Dynamic Line Rating Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2018 at 12 records and has since gone flat, with the trend midpoint year showing zero filings — activity has not sustained even as grid operators discuss dynamic line rating adoption more widely.
- One assignee holds 16 of the ranked families against a fifth-place count of just 3, in a ranking of only eight companies — a short, top-heavy list rather than a broad competitive field.
- H02J and G01R classes dominate at 71.8% and 59.0% of the 39 records in scope respectively, while meteorology (G01W) and temperature measurement (G01K) barely register, at 5.1% and 2.6%.
What the dynamic line rating patent record actually covers
Dynamic line rating (DLR) technology replaces static, worst-case conductor ampacity limits with a rating computed from real-time inputs — conductor temperature, sag, weather, and load. The patent record in scope spans 39 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, concentrated overwhelmingly in power supply and grid systems (H02J) and electric and magnetic measurement (G01R) classifications. This is a measurement-and-control problem first, and a meteorology problem a distant second.
Filing offices skew toward Europe and the United States, each with 11 records, with Canada, WIPO/PCT and a handful of national offices carrying smaller counts. Publication naturally lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent year in any trend view will read lower than actual filing activity — treat the final year as incomplete rather than as a genuine drop-off.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below use the same 39-record denominator: one tracks when filings were made, the other shows which technical subclasses those filings sit in.
A 2018 peak that has not been repeated
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2018, then declined; the 2022 midpoint shows zero filings, and the trend has not recovered since. Combined with the 18-month publication lag, the most recent years likely understate true filing activity, but the multi-year plateau before that point is a genuine signal that the core measurement approaches were claimed early and filing has not reaccelerated.
Measurement and grid control dominate the classification mix
H02J (power supply & grid systems) appears in 71.8% of the 39 records and G01R (electric & magnetic measurement) in 59.0% — many records carry both, reflecting that DLR patents typically combine a sensing claim with a grid-control or capacity-calculation claim. Radar/positioning (G01S) and cable installation (H02G) classes are secondary at 23.1% and 20.5%, while weather-specific classification (G01W) sits at just 5.1%, and dedicated temperature-measurement claims (G01K) at 2.6% — a narrow footprint given how central conductor temperature is to the underlying physics.
Shares are the percentage of the 39 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Dynamic Line Rating with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about dynamic line rating and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe filings that anchor the field
Dynamic line rating determination apparatus and associated method
A dynamic line rating determination apparatus configured to control the current applied to a power line conductor by determining a dynamic maximum current rating based on measured voltage and current phase vectors taken at two temporally spaced sample times, including a voltage and current phase vector for each phase at both ends of the conductor. The apparatus applies these phase vectors to a power line model to estimate conductor temperature, then applies that estimate to a thermal model to predict steady-state temperature.Filed by General Electric Technology GmbH, published 2018-05-10 as US20180131189A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140180616A1 | Systems and methods for calculating power transmission line capacity | 67 |
| 2 | US20070200556A1 | Dynamic line rating system with real-time tracking of conductor creep to establish the maximum allowable cond… | 30 |
| 3 | US9519014B2 | Systems and methods for calculating power transmission line capacity | 14 |
| 4 | WO2006014691A1 | Dynamic line rating system with real-time tracking of conductor creep to establish the maximum allowable cond… | 12 |
| 5 | US20180316219A1 | System and method for generating a transmission line reliability rating | 11 |
| 6 | US7504819B2 | Dynamic line rating system with real-time tracking of conductor creep to establish the maximum allowable cond… | 11 |
| 7 | EP3096428A1 | Dynamic line rating determination apparatus and associated method | 8 |
| 8 | US20180131189A1 | Dynamic line rating determination apparatus and associated method | 7 |
| 9 | US10855107B2 | System and method for generating a transmission line reliability rating | 4 |
| 10 | WO2018200224A1 | System and method for generating a transmission line reliability rating | 3 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once family counts, classification shares and citation data are read together.
A short ranking with a wide top-to-bottom gap
Only eight companies appear in the assignee ranking at all, and the gap between the leader's 16 families and the fifth-place company's 3 is wide. This is a field with one dominant filer and a thin tail, not a crowded competitive scrum — new entrants are not fighting through a dense thicket of similar claims from dozens of players.
Activity plateaued after an early peak
Filing rose into 2018 and then went flat, with zero filings recorded at the 2022 midpoint. Combined with the standard 18-month publication lag, this suggests the foundational measurement-and-control approaches were staked out early, and subsequent filers have not found — or have not yet published — meaningfully different claim territory.
