Grid-Forming Inverter Patents: One Leader, Wide White Space 2026
- One assignee holds the entire ranked field. the top-ranked company accounts for 34 of 34 records in scope (100.0%), leaving no long tail to benchmark against.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 14 records and the tracked 2021-to-2024 span shows a -100% swing, though 2025-2026 filings are still being published and will understate any real 2024-2026 activity.
- H02J dominates at 76.5% of records while B60L (EV propulsion) and G05B (control systems) sit far behind — a gap between grid-forming claims and vehicle-integrated or autonomous control claims.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 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.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families addressing grid-forming inverters and the specific technical problem of seamless transition between grid-connected and islanded operation — the control logic, switching hardware and load-management systems that let an inverter-based resource detach from or rejoin a utility grid without an interruption a connected load would notice. The search combines island-transition terminology with grid-forming and power-converter language, which narrows the field to a specific engineering problem rather than inverter hardware in general.
34 published records sit in scope from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent filing years are undercounted here by construction, not because activity has actually stopped.
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Filing trend and classification mix
Two views of the same 34 records: when they were filed, and which technical subclasses they touch. Because a record can carry more than one IPC class, the composition figures below add up to more than the record total — that is expected, not a data error.
Filing trend, 2015-2026
Filing rose to a peak of 14 records in 2020, the single busiest year in the dataset. The tracked comparison from 2021 (1 record) to 2024 (0 records) shows a -100% change; 2025 and 2026 are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates, so nothing about the last two years should be read as a further decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H02J (power supply and grid systems) covers 76.5% of the 34 records, confirming that most claims sit squarely in grid-side power management rather than in adjacent equipment. G01R (measurement, 26.5%), H01H (switches and relays, 20.6%) and H02B (switchboards and substations, 20.6%) form a secondary cluster around sensing and physical switching hardware, while B60L (EV propulsion, 17.6%) marks where vehicle-integrated claims begin. G05F, G05B and G06Q each sit under 12%, showing that autonomous control logic and data/software framing of island transition are the thinnest-claimed corners of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 34 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Grid-Forming Inverters — Seamless Grid-to-Island Transition Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about grid-forming inverters — seamless grid-to-island transition patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing
Multilayer control for managing power flow (US20220216728A1)
The filing describes control circuitry that identifies, during a first operating mode where power is limited by protection devices, an indicator to shift into a second mode. That indicator corresponds to power consumption approaching, reaching or exceeding a capacity limit. In the second mode the system retrieves stored load preferences and limits and manages loads and/or sources to bring consumption back within capacity, based on both the triggering indicator and the stored reference data.Filed by SPAN.IO, INC., published 2022-07-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210083506A1 | Systems and methods for managing electrical loads | 81 |
| 2 | US20200259336A1 | Integrated electrical panel | 45 |
| 3 | US20220216728A1 | Multilayer control for managing power flow | 38 |
| 4 | US11552500B2 | Systems and methods for managing electrical loads | 14 |
| 5 | US11342754B2 | Integrated electrical panel | 13 |
| 6 | US20220216697A1 | Integrated electrical panel | 9 |
| 7 | US20230396069A1 | Integrated electrical panel | 7 |
| 8 | US20230179015A1 | Systems and methods for managing electrical loads | 6 |
| 9 | US20250266711A1 | Multilayer control for managing power flow | 4 |
| 10 | US11770006B2 | Integrated electrical panel | 3 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations inside this searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four figures from this dataset carry direct implications for anyone deciding where to file next or who to watch.
A single-owner field, not a competitive race
The entire ranked assignee list resolves to one company holding all 34 records in scope. There is no second-place challenger to benchmark against in this data cut, which changes how a freedom-to-operate review should be framed: the question is less 'who else is filing' and more 'what exactly does the incumbent's claim set cover.'
Filing activity is front-loaded, not steadily rising
2020 stands out as a clear peak rather than part of a steady climb. Reading the 2021-2024 window (-100%, 1 to 0 records) alongside that peak suggests a concentrated filing push rather than sustained yearly output — useful context before assuming this is a fast-growing area.
