Clean-in-Place Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- One filer dominates. the leading assignee holds 14 of the 65 records in scope, well ahead of the field, while the ranked leaders combined (top 5) still only reach 58.5% of all records.
- Filing has cooled from its peak. activity peaked in 2021 at 7 records and fell 71% by 2024, the last year with a complete publication picture.
- Dispensing and cleaning dominate the claims. B67D (dispensing liquids) and B08B (cleaning) each cover roughly a third and a fifth of records respectively, while sterilizing-specific class A61L sits at just 10.8%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (2) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 65 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the Clean-in-Place and Sterilization-in-Place patent record shows
Clean-in-place (CIP) and sterilization-in-place (SIP) systems let processing equipment be cleaned or sterilized without disassembly, and the patent record here spans 65 published records filed between 2015 and 2026. The search combines core CIP/SIP terminology with technical qualifiers such as cleaning chemistry, conductivity-based endpoint detection and validation of cycles, so the set skews toward records that specify how a clean or sterile state is achieved and verified, not just that a system exists.
The receiving-office spread shows the United States as the largest single office in this set, with China, Europe and WIPO PCT filings following at meaningfully smaller volumes. That pattern points to a technology still filed primarily for domestic protection with selective international extension, rather than one pursued through broad multi-jurisdiction families.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 65-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records split across the IPC subclasses that define the technical sub-areas of CIP/SIP.
Filings rose to a 2021 peak, then declined
Filings climbed to a peak of 7 records in 2021, then fell to 2 by 2024, a 71% drop over that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 are still filling in and should not yet be read as a continued decline.
Dispensing and cleaning classes carry the most claim density
B67D (dispensing liquids) appears on 33.8% of records and B08B (cleaning, general) on 29.2%, making these the most contested classes. A23G (confectionery/ice cream) and C02F (water & wastewater treatment) each sit at 20.0%, while sterilizing-specific A61L covers only 10.8% and F25C (ice making) just 4.6% — since records can carry multiple classes, these shares add to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 65 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Clean-in-Place and Sterilization-in-Place with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about clean-in-place and sterilization-in-place and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
US20210106023A1 — Automated clean in place system for soft serve machine
A clean in place assembly for a soft serve ice cream dispenser includes an ice cream dispenser. A clean in place system having a water tank including a heater disposed therein is attached to the ice cream dispenser. A control interface is disposed on the tank and connected to operating circuitry of the ice cream dispenser. A nozzle of the dispenser is formed of a conductive metal material and includes a notch formed circumferentially about a portion of the nozzle with radiused surfaces extending to portions housing O-rings.Filed by H.C. Duke & Son, LLC, published 2021-04-15 — illustrates how equipment-specific CIP claims combine a heated water tank, control interface and nozzle geometry into a single integrated assembly.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4848381A | Clean in place system | 200 |
| 2 | US20090014464A1 | Clean in Place System for Beverage Dispensers | 100 |
| 3 | US5669288A | Rotating drum food processor with cleaning spray accessible panels | 87 |
| 4 | CN102435224A | 一种过滤器在线完整性测试方法 | 31 |
| 5 | EP0287194A2 | Clean in place system | 31 |
| 6 | US8980100B2 | Low energy reverse osmosis process | 28 |
| 7 | US5810059A | Dual channel bag filling machine with a clean in place system that cleans one channel while the other continu… | 21 |
| 8 | US20140130891A1 | Clean in Place System for Beverage Dispensers | 20 |
| 9 | US8678239B2 | Clean in place system for beverage dispensers | 20 |
| 10 | CN103693791A | 无菌注射用水生产工艺及无菌压缩空气制备方法 | 18 |
Ranked by citation count within the searched corpus; older filings accumulate more citations by nature, so treat this as a signal of influence rather than current importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three read-outs from the concentration, trend and classification data that matter for anyone deciding where to file next.
One leader, then a fast drop-off
The leading assignee holds 14 records — nearly a quarter of the field on its own — while the top 5 combined reach 58.5% of all 65 records. The gap between the leader and fifth place (3 records) is wide, meaning most other filers hold only a handful of records each.
Peak filing has passed, for now
Filings peaked at 7 in 2021 and fell to 2 by 2024, a 71% decline over that span. Given the 18-month publication lag, 2025-2026 figures are not yet complete enough to call a continued slowdown.
