Cleaning & Sterilization-in-Place Patents: Leaders, Trends 2026
- No single filer dominates. the five most active assignees together hold just 4.3% of all 19,399 records in scope, and the ranked leaders extend to 100 companies with a long tail below them.
- Filing activity has cooled since its 2021 peak. annual filings rose from 669 in 2017 to a peak of 825 in 2021, then declined toward 126 in the most recent (partial) year.
- Sterilising and water-treatment classes carry the bulk of the claim density. A61L and C02F alone cover 16.2% and 10.5% of records respectively, while adjacent classes like foods (A23L) and diagnosis/surgery (A61B) sit in the single digits.
What this landscape covers
Cleaning-in-place (CIP) and sterilization-in-place (SIP) systems span validation methods (riboflavin coverage testing, conductivity and TOC endpoints), mechanical design (spray device coverage, dead legs, drainability) and the process controls that tie cycle time to water consumption. This dataset pulls 19,399 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 whose title or claims reference cleaning or sterilization together with at least one of these validation or design terms. It spans equipment makers, semiconductor process toolmakers, water-treatment specialists and consumer-appliance manufacturers, reflecting how broadly CIP/SIP terminology is reused outside pharmaceutical manufacturing itself.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year in any trend here is understated and should not be read as a real drop-off in activity.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Annual filing counts and IPC class distribution across the 19,399 records in scope, drawn directly from the underlying dataset.
A 2021 peak, then a decline
Filings climbed from 669 in 2017 to a peak of 825 in 2021, roughly matching the 2022 midpoint of 701, then eased down toward 126 in the most recent partial year — a flattening rather than a fresh growth phase.
Sterilising and water treatment lead the class mix
A61L (sterilising & disinfecting) and C02F (water & wastewater treatment) are the two largest classes at 16.2% and 10.5% of records respectively; separation processes (B01D, 8.9%) and general cleaning (B08B, 7.0%) follow. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the 19,399 records and should be read individually, not summed.
Shares are the percentage of the 19,399 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Cleaning and Sterilization-in-Place Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cleaning and sterilization-in-place systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this space
Water consumption acquisition method of cleaning robot and device thereof
This filing from Midea Robozone Technology describes a robot vacuum cleaner that captures an image of the floor and a humidity reading, then derives a target water consumption figure from the two before controlling its own water output. It sits at the consumer-appliance edge of the CIP/SIP dataset rather than at its pharmaceutical or industrial core.Abstract condensed from the original filing.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20040116952A1 | Surgical apparatus permitting recharge of battery-driven surgical instrument in noncontact state | 2,050 |
| 2 | US5000113A | Thermal CVD/PECVD reactor and use for thermal chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide and in-situ multi-… | 1,155 |
| 3 | US5730801A | Compartnetalized substrate processing chamber | 840 |
| 4 | US5897553A | Ball point fluid-assisted electrocautery device | 710 |
| 5 | US5868664A | Electrically isolated sterilizable endoscopic video camera head | 709 |
| 6 | US8114345B2 | System and method of sterilizing an implantable medical device | 686 |
| 7 | US5972196A | Electrochemical production of ozone and hydrogen peroxide | 588 |
| 8 | US4892753A | Process for PECVD of silicon oxide using TEOS decomposition | 507 |
| 9 | US5362526A | Plasma-enhanced CVD process using TEOS for depositing silicon oxide | 499 |
| 10 | US5812403A | Methods and apparatus for cleaning surfaces in a substrate processing system | 473 |
Citation counts favour older filings inside any searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns stand out once filing counts, classes and citations are read together.
Leadership is fragmented, not consolidated
The leading assignee holds 223 records and the tenth-ranked holds 83, but the five most active filers together still account for only 4.3% of all records in scope, and the ten most active for 6.5%. A ranking of 100 companies exists below that, meaning no single lab or manufacturer has locked up the core claim space.
Growth has flattened since the 2021 peak
Filing counts rose from 669 in 2017 to 825 in 2021, then eased back toward the 2022 midpoint of 701 and down to 126 in the latest partial year. Recent-year momentum by individual assignee shows several previously active filers recording zero filings in the latest year, consistent with a maturing rather than expanding filing cycle.
