CFRP In-Situ Cure Monitoring Patent Snapshot 2026
The CFRP in-situ cure monitoring patent space is nascent and highly concentrated, with a single academic-industry alliance — King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and Saudi Arabian Oil Company — holding a dominant share of the 10 patent families in scope. Activity was sparse from 2017 to 2023 and has recovered noticeably in 2024–2025, signalling renewed interest rather than a mature, contested market.
One alliance leads a tightly concentrated, early-stage field
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) leads the applicant ranking with 5 patent records, closely partnered with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (4 patent records). Together, the top five filers account for 62% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query in this corpus.
The concentration is extreme: two organisations effectively define the technology frontier in this space, with all remaining applicants each holding a single patent record. No second tier of sustained challengers is yet visible.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KING ABDULLAH UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 5 | |
| 2 | Saudi Arabian Oil Company | 4 | |
| 3 | United States Government as represented by the Administrator of NASA | 2 | |
| 4 | Shenzhen Albis Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 5 | CHINA UNIV OF MINING & TECH | 1 | |
| 6 | Shenhua Xinjie Energy Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 7 | Ningbo University | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 9 | The Fourth Engineering Co., Ltd. of CTCE Group | 1 | |
| 10 | Zhejiang Advanced CNC Machine Tool Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 11 | Hunan Institute of Engineering | 1 | |
| 12 | National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy | 1 | |
| 13 | MCC Shenkan Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 |
The KAUST–Saudi Aramco position implies that the foundational sensing and electrochemical characterisation methods for CFRP cure monitoring are largely controlled by a single collaborative bloc — any entrant seeking to operate in the core G01N / B23K space will need to navigate or design around this portfolio.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are subject to publication lag and are likely under-counted; the apparent uptick in 2024–2025 should be treated as a floor rather than a full picture. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A dormant mid-period is giving way to renewed filing activity
Two charts together reveal when and where activity is concentrated: the annual trend exposes the field’s intermittent pulse, while the IPC branch mix identifies the visible technical disciplines.
Annual filing trend
Filings reached a modest early peak in 2017 (2 patent records), fell to zero for five consecutive years (2019–2023), then rebounded to 2 in 2024 and 4 in 2025. The 2025–2026 counts are subject to publication lag and are likely incomplete; the recent uptick should be read as a confirmed minimum rather than a plateau.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G01N (Material analysis & testing) is the visible branch, appearing across all 10 patent records, confirming that in-situ sensing and characterisation is the core technical discipline. B29C (Shaping of plastics, 6 records) and B23K (Welding, soldering & brazing, 5 records) reflect process-integration and laser-based monitoring approaches. Computational branches — G16C, G06F, G06N — are present but represent a minority, pointing to an early-stage move toward model-driven cure monitoring.
↗ 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.
Automated wave guide system for in-process monitor…
A method of monitoring a curing process for fiber reinforced composite materials that includes positioning an actuator on uncured composite material at a first location. At least one sensor is positioned at a second location that is spaced apart from the first location. The actuator excites waves in the composite part at the first location. At least one… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Automated Wave Guide System for In-Process Monitor… | 6 |
| 2 | 基于热-机耦合碳纤维复合材料智能成型系统及设备 | 3 |
| 3 | 用于智能张拉的FRP无损多电极传感结构及CFRP筋的制作方法 | 3 |
| 4 | Preparation of electrodes on CFRP composites with … | 2 |
| 5 | 一种具有内部监测功能的碳纤维缠绕壳体旋转固化系统 | 1 |
| 6 | Preparation of electrodes on CFRP composites with … | 1 |
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.
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology
KAUST leads with 5 patent records, all co-filed with Saudi Arabian Oil Company. Their technology focus is concentrated in B23K 26 (laser-based processing), G01N 1, and G01N 27 (electrochemical and material characterisation) — indicating an emphasis on in-situ electrochemical sensing during CFRP manufacture. No applicant momentum data is available for KAUST in the recent-period window, suggesting their filing pace predates the 2024–2025 uptick.
patent records: 5United States Government (NASA)
NASA holds 2 patent records with a distinct technical emphasis: B29C 70 (composite shaping), H01L 41 (piezoelectric semiconductor devices), and H10N 30 (other solid-state devices) — reflecting a piezoelectric / ultrasonic in-process monitoring approach rather than the electrochemical route favoured by KAUST–Aramco. This technology differentiation positions NASA as a non-overlapping challenger occupying a separate solution space.
patent records: 2Frequently asked questions
The evidence identifies 10 patent families in scope across the global corpus examined. This is a very small corpus, consistent with a nascent, pre-competitive technology niche.
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) leads with 5 patent records, all co-filed with Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The two organisations function as a single collaborative bloc and together are visible in the field.
China leads by jurisdiction with 8 patent records, followed by the United States (3 records) and the EPO (2 records). Germany and WIPO/PCT each account for 1 record. The China count reflects both the KAUST–Aramco bloc’s protection strategy and a cluster of Chinese-entity single-record filers.
G01N (material analysis and testing) is the visible IPC branch, present across all 10 patent records, indicating that electrochemical and spectroscopic sensing methods are the primary technical approach. B29C (composite shaping processes) and B23K (laser-based methods) are the next most represented branches.
Filings were minimal from 2019 to 2023 (zero records per year), following an early pulse in 2017–2018. Activity has recovered with 2 records in 2024 and 4 in 2025. The 2025–2026 data are subject to publication lag and are likely incomplete, so the recent uptick represents a confirmed minimum.
The visible collaboration is between KAUST and Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which have 5 joint filings. A secondary link connects Saudi Arabian Oil Company with its Aramco R&D entity (1 filing). Two smaller Chinese pairings — Shenhua Xinjie Energy with the National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy, and two China Railway entities — each account for 1 joint filing. No broad multi-party consortium exists in the current evidence.
Built on Patsnap Open Platform
This report’s underlying patent dataset — filings, assignees, technology clusters — is open for developers via MCP and REST API. Free to start, 10,000 credits, no credit card required.
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.