Fastest
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 →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/electromechanical-flight-control-actuators-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Aircraft Hydraulics & ActuationElectromechanical Flight Control Actuators: Patent Landscape
- 43.1% of all 283 records sit with just five assignees, and 66.1% with ten — a field concentrated at the top with a long tail below.
- Filings fell 80% from 20 in 2021 to 4 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete.
- B64C aeroplane/helicopter classes cover 42.8% of records while clutch-and-brake (F16D) and digital-processing (G06F) classes each sit near or under 10% — signalling where claim density thins out.
283
Published Records
43%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-80%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (20 records) with 2024 (4) — 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 283 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
Electromechanical flight control actuators replace hydraulic power with electric motors and mechanical torque transmission, and the patent activity in this space clusters around the failure-management problem that hydraulics solved for free: what happens when the actuator jams, backdrives, or fights another channel. The search set combines actuator architecture terms — electromechanical actuator, roller screw actuator, electromechanical flight control — with the specific failure-mode and monitoring language that separates a flight-critical design from a generic motor drive: back drive torque, jam mitigation, force fight, no-back brake, torque limiter, actuator health monitoring.
283 published records fall inside this scope between 2015 and the mid-2026 cut-off. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025-2026 counts in any trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown in themselves.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 283 records: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend: a 2018 peak, then a steep pull-back
Filings ran at 26 in 2017 and peaked at 29 in 2018. The clearest complete-year comparison in the dataset is 2021 to 2024, where filings dropped from 20 to 4 — an 80% decline. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional given publication lag, not as confirmation the decline continued.
Technology composition: airframe integration dominates, mechanism classes trail
B64C (aeroplanes and helicopters) appears in 42.8% of the 283 records, confirming that most filings frame the actuator as part of an aircraft system rather than a standalone mechanism. F16H gearing/transmission claims sit at 17.3%, and G09B, F16D, G06F, A63F, B60N and B25J each cover a narrower slice — several of them under 10% of records, which is where claim space is thinner rather than exhausted.
Shares are the percentage of the 283 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about electromechanical flight control actuators and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey Patents
A representative claim and the most-cited prior art
Representative Filing
Electromechanical actuator comprising a mechanical roller torque limiter (US9829055B2)
SAFRAN ELECTRONICS & DEFENSE
An electromechanical actuator comprising a body and an electric motor driving at least one motion transmission element connected to the body via a brake device, a mechanical torque limiter with rollers, and a unidirectional transmission member. The brake device includes an electrical activator member so that when powered, the unidirectional transmission member is released relative to the body; when unpowered, it is secured to the body and opposes pivoting up to a maximum torque set by the limiter.Filed by Safran Electronics & Defense, 2017-11-28.
Most-cited records in this search
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160139666A1 | Whole-body human-computer interface | 614 |
| 2 | US5670856A | Fault tolerant controller arrangement for electric motor driven apparatus | 88 |
| 3 | US9652037B2 | Whole-body human-computer interface | 84 |
| 4 | US5957798A | Fail-free actuator assembly | 56 |
| 5 | US20030164422A1 | Latch device, in particular for latching an airplane landing gear or an airplane landing gear hatch, and a me… | 52 |
| 6 | US6811118B2 | Latch device, in particular for latching an airplane landing gear or an airplane landing gear hatch | 52 |
| 7 | US20170242477A1 | Whole-body human-computer interface | 32 |
| 8 | US9904358B2 | Whole body human-computer interface | 32 |
| 9 | WO2015002850A1 | Whole-body human-computer interface | 32 |
| 10 | US20190127049A1 | Adaptive feedback control of force fighting in hybrid actuation systems | 25 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later designs, not as a ranking of current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Run it yourself
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Where to run it
For builders
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 →Insights
What the numbers mean for strategy
Three findings that shape where to file, where to watch, and where the field still has room.
Concentration
43.1% / top 5
of 283 records
The top of the field is tight, the rest is thin
Five assignees hold 43.1% of all 283 records and ten hold 66.1%. That leaves 37 ranked companies splitting roughly a third of the field, most with single-digit filing counts — a classic leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than a fragmented market.
Source: assignee ranking, 47 companies
Momentum
20 → 4, -80%
2021 to 2024
Filing volume has pulled back sharply from its peak
After peaking at 29 filings in 2018, volume declined to 4 by 2024 — the last year the dataset treats as complete. That drop does not necessarily mean interest has faded; it can also reflect consolidation of claim space by early filers, or a shift toward trade-secret protection of health-monitoring software.
