Electric Arc Heating Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (32 records) with 2024 (36) — 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 624 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the electric arc heating patent record shows
Electric arc heating sits at the intersection of steelmaking process equipment and general electric heating circuitry, which is why the technology composition spans C21C steelmaking, F27D furnace details, C21B blast furnace iron production and H05B electric heating circuits almost equally. No single class accounts for even a sixth of the 624 records in scope, which signals a field defined by combinations of equipment and control claims rather than one dominant sub-technology. The assignee ranking backs this up: the leader holds 18 records, and even the tenth-ranked filer holds only 7, so scale advantage exists but has not consolidated into a small controlling group.
Filing has grown steadily since 2017 rather than spiking, with 2023 the strongest year so far at 54 filings. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The 624 records in scope span steelmaking, furnace design and electric heating circuitry, filed predominantly through Chinese, US and PCT routes.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings climbed from 9 in 2017 to a peak of 54 in 2023, then eased into 2024's 36 — a 13% rise over the 2021-2024 span. The 2025-2026 figures are undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Steelmaking (C21C, 13.8% of records) and furnace details (F27D, 12.5%) lead, closely followed by blast furnace iron production (C21B, 12.3%) and electric heating circuits (H05B, 10.3%). Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the 624 records in scope.
Shares are the percentage of the 624 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Electric Process Heat: Electric Arc Heating Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about electric process heat: electric arc heating patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Waste heat recovery structure for steel making electric arc furnaces (US9157336B2)
A waste heat recovery structure includes a first exhaust gas flow path provided to each of steel making electric arc furnaces to discharge exhaust gas thereinto; a waste heat boiler disposed on the first exhaust gas flow path to recover waste heat as saturated steam from exhaust gas; a steam accumulator configured to store steam formed by confluence of saturated steam parts, each generated by the waste heat boiler; a steam super heater configured to turn steam into superheated steam by heating; and connected exhaust gas flow paths that route gas from the waste heat boiler to the steam super heater and onward for discharge.Filed by JP Steel Plantech Co., published 2015-10-13.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160045841A1 | New and improved system for processing various chemicals and materials | 861 |
| 2 | US4776638A | Method and apparatus for conversion of coal in situ | 470 |
| 3 | US20030066638A1 | Devices using a medium having a high heat transfer rate | 428 |
| 4 | US20150143806A1 | Quintuple-Effect Generation Multi-Cycle Hybrid Renewable Energy System with Integrated Energy Provisioning, S… | 268 |
| 5 | WO2014153570A2 | New and improved system for processing various chemicals and materials | 219 |
| 6 | US7220365B2 | Devices using a medium having a high heat transfer rate | 176 |
| 7 | US20030173085A1 | Upgrading and mining of coal | 173 |
| 8 | US20150376801A1 | High pressure process for CO2 capture, utilization for heat recovery, power cycle, super-efficient hydrogen b… | 95 |
| 9 | WO2003016811A2 | Device using a medium having a high heat transfer rate | 89 |
| 10 | EP2955372A2 | Quintuple-effect generation multi-cycle hybrid renewable energy system with integrated energy provisioning, s… | 64 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the class breakdown are read together.
Leadership is real but thin
The leading assignee holds 18 records and the fifth-ranked holds 11, yet the top 5 together account for only 10.7% of the 624 records in scope. No single company has cornered electric arc heating claim space; the ranked leaders set direction more than they block entry.
China is the primary filing venue
273 of the tracked records were filed at the Chinese receiving office against 65 at the USPTO and 43 via WIPO's PCT route. Freedom-to-operate work that only screens US and European filings will miss the majority of active claim activity in this field.
Steady growth, not a spike
Filings rose from 32 in 2021 to 36 in 2024, a 13% increase over three years, after peaking at 54 in 2023. That pattern points to sustained, incremental investment in electric arc heating equipment rather than a short-lived filing surge.
