Grain Aeration Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 81.4% of all 59 records in scope sit with just five assignees, and 94.9% with ten — this is a field with a settled top tier and almost no room left in the crowded middle.
- Filings fell -100% from 2021 to 2024 the last three-year span with complete data, after a 2019 peak of 10 filings — a sharp pullback from the field's high point.
- F26B drying dominates at 79.7% of records while ventilation-specific classes like F24F sit at just 8.5%, pointing to a narrow, drying-centric claim base rather than broad airflow engineering.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (0) — 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 59 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Grain aeration and silo temperature management sits at the intersection of drying engineering, ventilation control and, increasingly, digital monitoring. The 59 records in scope span filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, drawn from a search string anchored on fan control, airflow rate, moisture migration, hot spot detection, temperature cable and ambient condition language layered onto core aeration and silo temperature terms.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity — treat 2025 and 2026 figures as still filling in rather than as a genuine decline.
Filing trends and technology composition
The dataset's IPC composition and receiving-office spread show where this field's engineering effort actually lands, and how far it has travelled beyond national filing offices.
A single peak, then a pullback
Filings ran at zero in 2017, climbed to a peak of 10 in 2019, and by the last complete three-year window fell from 3 filings in 2021 to 0 in 2024 — a -100% swing. That is a sharp drop from peak activity rather than a steady decline, and it leaves open whether renewed interest since has yet to clear the publication lag.
Drying dominates the claim base
F26B (drying) appears on 79.7% of the 59 records, far ahead of G06Q business/data-processing classes at 47.5% and A01F crop-processing classes at 40.7%. Ventilation-specific F24F sits at only 8.5%, and specialised-structure class E04H at 5.1% — the smallest footprints in the set, and a signal of how much of the airflow-engineering side of the problem remains lightly claimed relative to drying itself.
Shares are the percentage of the 59 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Grain Aeration and Silo Temperature Management with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about grain aeration and silo temperature management and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe documents setting the terms of the field
Grain aeration systems and techniques
The filing describes a networked grain aeration control system offering centralized monitoring across multiple grain storage facilities, structured so the system's custodian can offer aeration as a purchasable service priced to the volume and duration of stored grain — letting farmers and cooperatives avoid the high fixed costs of owning aeration hardware outright.US20030033057A1 · Targeted Grain Management, Inc. · filed 2003-02-13 · cited 104 times, the most-cited record in this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20030033057A1 | Grain aeration systems and techniques | 104 |
| 2 | US20090094853A1 | Method and apparatus for low-energy in-bin cross-flow grain and seed air drying and storage | 97 |
| 3 | US7004401B2 | System and method for regulating agriculture storage facilities in order to promote uniformity among separate… | 83 |
| 4 | US7818894B2 | Method and apparatus for low-energy in-bin cross-flow grain and seed air drying and storage | 64 |
| 5 | US4930229A | Method and apparatus for aeration of stored grain with proactive cooling | 60 |
| 6 | US4253244A | Electronic control system for low temperature grain drying | 44 |
| 7 | US7243857B2 | Grain aeration systems and techniques | 43 |
| 8 | US4688332A | Method and apparatus for aeration of stored grain | 40 |
| 9 | US20140250717A1 | Method and system to selectively dry grain in a grain bin | 37 |
| 10 | US4522335A | Method and apparatus for aeration of stored grain | 31 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and skew toward older filings; read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not 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, trend and technology mix are read together.
The leading tier is settled, not fragmenting
With 81.4% of all 59 records held by five assignees and 94.9% by ten, this is not a field where a new entrant can expect to out-file its way to relevance. Freedom-to-operate work should focus on the leaders' specific claim scope rather than assume a crowded, evenly split market.
Activity pulled back hard from its 2019 peak
Filings peaked at 10 in 2019 and the last complete three-year span shows a full retreat, from 3 filings in 2021 to 0 in 2024. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, this reads as a genuine pause through the last complete data rather than noise, but any apparent uptick in 2025-2026 should be treated cautiously until those years fill in.