2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag
Technology mix
42.8% B64C
of 283 records
Airframe-system framing dominates over standalone mechanism claims
Nearly half of records classify under aeroplane/helicopter systems (B64C), while gearing (F16H) trails at 17.3% and clutch/brake mechanism claims (F16D) sit at just 10.2%. Filers are claiming the actuator as installed, not the underlying mechanical sub-assembly in isolation.
IPC subclass shares, 283 records in scope
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electromechanical flight control actuators, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The leader board is short and the entry bar for a top-ten position is modest in absolute terms, which matters for how you read 'concentration' here.
Leader
38 records
single-assignee count
One filer sits well ahead of the pack
The top-ranked assignee holds 38 records against a fifth-place figure of 15 and a tenth-place figure of 12 — a steep drop-off after the leader rather than a gradual taper.
Assignee ranking, 47 companies
Mid-field
15 / 5th place
records
Positions five through ten cluster closely
Fifth place holds 15 records and tenth holds 12 — a narrow three-record spread across six ranking positions, meaning a handful of additional filings could reorder the mid-table.
Assignee ranking, 47 companies
Recent activity
0 in latest year
for several top-10 assignees
Even leading assignees show no filings in the latest year
Several of the highest-ranked assignees, including the top-ranked leader, recorded zero filings in the most recent year captured. Given publication lag, this is as likely to reflect a filing gap still working through the pipeline as an actual pause in R&D.
Recent-year momentum by assignee
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Goodrich Actuation Systems | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| Safran Electronics & Defense | 0 | — |
| Britax Römer Kindersicherheit GmbH | 0 | — |
| HAPTX INC | 0 | — |
| E2M Technologies | 0 | — |
| Rivian Holdings LLC | 0 | — |
| B.F. Goodrich Corporation | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you are clearing freedom to operate or scoping new filings.
Check the representative claim against your architecture
US9829055B2's torque-limiter and unidirectional transmission combination is a useful benchmark claim to design around before committing to a roller-screw no-back mechanism.
Explore the claim in EurekaWatch the under-10% IPC branches
Health-monitoring software (G06F) and clutch/brake mechanism claims (F16D) sit below the airframe-integration share, suggesting narrower but less contested claim space.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack assignees with a zero-filing gap
Several top-ranked assignees show no filings in the latest year despite historical leadership — worth monitoring for whether that reflects pipeline lag or a genuine strategic shift.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 47 companies, and it is a concentrated field: the top five hold 43.1% of the 283 records in scope, and the top ten hold 66.1%. The single leading assignee holds 38 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 15 and the tenth at 12. Below that top group, the remaining assignees mostly hold single-digit filing counts, so a new entrant with even a handful of well-targeted filings can move into the ranked list.
Filing volume peaked at 29 in 2018 and had fallen to 4 by 2024, an 80% decline from the 2021 figure of 20. This does not necessarily mean R&D activity itself slowed; it can reflect early filers having already staked out core claim territory, a shift toward protecting monitoring software as trade secrets rather than patents, or simply publication lag affecting the most recent years. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically trails filing by around 18 months, so they should not be read as confirming a continued decline.
US9829055B2, assigned to Safran Electronics & Defense, claims an electromechanical actuator combining an electric motor, a mechanical roller torque limiter, and a unidirectional transmission member secured to a brake device. The brake releases the transmission member when its electrical activator is powered and locks it, opposing rotation up to a maximum torque, when unpowered. Anyone designing a no-back mechanism that pairs an electrically-activated brake with a roller-based torque limiter in this specific release/lock arrangement should review this claim closely before finalising an architecture.
The technology composition shows several IPC subclasses sitting well under the 42.8% share held by airframe-integration claims (B64C): clutch and brake mechanisms (F16D) at 10.2%, digital processing and monitoring software (G06F) at 9.5%, and manipulator/robotics crossover claims (B25J) at 5.7%. These lower shares mark branches where claim space is less occupied, particularly around actuator health-monitoring algorithms and force-fight detection logic between redundant channels, rather than areas the industry has decided are unimportant.
Patent families are generally the fairer unit because they neutralise the effect of aggressive continuation filing and multi-jurisdiction duplication, both of which can inflate a raw document count without reflecting additional inventive activity. In this dataset, the assignee ranking is already counted in the 283 patent families rather than raw publications, so the concentration figures for the top five and top ten assignees reflect underlying invention activity rather than filing-office duplication.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole electromechanical flight control actuators 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.