader and mid-tier applicants clustered at low counts.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kobe Steel Ltd | 32 | |
| 2 | LightSail Energy Inc | 8 | |
| 3 | Tsinghua University | 4 | |
| 4 | China Three Gorges Corporation | 3 | |
| 5 | Southeast University | 3 | |
| 6 | GE Technology GmbH (General Electric) | 2 | |
| 7 | CRANE STEPHEN E | 2 | |
| 8 | Anhui USEM Technology Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 9 | FONG DANIELLE A | 2 | |
| 10 | Guoshui Group Huade Wind Power Co Ltd | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | POURMOUSA ABKENAR AMIRHOSSEIN | 2 | |
| 12 | DATANG DONGBEI ELECTRIC POWER TESTING & RES INST | 2 | |
| 13 | Jiangsu Guoxin Suyuan Energy Storage Power Generation Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 14 | China Three Gorges Renewables (Group) Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 15 | BERLIN EDWIN P JR | 2 | |
| 16 | SHANGHAI INVESTIGATION DESIGN & RES INST CO LTD | 2 | |
| 17 | Alstom Technology Ltd | 1 | |
| 18 | State Grid Anhui Electric Power Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 19 | Three Gorges Group Industrial Development (Beijing) Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 20 | Huadian Jiangsu Energy Co Ltd | 1 |
Kobe Steel’s visible position, anchored in gas-turbine plant and heat-exchange apparatus filings, reflects a deep vertical integration of CAES thermodynamic control technology. LightSail Energy’s presence signals early-stage innovator interest, while the cluster of Chinese universities and energy corporations indicates growing institutional R&D.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are under-counted due to publication lag; apparent recent activity should be treated as a floor, not a ceiling. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth with gas-turbine control as the dominant technology branch
The annual filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that expanded sharply from a low base, peaked in 2017, and has seen uneven activity since — while gas-turbine plant control (F02C) remains by far the most densely populated branch.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked in 2017, dropped sharply through 2019–2022, and show a nascent uptick in 2024–2025; the most recent two years are materially under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as the final volume.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F02C (gas-turbine plants) is visible in the branch mix, followed by F28D (heat-exchange apparatus) and F01K (steam and thermal power plants); control-specific branches G05B and H02J have meaningful but lower representation, indicating room for dedicated control-system filings.
↗ 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.
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| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Compressed air energy storage system utilizing two… | 110 |
| 2 | Compressed air energy storage system utilizing two… | 41 |
| 3 | Method for operating a turbine | 26 |
| 4 | Compressed air energy storage power generation dev… | 23 |
| 5 | Compressed air energy storage power generation dev… | 16 |
| 6 | Method for operating a turbine | 10 |
| 7 | Compressed air energy storage and power generation… | 9 |
| 8 | Compressed air energy storage and power generation… | 8 |
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.
Kobe Steel Ltd
Kobe Steel Ltd leads with 32 patent records, more than four times the second-ranked applicant. Its technology focus is concentrated in F02C 6 (gas-turbine plants, 32 records), F02C 1 (gas-turbine plants, 26 records), and F28D 20 (heat-exchange apparatus, 16 records), reflecting an integrated approach to CAES thermodynamic control. No recent momentum data is available for Kobe Steel beyond its established position, which remains unchallenged.
32 patent recordsLightSail Energy Inc
LightSail Energy Inc holds 8 patent records, ranking second. Its emphasis falls on F02C 6 (gas-turbine plants, 8 records), F01B 23 (reciprocating machines and engines, 7 records), and F01B 9 (reciprocating machines and engines, 7 records), indicating a distinct focus on near-isothermal compression and expansion machinery control rather than the heat-exchanger integration approach of Kobe Steel. Momentum data for LightSail is not separately reported in the evidence.
8 patent recordsFrequently asked questions
The corpus contains 29 patent families in scope for CAES control systems, spanning multiple filing jurisdictions and applicant types.
Kobe Steel Ltd leads with 32 patent records, more than four times the second-ranked applicant, LightSail Energy Inc, which holds 8 patent records.
The United States leads with 20 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) with 16, and China with 12. Japan and South Korea each show 2 records, with WIPO (PCT) also at 2.
The field is assessed as Growth: the recent three-year filing window is 100% above the prior three-year window. Annual volume has eased from its 2017 peak, and recent years are further understated by publication lag.
G05B (control and regulating systems, 11 patent records) and H02J (power supply and grid systems, 14 patent records) are among the lower-density branches relative to their technical relevance, alongside F01D, F28F, and F03D.
Yes. Tsinghua University is the hub of the most active co-filing network, collaborating with Anhui USEM Technology, Guoshui Group Huade Wind Power, China Three Gorges Corporation, China Three Gorges Renewables, and Shanghai Investigation Design & Research Institute, each pair on 2 records. Southeast University co-files with Jiangsu Guoxin Suyuan Energy Storage Power Generation on 2 records.
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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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