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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/grid-tied-inverter-topologies-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Power Electronics & Grid Patent LandscapeGrid-Tied Inverter Topologies: Patents Behind MPPT, Anti-Islanding and LCL Filter Claims
- Filing activity has cooled since its 2017 peak. eight families that year against four at the 2022 midpoint and four in the most recent (partial) year — a flat-to-declining trend, not a growing one.
- Power conversion claims dominate over PV-specific claims. H02J and H02M records outnumber H02S (dedicated photovoltaic) filings by roughly eight to one, showing most protection sits in grid/conversion circuitry rather than solar-specific hardware.
- China leads receiving offices, but the field is jurisdictionally split. 46 China filings sit ahead of the United States (32) and India (27), with EPO and PCT routes adding meaningful volume rather than one office dominating outright.
159
Published Records
28%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-29%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
CN
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (5) — 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 159 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
Grid-tied inverter topologies sit at the intersection of power conversion and grid interconnection: circuits and control schemes that convert DC from a source — typically photovoltaic — into AC synchronized with the utility grid. This dataset isolates records where MPPT, anti-islanding, LCL filtering, reactive power control or THD appear directly in the title or claims, filtered to the core conversion and grid IPC classes (H02M7, H02J3, H02M1). That combination excludes generic inverter hardware and generic solar-panel patents, leaving a corpus focused on the control and filtering claims that actually govern grid interconnection behaviour.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent year in any trend undercounts what has actually been filed. Read the 2026 figure as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing activity by year, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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 Numbers
Filing trends and technology composition
159 published families anchor this landscape, spanning 2015 through the partial 2026 year, concentrated in power conversion and grid-supply classifications with a smaller but consistent photovoltaic-specific slice.
A peak that has not been retested
Filings peaked at eight in 2017. By the 2022 midpoint, annual volume had halved to four, and the most recent (partial) year sits at the same level — evidence of a field with settled claim territory rather than one still expanding.
Conversion and grid classes dominate
H02J (power supply and grid systems, 123 records) and H02M (power conversion, 92 records) are each cited far more than H02S (photovoltaic-specific, 15 records), indicating that most protection in this corpus covers the conversion and grid-interface stage rather than the solar generation side.
Shares are the percentage of the 159 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 Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about grid-tied inverter topologies and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaPrior Art & Influence
The most-cited records
Representative Filing
US10965128B2 — Systems and methods for advanced grid integration of distributed generators and energy resources
SINEWATTS, INC.
A circuit for a smart photovoltaic inverter system built from one or more strings, each with series-connected string members that pair a voltage source with an inverter. A controller receives operator commands and issues function commands to individual string members, enabling per-string control of distributed generation resources rather than a single centralized inverter control loop.Assignee: SINEWATTS, INC. Filed with a 2021-03-30 grant date.
Highest-cited patents in this corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20090121549A1 | Method and system to convert direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) using a photovoltaic inverter | 302 |
| 2 | US8018748B2 | Method and system to convert direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) using a photovoltaic inverter | 234 |
| 3 | CN106941263A | 一种可以实现分布式MPPT的集中式光伏发电系统 | 71 |
| 4 | CN102522766A | 一种带有功率解耦电路的反激式微型光伏并网逆变器及其控制方法 | 62 |
| 5 | US20030165036A1 | Anti-islanding device and method for grid connected inverters using random noise injection | 61 |
| 6 | US6853940B2 | Anti-islanding device and method for grid connected inverters using random noise injection | 51 |
| 7 | CN103412207A | 基于负序电流注入的光伏并网逆变器孤岛检测方法 | 48 |
| 8 | CN102183733A | 一种改善电能质量的光伏并网逆变器孤岛检测方法 | 41 |
| 9 | US20180048159A1 | Automatic smart transfer switch for energy generation systems | 39 |
| 10 | US20170018932A1 | PV inverter with micro/nano-grid integration capability | 34 |
Citation counts favour older records within a searched corpus — treat this as a signal of influence, not of current claim strength.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. 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 Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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
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What the data indicates
Three patterns stand out once filing volume, technology mix and citation weight are read together.