Drying claims dwarf ventilation-specific claims
Drying-class filings (F26B) touch nearly four in five records, while air-conditioning and ventilation class F24F sits at 8.5% and specialised structures (E04H) at 5.1%. The gap suggests airflow-hardware and structural approaches to temperature management are comparatively open relative to drying-process claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to grain aeration and silo temperature management, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
The assignee ranking covers 16 companies total — this is the complete list the dataset returns, not a top-50 or top-100 cut. A single leader with 16 records sits well ahead of the field; by fifth place count drops to 3, and by tenth to 1, showing a steep gradient rather than a broad plateau.
One assignee holds the largest single block
The top-ranked assignee's 16 records represent the largest concentration in the dataset, well ahead of the drop to 3 records at fifth place — a gap that marks a genuine leader rather than a cluster of near-equal filers.
The gradient steepens fast after the leader
Filing counts fall from 16 at the top to 3 by fifth place and to 1 by tenth, meaning most of the ranked companies hold only a handful of records each. New entrants are more likely to find open space by working around the mid-tier's narrow claims than by challenging the leader directly.
Co-filing is rare, not a field norm
Only three co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest being a two-filing pairing. Most work here is filed solo, which means competitive tracking should follow individual assignees rather than watching for joint-venture signals.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| CERYS SYST | 0 | — |
| CTB, Inc. | 0 | — |
| CENTAUR ANALYTICS INC | 0 | — |
| Centaur Analytics, Inc. | 0 | — |
| KALLESTAD DANIEL | 0 | — |
| BLOEMENDAAL BRENT J | 0 | — |
| NOYES RONALD T | 0 | — |
| DANCHENKO VITAL G | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing, or identifying open claim territory.
Map the leader's exact claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 16 of 59 records, a freedom-to-operate review should start by mapping that portfolio's independent claims against any planned aeration-control or drying design before broader searching.
Explore assignee portfolios in Eureka →Test the under-claimed ventilation branch
F24F ventilation-specific claims sit at only 8.5% of records against F26B drying at 79.7%, suggesting airflow-hardware approaches to temperature management carry lighter prior art.
Run a white-space search in Eureka →Watch for the 2025-2026 filing lag to resolve
The -100% pullback measured through 2024 is real, but publication lag means 2025-2026 filings are still arriving; revisit the trend once those years are closer to complete.
Track filing trends in Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads with 16 of the 59 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the field — fifth place holds only 3 records and tenth place just 1. The top five assignees combined account for 81.4% of all records, and the top ten for 94.9%, so this is a field with a clear leading tier rather than an even spread. Anyone doing competitive tracking should focus first on that leader's specific claims rather than assume a fragmented market.
Filings peaked at 10 in 2019 and then pulled back sharply, falling from 3 in 2021 to 0 in 2024 in the last three-year span treated as complete data — a -100% change. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the years since 2024 are still filling in and should not yet be read as continued decline. The honest read is that the field cooled significantly from its 2019 high point, with the most recent trajectory still unclear.
Drying-related claims under IPC class F26B appear on 79.7% of the 59 records, making it by far the largest technology category. Business and data-processing claims (G06Q) follow at 47.5% and crop-processing claims (A01F) at 40.7%, reflecting how much of this field now involves monitoring software layered onto physical drying equipment. Ventilation-specific claims (F24F) and specialised storage-structure claims (E04H) are comparatively rare, at 8.5% and 5.1% respectively.
The clearest gaps sit in classes with low record shares relative to the dominant drying category: ventilation-specific fan and airflow hardware (F24F, 8.5% of records), specialised silo or bin structural design (E04H, 5.1%), and material-analysis-based hot-spot detection (G01N, 13.6%). These branches carry meaningfully less claim density than the F26B drying core, which sits at 79.7%, making them a more promising starting point for a novel claim than the crowded drying-process space.
Highly concentrated at the top: the assignee ranking covers 16 companies total, and just five of them hold 81.4% of all 59 records in scope, rising to 94.9% held by ten. Co-filing is uncommon, with only three co-assignee pairs across the entire dataset. That combination — a steep individual-ownership gradient and almost no joint filing — means the field is best tracked assignee by assignee rather than through partnership or consortium activity.
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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.