Claims split across four adjacent classes
C21C steelmaking, F27D furnace details, C21B blast furnace iron production and H05B electric heating circuits each cover roughly a tenth to an eighth of the 624 records. That spread means a filing strategy focused on only one class will miss adjacent claim territory that competitors are actively working.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electric process heat: electric arc heating patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Midrex Technologies, Inc. | Kobe Steel, Ltd. | 13 |
| D Wilson Investments Holdings Ltd. | Ferrocarbon Technology Holdings Ltd. | 6 |
| D Wilson Investments Holdings Ltd. | Australian Steel Company (Operations) Holdings Pty Ltd. | 6 |
| Australian Steel Company (Operations) Holdings Pty Ltd. | Ferrocarbon Technology Holdings Ltd. | 6 |
| D Wilson Investments Holdings Ltd. | WILSON DAVID | 1 |
| D Wilson Investments Holdings Ltd. | ITALANO GIUSEPPE | 1 |
| Mannesmann AG | Metal Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| Australian Steel Company (Operations) Holdings Pty Ltd. | WILSON DAVID | 1 |
Co-assignee activity is limited — 9 pairs in total — with the strongest pairing recorded at 13 shared filings between two established steel-technology suppliers, suggesting most development still happens inside single organisations rather than through joint filing arrangements.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking or white-space identification.
Screen the Chinese filing corpus directly
With 273 of 624 records filed in China, any freedom-to-operate or competitive review that stops at US and EPO filings is working from less than a third of the picture.
Explore filings in EurekaTrack the long tail below the ranked leaders
Because the top 10 hold only 16.7% of records, most competitive movement in electric arc heating is happening among filers outside the ranked leaders — worth monitoring as a leading indicator of new entrants.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaMap claims across adjacent IPC classes together
Steelmaking, furnace details, iron production and electric heating circuits overlap heavily in this corpus; reviewing them as a single claim landscape rather than separate searches avoids missing blocking prior art.
Run a cross-class search in EurekaCommon questions about electric arc heating patents
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies drawn from the 624 records in scope, with the leader holding 18 records and the fifth-ranked holding 11. Even so, the top 5 combined account for only 10.7% of all records, so leadership is measurable but does not amount to control of the field. Anyone evaluating competitive position should look at the ranked leaders as directional signals, not as a gatekeeping group that blocks new filers.
Filings grew from 32 in 2021 to 36 in 2024, a 13% increase over that three-year span, with a peak of 54 filings in 2023. The apparent dip after 2024 is an artefact of publication lag, which typically runs about 18 months behind actual filing, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete. Based on the complete years, the trend is one of steady, sustained filing activity rather than either a boom or a slowdown.
Four IPC subclasses dominate: C21C steelmaking at 13.8% of the 624 records, F27D furnace details at 12.5%, C21B blast furnace iron production at 12.3%, and H05B electric heating circuits at 10.3%. Because a single record can carry multiple classes, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, which reflects how closely equipment design and electrical control claims are intertwined in this technology. A search or clearance strategy that only covers one of these classes will miss adjacent claim activity.
China is by far the largest filing venue in this dataset, with 273 of 624 records filed there against 65 in the United States, 43 through WIPO's PCT route, 38 at the EPO, 38 in the United Kingdom and 30 in Australia. A filing or monitoring strategy limited to US and European offices would miss the majority of documented activity. This does not mean every filer needs Chinese coverage, but any competitive intelligence exercise needs to include it.
US9157336B2, assigned to JP Steel Plantech Co. and published in 2015, covers a waste heat recovery structure for steel making electric arc furnaces — specifically the combination of exhaust gas flow paths, a waste heat boiler, a steam accumulator and a steam super heater used to convert recovered heat into superheated steam. It is a representative record in this space rather than a single dominant blocking patent; the crowded and multi-class nature of the surrounding IPC composition means designers typically need to review several furnace and heat-recovery claims together rather than clear just one document.
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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.