Electrical Protection Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Concentrated but not locked up. the top 5 assignees hold 17.1% of all 2,200 records in scope and the top 10 hold 27.0% — leadership exists but the field is not owned by a handful of firms.
- Filing has cooled from its peak. 2017 was the peak filing year at 115 records, and the confirmed 2021→2024 span shows a 63% drop from 94 to 35 filings.
- Protective circuitry dominates the claim map. H02H protective circuit arrangements appear in 38.5% of all records, more than double the next largest class, H01H switches and relays at 16.4%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (94 records) with 2024 (35) — 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 2,200 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 2,200 published records filed against electrical protection and reliability language paired with motor winding, magnetic flux, fault current, protection relay, current control and switching control terms. The scope spans protective circuit arrangements, switchgear and relays, power supply and grid architecture, and the measurement and control layers that support fault detection and system reliability. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent filing years in any trend understate actual activity.
Records were pulled from receiving offices led by the United States, Europe and the WIPO PCT route, with meaningful volume from Australia, India and Canada — a spread consistent with a technology area tied to grid infrastructure and industrial equipment standards that differ by jurisdiction.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 2,200-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings peaked in 2017 at 115 records. Using the last confirmed full years, 2021 filings of 94 fell to 35 by 2024, a 63% decline over that three-year span. Years from 2025 onward are still filling in under publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H02H protective circuit arrangements lead at 38.5% of the 2,200 records, followed by H01H switches and relays at 16.4% and H02J power supply and grid systems at 14.2%. G01R measurement, H01F magnetic components, G05B control systems, G06F data processing and H02G cable installation each carry smaller but non-trivial shares. Records can carry multiple classes, so these figures sum to more than the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,200 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Electrical Protection & Reliability Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about electrical protection & reliability patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
Protection relay for sensitive earth fault protection
A protection feature is disclosed for a self powered protection relay having, for example, sensitive earth fault protection. Protection can be achieved in tandem with optimal power on trip time and with integrated logic for inrush discrimination. The self supplied protection relay can include a current processing module to measure and evaluate line current to generate a trip signal, and to suppress inrush current to block earth fault detection during an inrush condition and thereby increase sensitivity of fault detection.Filed by ABB Schweiz, published 2013-09-19 — illustrative of the self-powered relay and inrush-discrimination claim style common in the H02H cluster.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210157312A1 | Intelligent vibration digital twin systems and methods for industrial environments | 716 |
| 2 | US6944555B2 | Communications architecture for intelligent electronic devices | 583 |
| 3 | US20050144437A1 | System and method for assigning an identity to an intelligent electronic device | 521 |
| 4 | US20060161218A1 | Systems and methods for treating traumatic brain injury | 496 |
| 5 | US20040193329A1 | System and method for securing energy management systems | 492 |
| 6 | US6961641B1 | Intra-device communications architecture for managing electrical power distribution and consumption | 430 |
| 7 | US20090312817A1 | Systems and methods for altering brain and body functions and for treating conditions and diseases of the same | 410 |
| 8 | US20220108262A1 | Industrial digital twin systems and methods with echelons of executive, advisory and operations messaging and… | 387 |
| 9 | US6751562B1 | Communications architecture for intelligent electronic devices | 384 |
| 10 | US20030204756A1 | Push communications architecture for intelligent electronic devices | 375 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence rather than current 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 a filing decision
Three read-throughs from the trend, concentration and citation data that matter more for strategy than the raw counts.
Leadership without lock-up
The top 5 assignees combine for 17.1% of all 2,200 records and the top 10 for 27.0%. That leaves nearly three-quarters of filings spread across a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants, meaning freedom-to-operate risk is diffuse rather than concentrated on one or two blocking portfolios.
Activity has pulled back from its 2017 peak
Filings peaked at 115 in 2017 and, on the last confirmed full years, dropped 63% from 94 in 2021 to 35 in 2024. That is a real cooling in new filing activity in this exact claim space, not a data artefact of publication lag, since both endpoints are complete years.
Protective circuitry is the most contested class
H02H protective circuit arrangements appear in 38.5% of the 2,200 records, more than double H01H switches and relays at 16.4%. New filings competing directly in protective circuit architecture face the densest prior art in the dataset.
