CO2 Heat Pump Thermal Storage Patent Snapshot
The CO2 heat pump thermal storage space remains very small — 4 patent families in scope — with activity concentrated among Chinese academic institutions and one domestic medical-technology firm, alongside limited Japanese industrial participation. The field peaked in 2019 and annual filings have eased since, signalling a declining stage with sparse but technically credible prior art to build on.
A tightly held niche led by Nanjing Hope Medical Technology
Nanjing Hope Medical Technology Co., Ltd. holds the top position with 2 patent records, giving it a disproportionate share for a corpus this small. The next six ranked applicants each hold 1 patent record, including the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, the Power Research Institute of State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Daiwa House Industry, Daiwa General Research Institute, and Xi’an Power Transmission & Transformation Project Engineering.
The top five filers account for 75% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total — an unusually high concentration ratio that reflects the nascent state of the field rather than entrenched competitive moats. There is effectively no second tier: all challengers are at parity with one another.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanjing Hope Medical Technology Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 2 | UNIV OF SHANGHAI FOR SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 3 | Power Research Institute of State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 4 | HUAZHONG UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 5 | Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 6 | Daiwa General Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 7 | XIAN POWER TRANSMISSION & TRANSFORMATION PROJECT E… | 1 |
The leaders’ positions imply that no single player has yet established broad claim coverage; a focused filing programme covering adjacent sub-classes could realistically displace or match the current leader in a short time frame.
Note that the most recent 18–24 months of filings are likely under-counted due to patent publication lag; the apparent absence of 2024–2025 activity should not be read as definitive. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2019 peak, a quiet mid-period, and a technology mix anchored in refrigeration fundamentals
The filing trend reveals a short burst of activity around 2019 followed by sparse, intermittent filings. The technology composition is dominated by refrigeration and heat-pump sub-classes, with domestic heating and fluid-heater branches representing a secondary layer.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 2 records in 2019, fell to zero for two years, recovered with 1 record in 2022, and show 1 record in 2025 — though the 2024–2025 window remains subject to publication lag and should be interpreted cautiously. The overall trend is declining from the 2019 peak.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F25B (Refrigeration & heat pumps) is the visible branch with 6 patent records, followed by F28D (Heat-exchange apparatus) with 3, and F24D (Domestic heating systems), F24H (Fluid heaters & water heaters), and F25D (Refrigerators & cooling) with 2 each. This distribution shows the field is grounded in core refrigeration engineering, with secondary interest in the heat-delivery and storage side.
↗ 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.
一种集成吸收式储热的CO<sub>2</sub>热泵储能系统及其运行方法
本发明属于热泵储能技术领域，公开了一种集成吸收式储热的CO<sub>2</sub>热泵储能系统及其运行方法，包括CO<sub>2</sub>热泵循环、吸收式储热循环和加热水流路，其中：吸收式储热循环包括吸收剂储罐(1)、制冷剂储罐(2)和翅片管换热器(9)，CO<sub>2</sub>热泵循环是由包括吸收剂储罐(1)、第一逆流换热器(4)、第二逆流换热器(5)、膨胀阀(6)、蒸发器(7)和压缩机(8)在内的各组件相连形成的回路；加热水流路为第一逆流换热器(4)和第二逆流换热器(5)与热水储罐(3)相连形成的流路。与现有技术相比，本发明能够解决CO<sub>2</sub>热泵热能利用不充分和储热效率低的问题。 (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot water supply system using co2 heat pump | 11 |
| 2 | 跨临界CO2/R22热泵空调及热水三联供系统 | 5 |
| 3 | 一种采用相变蓄能的跨临界CO<sub>2</sub>空气源系统 | 3 |
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.
Nanjing Hope Medical Technology Co., Ltd.
Holds 2 patent records — the highest count in the corpus — concentrated in F25B (Refrigeration & heat pumps, sub-classes 30 and 41) and F28D 20 (Heat-exchange apparatus). The medical-technology focus suggests CO2 heat pump thermal storage is being explored in clinical or healthcare-facility energy contexts. No momentum data is flagged for this applicant in the most recent window, indicating a stable rather than accelerating position.
patent records: 2Xi’an Jiaotong University
Holds 1 patent record with a technology emphasis on F25B 13, F25B 30, and F25B 41 — core transcritical CO2 cycle sub-classes — filed in collaboration with the Power Research Institute of State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power. Momentum trend is flagged as a new entrant, indicating this activity is recent. The utility-academia collaboration suggests a grid-integrated thermal storage application angle.
patent records: 1Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 4 patent families in scope globally. This is a very small field, and the limited prior art means both freedom-to-operate risk and blocking-art risk are low relative to more mature heat-pump technology areas.
Nanjing Hope Medical Technology Co., Ltd. is the top-ranked applicant with 2 patent records. All other applicants in the ranked list hold 1 patent record each, so the leader’s margin is narrow in absolute terms.
The field is classified as Decline. Annual filings peaked in 2019 at 2 records and have been sparse since. This does not preclude a revival if market conditions for CO2-based heat pumps improve, but the current evidence does not support describing the field as growing.
China leads with 5 patent records and Japan accounts for 1. The United States, Europe, and Korea — major heat-pump markets — have no filings on record in this specific combination of CO2 heat pumps and thermal storage, representing a geographic gap in IP coverage.
Two co-applicant pairs are recorded: Xi’an Jiaotong University filed jointly with the Power Research Institute of State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power (1 record), and Daiwa General Research Institute filed jointly with Daiwa House Industry (1 record). Both represent single co-filed records.
The most-cited work on record is titled ‘Hot water supply system using CO2 heat pump’ with 11 citations, followed by a Chinese-language filing on a transcritical CO2/R22 heat-pump air-conditioning and hot-water tri-supply system with 5 citations, and a filing on a transcritical CO2 air-source system using phase-change thermal storage with 3 citations.
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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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