Copper Tube Manufacturing Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- 70.8% of all 48 records sit with just five assignees, so most of the claim space in drawing, wall-thinning and brazing-joint quality is already staked out by a small group.
- Filings fell 80% from 2021 to 2024 (10 records down to 2), the sharpest pullback in the dataset's decade of coverage — though 2025–2026 counts are still filling in behind publication lag.
- B21C and C22C each cover 47.9% of records meaning drawing/extrusion and alloy composition claims overlap heavily with heat-exchanger detail claims under F28F, the field's structural core.
Filing growth compares 2021 (10 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 48 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families addressing copper tube manufacturing for heat exchangers — drawing processes, wall thinning control, inner-grooved tube forming, level wound coil production, fin forming, tube expansion and brazing joint quality, with particular attention to ant nest corrosion resistance in air-conditioning and refrigeration applications. The scope spans 2015 through mid-2026, drawing on 48 published records.
The technology sits at the intersection of metal extrusion and drawing (B21C), copper alloy composition (C22C), and heat-exchanger structural detail (F28F) — three classes that each touch roughly half of all records, showing how tightly manufacturing process and end-use design are claimed together in this field.
Filing trends and technology composition
Publication counts below are drawn directly from the 48 records in scope. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent years understate real filing activity and should not be read as a slowdown on their own.
Filing trend: a sharp pullback from the 2021 peak
Filings rose to a peak of 10 records in 2021, then fell to 2 by 2024 — an 80% drop over that three-year span, the steepest contraction in the coverage window. Earlier years, such as 2017 with 6 records, show the field was already active well before the peak. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and are not a reliable basis for calling the trend's current direction.
Technology composition: process and alloy claims dominate
B21C (metal extrusion and drawing) and C22C (alloys) each appear in 47.9% of the 48 records, with F28F (heat-exchanger details) close behind at 45.8%. C22F (non-ferrous metal treatment) covers 35.4% of records, while coating (C23C), pipe fittings (F16L), rolling (B21B) and heat treatment (C21D) each sit under 15% — a visible drop-off from the core cluster to the smaller, more specialised branches.
Shares are the percentage of the 48 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Copper Tube Manufacturing for Heat Exchangers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about copper tube manufacturing for heat exchangers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
EP3521463A1 — Corrosion-resistant copper tube (NJT Copper Tube Corporation, 2019)
The filing describes a copper tube formed from a copper-phosphorus material (0.15-0.6 wt% phosphorus) with electrical conductivity ranges tied to whether the tube carries a recrystallized or a deformation structure, aimed at improved resistance to ant nest corrosion in heat transfer and refrigerant tube applications.Abstract text reproduced from the original filing.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5555622A | Method of manufacturing a heat transfer small size tube | 52 |
| 2 | US20030196734A1 | Method for manufacturing seamless steel tube | 31 |
| 3 | US4876869A | Inner grooving process for a metallic tube | 28 |
| 4 | EP1361003A2 | Method for manufacuturing seamless steel tube | 19 |
| 5 | EP2055795A2 | Copper alloy tube for heat exchangers | 13 |
| 6 | JP1986286018A | Method and device for manufacturing inner surface grooved tube | 12 |
| 7 | EP2042825A1 | Fin-and-tube type heat exchanger, and its return bend pipe | 11 |
| 8 | JP1988063524A | Manufacture of pipe with grooved inner surface | 9 |
| 9 | EP0499257A2 | Heat-transfer small size tube and method of manufacturing the same | 7 |
| 10 | US7201812B2 | Method for manufacturing seamless steel tube | 6 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the records are grouped by assignee, class and geography.
Claim space is already crowded at the top
With the leading assignee alone holding 12 of 48 records and the top five combined accounting for 70.8% of all records in scope, a new entrant filing broad drawing or alloy-composition claims is likely to run into dense prior art from a small set of established players.
The 2021 peak has not been sustained
Filings peaked at 10 records in 2021 and fell to 2 by 2024, an 80% decline over three years. Because 2025–2026 publications are still arriving, this should be read as a completed contraction through 2024 rather than a live trend line.
Europe leads receiving offices, Japan and the US follow
The EPO accounts for the largest single share of receiving-office filings (17), ahead of the United States (11) and Japan (8), with Germany, Austria and Canada each in single digits — suggesting European markets carry disproportionate weight for enforcement and freedom-to-operate checks in this field.
