Centrifugal Pump Miniaturization Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2017 at 27 records and has since declined toward single digits, a pattern more consistent with a mature claim base than an emerging one.
- F04D dominates at 78 of 130 records with A61M (body-fluid devices) a distant second at 18 — medical miniaturization is a distinct sub-cluster, not the mainstream.
- The strongest co-assignee pair files together 10 times linking a medical device maker and a university, which signals where applied miniaturization research is actually happening.
What this landscape covers
This review tracks patent families at the intersection of centrifugal pump design and miniaturized, integrated pump units — impeller geometry, dual-body configurations, and compact pump-motor assemblies rather than centrifugal pumping in general. The search string couples core centrifugal pump terms with miniaturization and integration language, which narrows the corpus to 130 published records spanning 2015 through mid-2026.
Filing is concentrated in non-positive-displacement pump hardware (F04D) but reaches into electric motor design, body-fluid devices, filtration and bearings — evidence that miniaturization claims are being built at the boundary between pump mechanics and adjacent disciplines rather than within pump hardware alone.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 130-family corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how it splits across IPC subclasses.
A 2017 peak followed by decline
Filings ran at 27 in 2017 and had fallen to a midpoint of 5 by 2022, continuing down toward the 2026 cut-off (partial year, 1 record so far). Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — but the multi-year decline from the 2017 peak predates that lag effect and is a real trend, not an artefact of it.
F04D carries the bulk of the claim space
F04D (non-positive-displacement pumps) accounts for 78 of 130 records, with A61M (body-fluid devices, 18), H02K (electric motors, 10) and F04B (positive-displacement pumps, 9) forming a secondary tier. B01D, C07B, C07D and F16C each contribute a handful of records, marking narrower crossover zones with filtration, chemistry and bearing design.
Shares are the percentage of the 130 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Centrifugal Pump Miniaturization and Integration with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about centrifugal pump miniaturization and integration and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Dual Body Variable Duty Performance Optimizing Pump Unit — US20200063741A1
A dual pump unit having a pair of pumps that provide parallel hydraulic paths, and are configured to operate concurrently in opposite rotational directions. The dual pump unit has a sealed casing which includes a suction flange, two volutes in hydraulically parallel configuration, and a discharge flange. The pair of pumps are located within a respective volute of the casing and, in an example, are radially inline and horizontally inline. The casing may include a flattened bottom. Each pump may include a touchscreen for configuration of the respective pump. The pumps are controllable to circulate a circulating medium to collectively provide output to source a load.Filed by S.A. Armstrong Limited, published 2020-02-27.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110237863A1 | Magnetically-levitated blood pump with optimization method enabling miniaturization | 242 |
| 2 | US9314557B2 | Magnetically-levitated blood pump with optimization method enabling miniaturization | 37 |
| 3 | WO2010036815A2 | Magnetically-levitated blood pump with optimization method enabling miniaturization | 31 |
| 4 | EP3404267A1 | Pump assembly | 23 |
| 5 | US20160184499A1 | Magnetically-levitated blood pump with optimization method enabling miniaturization | 22 |
| 6 | US20180335038A1 | Pump assembly | 20 |
| 7 | US4538200A | Power connection apparatus having integrated surge arrestor | 17 |
| 8 | US20150001973A1 | Electric motor | 14 |
| 9 | US2639671A | Self-priming centrifugal pump unit for liquid dispensing apparatus | 13 |
| 10 | WO2018137019A1 | Dual body variable duty performance optimizing pump unit | 10 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings — they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once family counts, citations and co-filing behaviour are read together.
The core claim space is filling in, not opening up
Volume peaked in 2017 and has trended down through the 2022 midpoint of 5 records. New entrants filing broad centrifugal pump claims now compete against a decade of prior art rather than an open field.
Blood pump miniaturization is its own citation cluster
The most-cited records in the corpus are magnetically-levitated blood pump filings, and A61M is the second-largest IPC subclass. This is a distinct, heavily cited lineage rather than an extension of industrial pump claims.