Grid-side control dominates; vehicle integration lags
H02J claims outnumber B60L (EV propulsion) claims by more than four to one. For teams building vehicle-to-grid or EV-integrated island-transition features, that gap is worth checking directly rather than assuming coverage follows the grid-side pattern.
Filing is concentrated in two jurisdictions
The United States and Australia together account for the bulk of receiving-office activity, with Canada, Europe, WIPO and India each in single digits. A launch strategy built only around US coverage would miss the second-largest filing venue in this dataset.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to grid-forming inverters — seamless grid-to-island transition patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
The assignee ranking for this search returns exactly one company covering all 34 records — there is no long tail to describe here, which is itself the finding.
The sole ranked assignee
Every record the search endpoint returns for this topic traces to one assignee. Recent-year momentum for that assignee shows 0 filings in the latest tracked year, a -100% year-on-year change, consistent with the broader 2021-2024 slowdown rather than a sign the company has exited the space.
Load-management claims carry the most influence
The most-cited record in the dataset, on managing electrical loads, has drawn 81 citations, well ahead of the next most-cited filing. That weight sits on an older filing, so it reflects accumulated influence inside this corpus rather than a claim that current filers must design around today.
A modest but real multi-jurisdiction footprint
Receiving-office activity spans six venues, led by the United States and Australia. That spread indicates the incumbent (or its licensees) has sought protection beyond a single home market, which matters for anyone assessing where a competing filing would actually clear.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Energy I/O Smart Panel Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to a concentrated but narrow claim set. Two directions follow directly from it.
Map the incumbent's claims in detail
With one assignee holding all 34 records, a freedom-to-operate review should start by reading that company's independent claims against your own architecture, particularly around the load-management and multilayer-control language that draws the most citations.
Explore the claim set in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
Autonomous control logic, EV-integrated transition and software-defined load arbitration all sit well below the H02J core in this dataset. Drafting a first claim in one of these branches is worth testing against the fuller prior-art set before committing.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
In this dataset, one assignee accounts for all 34 records returned by the search, meaning there is no second-place competitor visible in this data cut. That does not mean no one else has filed on grid-forming inverters generally; it means that within this specific search combining island-transition and grid-forming terminology, the field resolves to a single dominant filer. Anyone assessing competitive risk here should treat this as a single-owner claim landscape rather than a multi-player race.
Filing peaked at 14 records in 2020 and the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a -100% change, from 1 record down to 0. However, publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still filling in and should not be read as evidence the technology area has gone quiet. The honest read is a front-loaded filing push around 2020 followed by a quieter tracked period, with the most recent years simply not yet fully visible.
H02J (power supply and grid systems) is the dominant class, appearing in 76.5% of the 34 records in scope, followed by a secondary cluster of G01R (measurement), H01H (switches and relays) and H02B (switchboards and substations) each around 20-26%. B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) appears in 17.6% of records, marking where vehicle-integrated claims begin. Because records can carry multiple classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%.
The filing, assigned to SPAN.IO, INC. and published 2022-07-07, describes control circuitry that detects when power consumption is approaching or exceeding a system's capacity limit while operating in a first, protection-limited mode, and then switches to a second mode where it retrieves stored load preferences and manages loads or sources to bring consumption back within capacity. In practical terms it covers a specific control-logic sequence for automated load shedding or reallocation triggered by a capacity threshold, not island-transition switching hardware itself. Anyone building a similar automated capacity-response feature should read its independent claims directly rather than relying on the abstract.
The classification data shows G05B (control and regulating systems) and G06Q (business/data processing) each present in under 3% of the 34 records, and G05F (variable control) in 11.8%, all well below the H02J core at 76.5%. That gap suggests autonomous or software-defined control logic for island transition, as opposed to grid-side hardware and switching claims, is comparatively under-claimed in this search. A first claim drafted around adaptive or learning-based transition sequencing, rather than fixed threshold-and-switch logic, would sit in less crowded territory based on this data.
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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.