GFRP NDT Inspection Patent Snapshot 2026
The GFRP non-destructive testing and inspection patent space is highly concentrated, with Saudi Arabian Oil Co holding half of all tracked patent records and the top five filers accounting for 67% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. Activity has plateaued at a mature stage, with annual volume having eased from its 2018 peak rather than trending upward.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co dominates a highly concentrated, mature field
Saudi Arabian Oil Co leads the applicant ranking with 6 patent records, followed by Obninsk Scientific Production Enterprise Technologiya (2 records) and Finders Co. Ltd. (2 records). The top five filers together represent 67% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, signaling a field where a single industrial incumbent holds outsized influence.
The tier gap between the leader and all challengers is pronounced: United States with single or dual records each.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabian Oil Company | 6 | |
| 2 | Obninsk Scientific Production Enterprise Technologiya (JSC) | 2 | |
| 3 | Finders Co. Ltd. | 2 | |
| 4 | HUNAN UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 5 | BWXT Investment Co (Babcock and Wilcox) | 1 | |
| 6 | Jiangxi Provincial Investment Group Co. Ltd. | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | MCELROY JOHN W | 1 | |
| 8 | Guizhou Ganxing Coal Industry Co. Ltd. | 1 | |
| 9 | Aramco Services Company | 1 | |
| 10 | Vignan’s Institute of Information Technology | 1 | |
| 11 | Nippon Steel Corporation | 1 |
Saudi Arabian Oil Co’s visible position, reinforced by a co-filing relationship with Aramco Services Co, suggests that downstream oil-and-gas pipeline inspection is the primary commercial driver of this space. Challengers with ultrasonic testing focus (G01N 29) represent the most credible alternative technical approach.
Filings from approximately 2024–2026 are likely under-represented due to standard patent publication lag and should not be interpreted as a further easing of activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual filings have plateaued since the 2018 peak; material testing dominates the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a mature, narrowly scoped field where foundational non-destructive testing methods account for the overwhelming majority of activity, while digital and AI-adjacent branches remain sparsely populated.
Annual filing trend
Activity peaked in 2018 at 4 records, then settled into irregular single-year bursts with no sustained upward trend. The lifecycle evidence confirms this is a maturity plateau rather than a growth phase. The most recent years (2024–2026) should be read as likely under-counted due to publication lag.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G01N (Material analysis and testing) is the visible branch with 14 records, reflecting the field’s core focus on physical inspection methods. G06T (Image data processing) is the only secondary branch with more than one record (2), while B06B, B29C, B29K, C03C, C08K, G01H, G06F, G06K, and G06N each register a single record, indicating that digital processing, AI, and materials-composition branches are adjacent but underserved.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
System for nondestructively inspecting fiberglass …
A system and method for inspecting a composite material structure for defects includes a) an inspection apparatus having a heating device for heating a surface of the structure, an infrared camera for receiving radiation from the surface in response to heating, a controller configured to generate thermal images from the infrared radiation, b) a training… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | High temperature electromagnetic acoustic transduc… | 55 |
| 2 | Maintenance evaluation method of glass fiber-reinf… | 6 |
| 3 | Apparatus and method for nondestructively inspecti… | 3 |
| 4 | System for nondestructively inspecting fiberglass … | 2 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co
Holds 6 patent records, the largest position in the corpus. Its technology emphasis spans G01N 25 (thermal analysis), G01N 21 (optical methods), and G06T 7 (image data processing), indicating a multi-modal inspection strategy. The co-filing with Aramco Services Co reinforces an affiliate-coordinated portfolio approach. No momentum trend data is available for this filer in the applicant momentum evidence, consistent with its established incumbent status.
patent records: 6Finders Co. Ltd.
Holds 2 patent records with a focused emphasis on G01N 29 (ultrasonic testing), the most widely adopted NDT modality across challengers. Momentum evidence marks this applicant as a new entrant, meaning all 2 recent records represent its first activity in this corpus. The South Korean origin adds a geographic dimension absent from the incumbent’s primary filing base.
patent records: 2Frequently asked questions
The evidence covers 12 patent families in scope for GFRP non-destructive testing and inspection globally.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co leads with 6 patent records, which is three times the count of the next-ranked applicants. Its affiliate Aramco Services Co holds an additional record under a co-filing arrangement.
The United States leads with 3 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO), South Korea, and Russia at 2 records each. Canada, China, India, Japan, Singapore, and WIPO (PCT) each have 1 record, reflecting dispersed international filing across 10 jurisdictions.
G01N (Material analysis and testing) is the visible IPC branch with 14 records. G06T (Image data processing) is the only secondary branch with more than one record. All other branches—including B06B, G06N, and C03C—hold single records each.
The lifecycle evidence classifies the field as mature, with annual filings having plateaued near their 2018 peak. The most recent filing years (2024–2026) are likely under-represented due to publication lag and should not be read as evidence of further decline.
Two co-filing clusters are evident. Saudi Arabian Oil Co and Aramco Services Co share one co-filing, reflecting a parent-affiliate coordination. Separately, Guizhou Ganxing Coal Industry Co, Hunan University of Science and Technology, and Jiangxi Provincial Investment Group Co form a three-party Chinese university-industry consortium with shared co-filings on AI-assisted ultrasonic inspection.
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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.
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