Displacement Sensors (LVDT & Eddy Current) Patents: Leaders 2026
- Concentration is modest. the leading assignee holds 12 records and the top 5 combined account for just 23.5% of the 200 records in scope — no single player controls the field.
- Filing has flattened, not grown. activity peaked at 13 records in 2022 and the trend since is flat to declining, with 2026 data still incomplete due to publication lag.
- Claims cluster around measurement fundamentals. G01D and G01B together cover the bulk of records, while temperature measurement (G01K) and control (G05F) sit well under 5% each — a sign of where claim space is thinner.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the intersection of LVDT and eddy current displacement sensing and the technical qualities that determine whether a design is commercially usable: linearity, temperature stability, non-contact measurement, bandwidth and sensitivity to target material. The search spans 200 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, classified under measuring and recording instrumentation (G01D), length and dimension measurement (G01B), and related force, magnetics and temperature classes.
The scope favours records where the abstract or claims explicitly address measurement quality rather than mere presence of a displacement sensor in a larger assembly, which keeps the set focused on core sensing claims rather than downstream applications.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 200-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2022, then softened. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounts rather than evidence of a sharp drop.
IPC subclass composition
G01D accounts for 72.5% of the 200 records and G01B for 43.5%; a single record can carry both classes plus others, so shares sum to more than 100%. Force/pressure (G01L), magnetics (H01F), control (G05F) and temperature (G01K) each sit at or under 9.0%, marking them as adjacent rather than core claim territory.
Shares are the percentage of the 200 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Displacement Sensors (LVDT and Eddy Current) with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about displacement sensors (lvdt and eddy current) and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited patents in this set
US4926123A — Precision variable pitch compensation winding for displacement transducer
A compensation winding for improving the linearity of a displacement transducer with an electrically conducting non-ferromagnetic wall that moves in telescoping relation with the coil. Exciting the coil at a sufficiently high frequency produces a skin effect on the wall, so wall displacement varies the reluctance of the coil flux path and thus its inductance proportionally to displacement. The compensation winding is wound in fixed, telescoped, coaxial relation to the coil with a pitch that decreases with distance from the coil end nearest the wall.Filed by Honeywell Data Instruments; granted 1990-05-15. Its linearity-compensation approach is a frequent reference point for later eddy current transducer designs in this set.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US3891918A | Linear displacement transducer utilizing an oscillator whose average period varies as a linear function of th… | 140 |
| 2 | US4253079A | Displacement transducers employing printed coil structures | 121 |
| 3 | US5598153A | Capacitive angular displacement transducer | 90 |
| 4 | US5777467A | Miniaturized displacement transducer assembly | 77 |
| 5 | US6810753B2 | Displacement transducer | 63 |
| 6 | US4680466A | Displacement transducer which simultaneously extracts signals via sequential switching | 57 |
| 7 | US5115193A | Inductive linear displacement transducer and temperature-compensating signal processor | 52 |
| 8 | CN101949797A | 一种金属纤维微拉伸力学性能测试方法及装置 | 51 |
| 9 | US3668672A | Capacitive transducer | 51 |
| 10 | US6593731B1 | Displacement transducer utilizing miniaturized magnet and hall junction | 47 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
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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Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, geography and citation data are read together.
No dominant gatekeeper
The leading assignee holds 12 records out of 200, and the top 5 combined reach only 23.5% of all records in scope. The top 10 reach 36.0%. That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants rather than a market locked up by one or two firms.
Flat since the 2022 peak
Filing activity climbed from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2022, then has not grown further. Recent-year momentum figures for individual leading assignees show zero filings in the latest year across the board, though this partly reflects publication lag rather than an actual stop in R&D.
Filing spread across four major offices
The United States leads with 48 filings, followed by China at 40, the European Patent Office at 32 and the United Kingdom at 30. Japan and Australia trail well behind. This spread suggests displacement sensor IP is being protected across multiple jurisdictions rather than concentrated in one home market.