Applied miniaturization research pairs industry with academia
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset, at 10 shared filings, connects a medical device company with a university partner — a pairing worth tracking for where new blood-pump and micro-pump claims will originate next.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to centrifugal pump miniaturization and integration, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity has stalled
Recent-year momentum across the named assignees is flat: none of the tracked organizations show filings in the latest year, and two show a full year-over-year drop.
No tracked assignee filed in the most recent year
Every organization surfaced in the recent-momentum data — spanning pump manufacturers, a medical device firm and a university — shows zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader post-2017 decline.
Two assignees show a complete drop-off
S.A. Armstrong Limited and Dajustco IP Holdings both moved from active filing to zero in the latest tracked year, a -100% year-over-year change that suggests those filing programs have paused rather than continued at a lower rate.
Filing is split across three major jurisdictions
China (29) and the United States (26) lead receiving offices, with the EPO close behind at 22 — no single jurisdiction dominates, which matters for freedom-to-operate checks that only cover one region.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Grundfos Holding A/S | 0 | — |
| S.A. Armstrong Limited | 0 | -100% |
| World Heart Corporation | 0 | — |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 0 | — |
| BARRINGTON PUMPS PTY LTD | 0 | — |
| DAJUSTCO IP HLDG | 0 | -100% |
| Phillips Petroleum Company | 0 | — |
| Nanyang Technological University | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The trend and assignee data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or new filing strategy.
Check the under-claimed branches first
Bearing, filtration and control-interface crossovers carry far fewer records than core F04D impeller claims, and are more likely to have open claim space for new filings.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch the medical device and university pairing
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset points to where applied blood-pump miniaturization research is concentrated; new filings from that pairing or its collaborators are worth monitoring.
Track assignee activity in EurekaVerify pre-filing status against the most-cited records
The highest-citation records in this corpus are magnetically-levitated blood pump filings; any new medical pump miniaturization concept should be checked against them before drafting claims.
Run a clearance search in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
Filing activity peaked in 2017 at 27 records and has declined since, with the 2022 midpoint at only 5 records. That does not mean the technology is dead — publication lag means the most recent one to two years are always undercounted — but the multi-year downward trend predates that lag effect. New entrants should expect to compete against an established prior art base rather than file into open space, particularly in the dominant F04D subclass.
The corpus splits into a large industrial and general-purpose centrifugal pump cluster classified under F04D (78 of 130 records) and a smaller but heavily cited medical cluster under A61M (18 records), largely covering magnetically-levitated blood pumps. The most-cited records in the whole dataset belong to the blood pump lineage, meaning citation influence and filing volume point to different sub-areas. A search strategy built only around F04D terms would miss most of the medical miniaturization prior art.
China (29 records) and the United States (26) are the leading receiving offices, with the EPO close behind at 22, and Canada, Austria and Germany each contributing single-digit shares. Because no one office holds a clear majority, a freedom-to-operate review limited to a single jurisdiction is likely to miss a meaningful share of relevant filings. Multi-region coverage is worth budgeting for even on a narrow technical query like this one.
US20200063741A1, assigned to S.A. Armstrong Limited, claims a dual pump unit with two hydraulically parallel volutes inside a sealed casing, counter-rotating pumps, and configuration features including a touchscreen interface. It is specific to that combination of casing geometry, parallel hydraulic paths and onboard configuration control rather than to dual-pump arrangements in general. Designs using a single volute, series (not parallel) hydraulic paths, or no onboard touchscreen configuration sit outside its literal claim scope, though a full claim chart is needed before relying on that distinction.
The thinner IPC subclasses in this corpus — F16C (bearings and shafts), B01D (filtration) and the touchscreen-style control features seen in the representative filing — carry far fewer records than the core F04D impeller and casing claims. That imbalance suggests bearing-integrated pump-motor assemblies, filtration-coupled compact units, and embedded digital control interfaces are less thoroughly claimed than core hydraulic geometry. Any white-space claim should still be checked against the top-cited magnetically-levitated pump records, since those citations show broad prior art reach even outside their home subclass.
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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.