Process and material claims overlap heavily
Metal extrusion/drawing (B21C) and alloy composition (C22C) each cover 47.9% of records, and F28F heat-exchanger detail claims sit close behind at 45.8%. The overlap indicates most filings bundle a manufacturing process claim with a material or structural claim rather than filing narrowly on one axis.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to copper tube manufacturing for heat exchangers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims
The ranked leaders in this dataset comprise 14 companies drawn from the assignee field of the 48 records in scope. Filing is concentrated: the leader holds 12 records, fifth place holds 4, and tenth place holds just 1 — a pattern of a strong head and a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants.
One assignee holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee's 12 records represent a quarter of all 48 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the ranked field — a strong signal for where prior art review should start on any new filing in this space.
A tight middle tier below the leader
Fifth place holds 4 records, and together the top five account for 70.8% of all 48 records — the drop from leader to fifth place is steep, but the middle tier itself is fairly even.
A long tail of narrow filers
By tenth place, holdings fall to a single record, and the top 10 combined reach 95.8% of all 48 records — leaving little room outside the ranked leaders for filing activity in this dataset.
Co-filing is limited but present
Only five co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairing recurring across related filings — evidence of some corporate-group co-filing but not of broad cross-company collaboration.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Hydro Extruded Solutions AS | 0 | — |
| Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube Ltd | 0 | — |
| Furukawa Electric Co Ltd | 0 | — |
| UACJ Copper Tube Corp | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd | 0 | — |
| Kobe Steel Ltd | 0 | — |
| UACJ Corporation | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Light Metal Industries Inc | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to a mature, concentrated field with specific gaps rather than a wide-open one.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top five
Before filing anything touching drawing process or alloy composition, run a clearance search against the top five assignees, who together hold 70.8% of the 48 records in scope.
Run a clearance search in EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
Coating-based corrosion resistance, fitting-integrated joints and rolling-stage wall control show thinner coverage than the core cluster and may offer more room to file a defensible claim.
Explore white space in EurekaRe-check the trend once 2025-2026 fills in
The apparent pullback after 2021 is only confirmed through 2024; publication lag means the true 2025-2026 filing level is not yet visible in this data.
Track filing trends in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset's assignee ranking lists 14 companies, with the top-ranked holder alone accounting for 12 of the 48 records in scope. The top five combined hold 70.8% of all records, meaning most active claim space sits with a small group of established manufacturers rather than being spread widely. Anyone entering this field should expect dense prior art from that leading group specifically, not from the field generally.
Filing peaked at 10 records in 2021 and fell to 2 records by 2024, an 80% decline over that three-year span — the sharpest contraction in the coverage window. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025-2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued decline. The safest reading is that the field cooled significantly through 2024, with the current trajectory not yet visible.
Metal extrusion and drawing (B21C) and alloy composition (C22C) each appear in 47.9% of the 48 records, with heat-exchanger structural details (F28F) close behind at 45.8%. Non-ferrous metal treatment (C22F) covers 35.4% of records. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, reflecting how manufacturing process and end-use design are typically claimed together in one filing.
EP3521463A1, filed by NJT Copper Tube Corporation, claims a copper-phosphorus tube material with defined phosphorus content (0.15-0.6 wt%) and electrical conductivity ranges tied to the tube's recrystallized or deformation microstructure, targeted at ant-nest corrosion resistance. It is a composition-and-property claim rather than a pure process claim, so it constrains material formulations within those conductivity bands specifically. Designs using different phosphorus ranges, alternative alloying elements, or coating-based corrosion protection instead of bulk-material chemistry sit outside its literal scope.
Coating and surface deposition (C23C), pipe fitting integration (F16L), rolling-stage process control (B21B) and post-draw heat treatment (C21D) each cover under 15% of the 48 records, well below the roughly 45-48% coverage of the core drawing, alloy and heat-exchanger classes. That gap suggests these adjacent branches are comparatively under-claimed relative to the field's structural core, making them worth a closer look before assuming the whole field is closed off.
Research Copper Tube Manufacturing for Heat Exchangers in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole copper tube manufacturing for heat exchangers corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.