Co-filing is rare
Only 3 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, the strongest repeated twice. Most assignees file independently, which is consistent with a field built from incremental single-owner improvements rather than joint-venture platform development.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to displacement sensors (lvdt and eddy current), with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders span industrial instrumentation, automotive, oilfield services and academic research, but none of them commands a large share of the 200 records in scope.
Established measurement-equipment makers hold the top spots
The leading assignee's 12 records and the broader top-10 group (36.0% of all 200 records) are dominated by long-standing industrial measurement and control companies, reflecting decades of incremental filing on coil winding, linearity compensation and non-contact sensing designs.
A wide base of few-filing entrants
Beyond the top 10, the ranking extends to 100 companies, many with only one or two records. This is typical of a mature sensing category where new entrants patent specific mechanical or signal-processing refinements rather than platform-level architectures.
Medical and fluid-power adopters stay a minority
Records tagged to diagnosis/surgery (A61B) and fluid-pressure actuators (F15B) sit at 3.0% and 2.5% of the 200 records respectively, showing displacement sensing technology reaching into medical devices and hydraulics without becoming a core filing theme there.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SafeCertifiedStructure Techa SpA | 0 | — |
| Lika Electronic Srl | 0 | -100% |
| Yokogawa Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| Deere & Company | 0 | — |
| Data Instruments Inc. | 0 | — |
| FAST TECH | 0 | — |
| Rosemount Inc. | 0 | — |
| Lucas Industries PLC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Check claim scope on the most-cited records
US3891918A, US4253079A and the other highly-cited records anchor much of the later filing in this set. Before drafting near their claim language, review exactly what they lock down versus what remains open.
Explore citation mapWatch the under-claimed branches
Temperature stability and target-material compensation sit at the low end of the IPC composition. A first-mover claim there faces less prior art density than a filing on core linearity or non-contact measurement.
Review white spaceTrack the long tail for acquisition targets
With 100 ranked assignees and no single filer above 12 records, single-patent or few-patent holders in specific niches may be acquisition or licensing targets rather than blocking obstacles.
See assignee rankingCommon questions
No single company dominates this field. The leading assignee holds 12 of the 200 records in scope, and the top 5 assignees combined account for only 23.5% of all records. The top 10 reach 36.0%. This is a fragmented landscape with a long tail of 100 ranked assignees, many holding just one or two filings, so competitive risk is spread across many smaller players rather than concentrated in one or two gatekeepers.
Filing activity rose from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2022, and has not exceeded that peak since. Recent years show flat to declining counts, though publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures understate actual filing activity. Treat the apparent slowdown in the most recent one to two years with caution until later data lands.
The bulk of records sit under G01D (measuring and recording, 72.5% of the 200 records) and G01B (measuring length and dimensions, 43.5%). Smaller but notable adjacent classes include G01L (force and pressure measurement, 9.0%), G05F and H01F (each 3.5%), A61B (diagnosis and surgery, 3.0%), and F15B and G01K (each 2.5%). Because a single record can carry multiple classes, these shares add up to more than 100%.
US4926123A, filed by Honeywell Data Instruments and granted in 1990, claims a compensation winding wound in fixed, telescoped, coaxial relation to a displacement transducer's coil, with a pitch that decreases with distance from the coil end nearest a non-ferromagnetic wall exploiting the skin effect at high excitation frequency. It blocks that specific pitch-varying compensation-winding geometry for improving linearity in skin-effect eddy current transducers, not eddy current displacement sensing generally. Designs using different linearity-compensation mechanisms, such as signal-processing correction or alternative winding geometries, sit outside its claim scope.
The IPC composition shows temperature measurement (G01K) and control-related classes (G05F) each at only 2.5% to 3.5% of the 200 records, well below the core G01D and G01B classes. That gap suggests temperature-drift compensation and target-material sensitivity correction remain thinner on prior art than core linearity and non-contact measurement claims. A first claim in those areas would face less crowded prior art, though it should still be checked against the most-cited records before drafting.
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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.