Co-filing is limited and mostly bilateral
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest recurring pairings linked to a single Swedish electrical equipment group and to Emprimus. This is a field of largely independent filers rather than joint-venture-heavy development.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electrical protection & reliability patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) | LEIJON MATS | 10 |
| Emprimus LLC | NORDLING GALE | 5 |
| Emprimus LLC | JENSEN WALLACE | 5 |
| Emprimus LLC | FUCHS GREG | 5 |
| Emprimus LLC | FAXVOG FREDERICK R | 5 |
| Emprimus LLC | JACKSON DAVID BLAKE | 4 |
| ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) | WINDMAR DAN | 4 |
| ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) | SUNESSON ANDERS | 4 |
Co-assignee activity is sparse and concentrated in a small number of repeat pairings rather than broad industry consortia.
Who is filing and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders combine established electrical equipment manufacturers with specialist protection and grid-reliability firms; recent-year momentum data shows most tracked leaders slowing rather than accelerating.
A single leader well ahead of fifth place
The top-ranked assignee holds 124 records against 58 for the fifth-placed firm and 40 for tenth place — a steep drop-off after the leader rather than a gradual taper, which suggests one portfolio worth watching closely for licensing or blocking positions.
Recent-year momentum has slowed across the tracked leaders
Several assignees tracked for recent momentum show zero filings in the latest year, including declines of -100% year-on-year for more than one firm. This is consistent with the broader 2021-2024 pullback rather than isolated to any single company.
US-centred filing with meaningful multi-jurisdiction spread
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 698 records, with Europe, the WIPO PCT route, Australia, India and Canada each carrying over 100 records. That spread points to protection and reliability standards that firms pursue across multiple grid and industrial equipment jurisdictions rather than a single home market.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | 1 | -50% |
| Schneider Electric Industries SAS | 0 | -100% |
| Emprimus LLC | 0 | — |
| ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) | 0 | — |
| RIPD Research and IP Development Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Cooper Technologies Company | 0 | — |
| Zonit Structured Solutions LLC | 0 | — |
| IEP2 Research Pty | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing scouting or white-space filing.
Map claims against the H02H core before filing
With 38.5% of records carrying protective circuit claims, a new filing in this space should be checked against the densest part of the prior art first, not last.
Run a claim comparison in Patsnap EurekaWatch the post-2024 filings as they publish
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 activity is still incomplete; revisit the trend once those years settle before concluding the pullback continues.
Track filing trends in Patsnap EurekaTest the under-claimed branches for a first-mover filing
Sub-areas like inrush-discrimination logic and cable-installation fault sensing carry lower filing density than the H02H core and may offer cleaner claim space.
Explore white space in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions on electrical protection and reliability patents
The ranking covers 100 assignees, with a single leader holding 124 records well ahead of the fifth-placed firm at 58 and tenth place at 40. The top 5 assignees combined account for 17.1% of the 2,200 records in scope, and the top 10 combined account for 27.0%. That leaves the majority of filings spread across a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants, so no one company controls the field outright.
Filings peaked in 2017 at 115 records and have declined since. Comparing the last two confirmed full years, filings dropped 63% from 94 in 2021 to 35 in 2024. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years should not yet be read as confirming a continued decline.
H02H, protective circuit arrangements, is the largest class by a wide margin at 38.5% of the 2,200 records. H01H switches and relays follows at 16.4%, and H02J power supply and grid systems at 14.2%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, and they signal claim density rather than technology maturity.
The smaller IPC classes in this dataset, such as H02G cable installation at 3.9% of records, G06F data processing at 4.5%, and G05B control systems at 4.6%, carry far less filing density than the H02H core. Sub-areas like inrush-discrimination logic for self-powered relays or digital-twin integration with protection relays sit in this lower-density space and are worth checking against the full claim set before filing.
Collaboration is limited: the dataset identifies only 10 co-assignee pairs across all 2,200 records. The strongest recurring pairing appears 10 times and is linked to a Swedish electrical equipment group, while two other pairings tied to Emprimus each recur 5 times. This points to a field built mostly on independent, single-assignee filings rather than joint development.
Research Electrical Protection & Reliability Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole electrical protection & reliability patent landscape 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.