Sterilising and water treatment dominate the class mix
A61L (sterilising & disinfecting) and C02F (water & wastewater treatment) together cover a larger share of records than any other class pairing, with B01D separation and B08B general cleaning close behind. Semiconductor process classes like H01L also register a meaningful share, reflecting how CIP/SIP terminology carries into wafer-fab cleaning as well as pharmaceutical lines.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cleaning and sterilization-in-place systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the openings sit
The assignee ranking runs to 100 companies with a leader at 223 records and a long tail below the tenth-ranked filer's 83 — a structure that rewards specific claim positioning over broad blocking filings.
A modest lead, not a monopoly
The top assignee's 223 records is well ahead of the fifth-place filer's 118, but still represents a small slice of the full 19,399-record dataset. That gap suggests a leader with a durable filing programme rather than a company that has closed off the field.
A long tail below the top ten
The tenth-ranked assignee holds 83 records, and the ranking extends to 100 companies beyond that. This spread spans equipment specialists, semiconductor toolmakers and consumer-appliance makers, reflecting how many adjacent industries reuse CIP/SIP terminology.
Co-filing is rare and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairing far ahead of the others. That scarcity indicates most filers in this space file independently rather than through joint development programmes.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Steris Corp | 1 | — |
| Ecolab Inc | 0 | — |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| 3M Innovative Properties Co. | 0 | — |
| Toshiba Corporation | 0 | — |
| LG Electronics Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0 | — |
| Steris plc | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
This landscape is a starting point for scoping a filing strategy or checking freedom to operate around specific CIP/SIP mechanisms.
Check freedom to operate on a specific mechanism
Riboflavin coverage testing, dead-leg design and TOC endpoint sensing each carry distinct claim histories. A targeted search against the assignee holding the closest prior art is faster than relying on class-level shares alone.
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Several previously active assignees show zero filings in the latest year. Watching whether that continues, or reverses once the 18-month publication lag clears, changes how urgently a competing filing needs to move.
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Under-claimed branches like spray device coverage verification and drainability design for single-use skids sit next to dense classes like A61L and C02F. A first claim there has more room to stand on its own.
Explore white space in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 223 of the 19,399 records in scope, ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 118 and the tenth-ranked filer at 83. Even so, the five most active assignees combined hold only 4.3% of all records, and the ranking extends to 100 companies. That spread means leadership here is a matter of degree rather than one company controlling the core claim space, so a freedom-to-operate check should look past the top names into the long tail.
Filings rose from 669 in 2017 to a peak of 825 in 2021, roughly held near the 2022 midpoint of 701, and have since eased toward 126 in the most recent partial year. Because publication lags filing by around 18 months, the last one or two years understate real activity, but the broader shape is a flattening trend rather than continued growth. Recent-year momentum figures for individual assignees, several of which show zero filings in the latest year, support that reading.
A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) covers 16.2% of the 19,399 records, the largest single class, followed by C02F (water and wastewater treatment) at 10.5%. Separation processes under B01D and general cleaning under B08B follow at 8.9% and 7.0% respectively. Records often carry more than one class, so these percentages do not sum to 100%, and each should be read as its own share of the full record set rather than combined with the others.
Validation-adjacent mechanics such as dead-leg detection in CIP piping, TOC endpoint sensing for rinse validation, and drainability design for single-use skids sit outside the dense A61L and C02F classes and show thinner claim coverage. These branches connect directly to the search terms used to build this dataset — riboflavin coverage testing, spray device coverage, cycle time and water consumption — but have not attracted the same filing volume as core sterilising and water-treatment claims. A first claim in one of these areas has more room to establish its own boundary rather than working around dense prior art.
Yes. H01L (semiconductor devices) accounts for 6.1% of the 19,399 records, reflecting how CIP/SIP language is reused for wafer-fab chamber cleaning, and consumer-appliance filings such as robot-vacuum water consumption methods also appear in the dataset. Anyone scoping a pharmaceutical-specific filing strategy should filter these adjacent uses out before drawing conclusions about competitive density in pharmaceutical manufacturing itself, since they inflate class-level counts without representing the same commercial risk.
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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.