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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/contactor-and-motor-starter-technology-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Low-Voltage SwitchgearContactor and Motor Starter Patents: Filing Concentration and Open Ground
- 62.9% of all 402 records sit with the five leading assignees, and 74.9% with the top ten — a field where a handful of switchgear majors hold most of the claim space.
- Filings peaked in 2020 at 44 in a single year, before the trend eased off toward the most recent (partial) filing year.
- H01H covers 86.8% of records while adjacent classes like H02P (11.2%), G01R (9.7%) and H03K (3.2%) show where control and sensing claims are thinner.
402
Published Records
63%
Top-5 Share of All Records
US
Leading Jurisdiction
66
Active Filers Ranked
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 402 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
Contactor and motor starter technology spans the electromagnetic hardware that switches and protects motor loads — coil drive circuits, auxiliary contact blocks, welded contact detection and the electrical endurance testing that qualifies a device for industrial duty. This landscape draws on 402 published records filed against a search built around electromagnetic contactors, motor starters and coil drive systems, matched against contact bounce, holding power, electronic coil control and related endurance features. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent filing year in the trend below is understated by construction, not by a real slowdown.
The assignee ranking, the IPC composition and the receiving-office spread below describe where the claim space is dense and where it is not, using patent families as the unit of comparison rather than raw document counts.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 402 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 44 in 2020, then eased toward the most recent, still-partial filing year. With fewer than four complete years available after accounting for publication lag, no growth rate is calculable from this window — treat 2020 as the high-water mark rather than a stable run rate.
IPC subclass composition
H01H (switches and relays) covers 86.8% of the 402 records, confirming this is fundamentally a switching-hardware field. The next-largest classes — H02P at 11.2%, G01R at 9.7%, H01F at 5.7% and H02H at 5.2% — are all control, measurement or protection add-ons rather than separate centres of gravity. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%; each is a share of the same 402-record denominator, not of one another.
Shares are the percentage of the 402 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about contactor and motor starter technology and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey Patents
Most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative Filing
Auxiliary Contact Block for Expanding a Switching Device
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Siemens' US8058574B2 discloses an auxiliary contact block built to expand a switching device with minimal extra wiring and space: auxiliary contacts arranged in a plane, contact bridges paired with fixed contact pieces, and at least one contact slider that can be fitted with an auxiliary contact pair. The design targets compactness alongside the wider contactor or starter assembly it attaches to.Filed by Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, published 2011-11-15.
Most-cited records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4893102A | Electromagnetic contactor with energy balanced closing system | 132 |
| 2 | US4922363A | Contactor control system | 104 |
| 3 | US20050013085A1 | Method and system of controlling asynchronous contactors for a multi-phase electric load | 97 |
| 4 | US5539608A | Electronic interlock for electromagnetic contactor | 97 |
| 5 | US4138669A | Remote monitoring and controlling system for subsea oil/gas production equipment | 86 |
| 6 | US4525762A | Arc suppression device and method | 66 |
| 7 | US6064289A | Electromagnetic contactor with overload relay | 63 |
| 8 | US4456867A | Motor control apparatus with input validator | 62 |
| 9 | US5579194A | Motor starter with dual-slope integrator | 58 |
| 10 | US5440180A | Microprocessor based electrical contactor with distributed contactor opening | 54 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on later work, not as a ranking of current importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three readings of the same dataset, aimed at where to file next and who to watch.
Concentration
62.9% of 402 records
held by the top five assignees
The core switching mechanism is heavily claimed
With 62.9% of all 402 records sitting under five assignees and 74.9% under ten, core electromagnetic contactor and motor starter claims are dense prior art. New entrants are more likely to find open ground in adjacent control and sensing functions than in the base switching mechanism itself.
Based on the assignee ranking of 66 companies.
Technology Mix
86.8% vs 11.2%
H01H share vs H02P share
Control-side claims are thinner than switching-side claims
H01H accounts for 86.8% of the 402 records, while H02P (motor and generator control) sits at 11.2% and H03K (pulse technique and logic circuits) at just 3.2%. Electronic coil control, welded-contact detection logic and holding-power circuitry look comparatively under-filed against the mechanical switching art.