Dispensing equipment carries the claim load
B67D (dispensing liquids) and B08B (cleaning) are the two most heavily claimed subclasses, together suggesting most CIP innovation is being captured at the equipment-and-cleaning-cycle level rather than as standalone sterilization chemistry.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to clean-in-place and sterilization-in-place, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Aquatech International LLC | AQUATECH INTERNATIQNAL LLC | 1 |
The strongest co-assignee pair identified appears only once, indicating CIP/SIP patenting here is overwhelmingly done by single assignees rather than joint ventures or research partnerships.
Who holds the ground, and what is still open
The ranked leaders make up a field of 24 companies, dominated by one filer with a long tail of single- and few-record entrants behind it.
A clear volume leader
The top-ranked assignee holds 14 of the 65 records in scope, more than four times the fifth-place holder's 3 records. That gap suggests a sustained, deliberate filing programme rather than opportunistic patenting.
A thin second tier
Fifth place holds just 3 records, and tenth place only 2 — the field thins out quickly past the leader, leaving room for a determined new entrant to build a meaningful position with a handful of well-targeted filings.
Little recent activity from named leaders
None of the assignees tracked for recent-year momentum show filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader post-2021 decline and the publication lag affecting the newest data.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Coca-Cola Company | 0 | — |
| Aquatech International LLC | 0 | — |
| H C DUKE & SON | 0 | — |
| Genentech, Inc. | 0 | — |
| DIVERSEY CORP | 0 | — |
| Jiangsu Dahongying Hengshun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Advanced Electron Beams, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated leader, a cooling filing trend, and technology claims clustered on dispensing and cleaning rather than sterilization chemistry itself.
Map claim boundaries around the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 14 of 65 records, understanding exactly what their claims cover — and where the boundaries end — is the first step before filing adjacent art.
Explore claim scope in EurekaWatch the under-claimed validation and endpoint methods
Conductivity-based endpoint detection and cycle validation appear as qualifiers in the search but are thinly represented as dedicated claims, suggesting room to file there.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack whether 2025-2026 filings reverse the decline
Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the true trajectory of the post-2021 slowdown will not be clear until later filings surface.
Set up filing alerts in EurekaCommon questions about Clean-in-Place and Sterilization-in-Place patents
One assignee leads the field with 14 of the 65 records in scope, a position well ahead of the rest of the ranked leaders. Fifth place holds only 3 records and tenth place just 2, so the field drops off sharply after the leader. This pattern — one dominant filer plus a long tail of smaller holders — means a new entrant can realistically build a meaningful position without displacing the leader outright, provided they target claim areas the leader has not saturated.
Filing peaked in 2021 at 7 records and had fallen to 2 by 2024, a 71% decline over that three-year span. That said, patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued slowdown. The safest read is that the field cooled after 2021, with the most recent trend still an open question.
The two most heavily claimed IPC subclasses are B67D (dispensing liquids), covering 33.8% of the 65 records, and B08B (cleaning, general), covering 29.2%. Confectionery/ice-cream equipment (A23G) and water/wastewater treatment (C02F) each cover 20.0%. Sterilization-specific class A61L covers only 10.8% of records, suggesting most patent activity centres on cleaning cycles and dispensing hardware rather than sterilization chemistry itself.
Relative to the dominant dispensing and cleaning classes, sub-areas like conductivity-based endpoint detection, riboflavin coverage validation, dead-leg design minimisation and energy-usage-optimised cycles appear as search qualifiers but are thinly represented as dedicated claims. These qualifiers show up in the underlying search terminology but do not correspond to heavily claimed IPC classes on their own, which is a reasonable signal — though not a guarantee — of room to file narrowly targeted claims there.
US20210106023A1, filed by H.C. Duke & Son and published 2021-04-15, claims an integrated clean-in-place assembly for a soft serve ice cream dispenser: a heated water tank attached to the dispenser, a control interface wired into the dispenser's operating circuitry, and a specific conductive-metal nozzle geometry with a circumferential notch and radiused surfaces around the O-ring housing. It is a narrow, equipment-specific claim rather than a broad CIP method claim, so it primarily blocks near-identical soft-serve nozzle and tank configurations rather than CIP systems generally.
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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.