Weather and temperature sensing are thin
Given that conductor temperature and weather inputs are the physical basis for any dynamic rating, it is notable that dedicated meteorology (G01W) and temperature-measurement (G01K) classifications cover only 5.1% and 2.6% of the 39 records respectively. Most claims route temperature and weather data through grid-control (H02J) or measurement (G01R) framing instead of claiming the sensing step itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to dynamic line rating, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and what is still open
The assignee ranking is a closed list of eight companies rather than a top-N cut of a larger field, and recent-year momentum across the tracked assignees has fallen to zero across the board — a sign that the field is between filing cycles rather than mid-surge.
One assignee well ahead of the rest
The top-ranked company holds 16 of the ranked families, more than five times the fifth-place count of 3. Their filings, alongside the most-cited records in the corpus, center on capacity-calculation and creep-tracking methods for setting maximum allowable conductor loading.
No assignee shows recent-year filing activity
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the flat-to-declining trend since the 2018 peak. Some of this is publication lag rather than a genuine stop, but there is no visible acceleration from any single player to watch for.
Almost no joint filing
The evidence shows only a single co-assignee pairing in the entire dataset. Dynamic line rating patents here are filed by single entities almost without exception, rather than through joint ventures or shared R&D agreements between utilities and technology vendors.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Lindsey Manufacturing Co. | 0 | — |
| General Electric Technology GmbH | 0 | — |
| Underground Systems Inc. | 0 | — |
| LineVision Inc. | 0 | — |
| MWH GMBH | 0 | — |
| NEC Corporation | 0 | — |
| ENGELHARDT JOHN | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The patterns above point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking, or new claim drafting.
Check freedom-to-operate against the most-cited filings
The highest-cited records in this dataset center on capacity-calculation methods and creep-tracking for maximum allowable conductor loading. Any new filing on core rating calculation should be checked against these claims before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaWatch for a filing restart after the 2018-era plateau
With momentum flat across all tracked assignees and the most recent years still subject to publication lag, a renewed filing wave — if one is coming — has not yet shown up in published records.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaExplore the under-claimed sensing and integration branches
Weather-forecast integration, direct temperature sensing, and operator-trust workflows carry thin classification coverage relative to their technical importance, which may leave room for a defensible new claim.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about dynamic line rating patents
Dynamic line rating (DLR) calculates a transmission line's real-time current-carrying capacity from live inputs such as conductor temperature, sag, and weather, rather than relying on a fixed worst-case rating. It attracts patent activity because it touches grid capacity economics directly: a validated uplift in rated capacity can defer costly transmission upgrades. The patent record in this dataset is concentrated in power-supply/grid-control (H02J) and measurement (G01R) classifications, reflecting that most claims combine a sensing step with a control or capacity-calculation step.
The assignee ranking behind this dataset covers eight companies, with the leader holding 16 ranked families against a fifth-place count of 3 — a short list with a steep drop-off rather than a broad field of competitors. The most-cited individual filings in the corpus relate to calculating power transmission line capacity and to real-time tracking of conductor creep to set maximum allowable loading. Reviewing the full ranking table on this page is more reliable than naming individual firms from memory, since the list is a closed set rather than a top-N cut.
Filing rose from 4 records in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2018, then declined, with the 2022 midpoint showing zero filings recorded. That pattern suggests filing activity plateaued after an initial wave of foundational claims rather than accelerating. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will understate real activity, so it is too early to call the plateau permanent from this data alone.
Classification shares point to weather-forecast integration and direct temperature-sensing methods as comparatively thin: meteorology (G01W) appears in only 5.1% of the 39 records in scope and temperature measurement (G01K) in just 2.6%, despite both being physically central to any dynamic rating calculation. Sag/clearance modeling tied to real-time creep and operator-trust or validation workflows for control-room adoption are also lightly represented relative to their practical importance. These gaps are candidates for new claim drafting rather than confirmed white space, since a full freedom-to-operate search would still be needed.
US20180131189A1, filed by General Electric Technology GmbH and published 2018-05-10, claims a dynamic line rating apparatus that determines a maximum current rating from voltage and current phase vectors measured at two points in time and at both ends of the conductor, applies those vectors to a power line model to estimate conductor temperature, and then feeds that estimate into a thermal model to predict steady-state temperature. It represents the two-point, phase-vector approach to temperature estimation, which is one specific technical route among several documented in this dataset rather than the only way to compute a dynamic rating.
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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.