Class shares sum to more than 100% because records can carry multiple IPC codes.
Filing Pace
Peak year 2020 at 44
highest single-year filing count
Activity has cooled from its 2020 peak
Filings climbed from 4 in 2017 to 44 in 2020, then eased off toward 2026, a year still partial in the data. No growth rate can be computed from the remaining complete years, but the shape suggests the field's most active filing window has already passed rather than being still underway.
2026 figures are understated by the roughly 18-month publication lag.
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to contactor and motor starter technology, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Who's Filing
Players and where the gaps sit
A short list of switchgear majors accounts for most of the record base; smaller filers cluster around specific control and sensing niches.
Leader
93 records
leading assignee's count
One assignee sets the pace by a wide margin
The leading assignee holds 93 records against a fifth-place figure of 13 and a tenth-place figure of 6 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a field with one dominant filer and a long tail of much smaller programmes.
Ranking covers 66 companies, counted in patent families.
Momentum
0 in latest year
for several leading assignees
Recent-year momentum has stalled across the top of the ranking
Several of the largest historical filers show zero filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader cooling trend after 2020 rather than any single company's retreat. This is also partly a publication-lag artefact for the newest filings.
Momentum reflects recorded publications, not necessarily filing intent.
Geography
US 127, EPO 84, Japan 53
top three receiving offices
Filing activity is concentrated in three jurisdictions
The United States, the European Patent Office and Japan account for the bulk of receiving-office activity, ahead of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. A filing strategy built only around the top office would still miss meaningful coverage in the next tier.
Receiving office counts are independent of the assignee ranking.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Eaton Corporation | 0 | — |
| Westinghouse Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Siemens AG | 0 | — |
| Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this
Three ways to move from this overview into a working position.
Map the white space before drafting claims
Cross-check the under-claimed sub-areas here against a live prior-art search in electronic coil control and welded-contact detection before committing to a first claim.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the leading assignees' portfolios
Follow the leading assignees' filing activity directly rather than relying on a single snapshot, since momentum has cooled across the top of the ranking.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaPressure-test freedom to operate
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the most-cited records before finalising a design for auxiliary contact blocks or coil drive circuits.
Run an FTO check in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
The dataset's assignee ranking covers 66 companies, and it is heavily top-loaded: the leading assignee alone holds 93 of the 402 records in scope, against 13 for the fifth-ranked company and 6 for the tenth. Combined, the top five assignees account for 62.9% of all 402 records, and the top ten account for 74.9%. This is a field where a small number of established switchgear manufacturers hold most of the claim space, rather than one spread evenly across many filers.
Filing activity rose from 4 records in 2017 to a peak of 44 in 2020, then eased off toward the most recent tracked year. Because fewer than four complete years remain once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for, no reliable growth rate can be calculated from the recent window. The shape of the trend suggests the most active filing period has already passed rather than being underway now.
The core switching mechanism, covered by IPC class H01H, appears in 86.8% of the 402 records and is clearly the densest area of prior art. Adjacent control and sensing functions are thinner by comparison: H02P (motor and generator control) sits at 11.2%, G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) at 9.7%, and H03K (pulse technique and logic circuits) at just 3.2%. Electronic coil holding-power control, welded-contact detection logic and contact bounce suppression circuits are reasonable places to look for open claim space relative to the core mechanical switching art.
US8058574B2 discloses an auxiliary contact block designed to expand a switching device while minimising extra wiring and space, using auxiliary contacts arranged in a plane with contact bridges, fixed contact pieces and a contact slider that can carry an auxiliary contact pair. It was filed by Siemens Aktiengesellschaft and published in 2011. Anyone designing a compact auxiliary contact expansion module for a contactor or motor starter should check this claim structure specifically, since it targets the same compactness goal that many later auxiliary-block designs pursue.
The United States leads with 127 records, followed by the European Patent Office at 84 and Japan at 53. The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia follow at lower but still meaningful counts of 38, 25 and 19 respectively. A filing or freedom-to-operate strategy focused only on the US and EPO would miss a substantial share of activity recorded in Japan and the next tier of offices.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Contactor and Motor Starter Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research Contactor and Motor Starter Technology in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole contactor and motor starter technology corpus yourself, in your own scope.
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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.