Filing Momentum
8 → 4
peak year to latest year
Growth has flattened, not accelerated
The 2017 peak of eight annual families has not been retested; the 2022 midpoint and the latest year both sit at four. That pattern points to a technology whose core claim space was staked out early rather than one still attracting fresh entrants.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Technology Split
123 vs 15
H02J records vs H02S records
Grid-interface claims outweigh PV-specific claims
Power supply and grid-system claims (H02J) outnumber dedicated photovoltaic claims (H02S) by roughly eight to one. Most of the protected ground in this corpus is generic to any DC source feeding the grid, not solar-specific.
IPC composition
Citation Concentration
302 citations
top-cited record
Foundational DC-to-AC conversion patents anchor the field
The two most-cited records both describe converting DC to AC using a photovoltaic inverter, and their citation counts (302 and 234) dwarf the next tier. Newer entrants build on — and must design around — this foundational conversion method.
Most-cited records
Jurisdiction Spread
46 / 32 / 27
China / US / India filings
No single office controls the field
China leads receiving-office volume, but the United States and India each carry substantial shares, with EPO and PCT filings adding further spread. Freedom-to-operate work needs multi-jurisdiction checks rather than a single-office search.
Receiving offices
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 grid-tied inverter topologies, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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
Competitive Landscape
Who is filing, and where the gate is set
Recent-year momentum across tracked assignees shows zero new filings in the latest year for every major name in the ranking — consistent with the flat trend line rather than a data gap.
Momentum Check
0 filings
latest-year filings, top assignees
Leading assignees show no latest-year activity
Every assignee with meaningful recent momentum in this corpus — spanning US, Korean, Chinese and European filers — shows zero filings in the most recent year. Given publication lag, this likely reflects filings still working through examination rather than an actual halt.
Recent-year momentum
Collaboration Pattern
9 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Co-filing is limited and mostly bilateral
Only nine co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest pair links a heavy-industry manufacturer with a specialist partner. Cross-institutional filing — university plus commercial partner — appears but is not the norm.
Co-assignee pairs
Citation Leaders
302 / 234
citations, top two records
Early DC-to-AC conversion art still anchors citations
The two highest-cited records in the corpus both describe core photovoltaic DC-to-AC conversion methods. Their citation weight reflects age and foundational status more than current commercial relevance.
Most-cited records
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Xantrex Technology Inc. | 0 | — |
| LS Electric Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Varentec, Inc. | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Schneider Electric Solar Inverters USA, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Zhejiang University | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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
Next Steps
Where to take this analysis
This landscape identifies the filing pattern and the citation anchors. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on claim language.
Check claim scope against the top-cited conversion patents
The two highest-cited records both cover core DC-to-AC photovoltaic conversion. Any new filing in this space should be checked against their independent claims before drafting.
Explore prior art in EurekaMap the under-claimed sub-areas to your own roadmap
Distributed per-string MPPT, power-decoupling microinverter circuits and sensor-free LCL damping all show thin claim density relative to the core classes — worth a closer look if your roadmap touches them.
Run a white space search in EurekaTrack assignee momentum through the publication lag window
Zero latest-year filings across leading assignees may reflect the 18-month publication lag rather than an actual pullback. Re-check this cohort as later filings publish.
Monitor assignees in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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
Frequently Asked
Questions practitioners ask about this space
This landscape includes records whose title or claims mention grid-tied, grid-connected or PV inverter terms alongside at least one control or filtering concept such as MPPT, anti-islanding, LCL filter, reactive power control or total harmonic distortion, classified under H02M7, H02J3 or H02M1. That combination excludes generic inverter hardware patents and generic photovoltaic panel patents, focusing instead on the control and interconnection layer. It is a deliberately narrow slice of the broader power electronics field, chosen to surface the claims that actually govern how an inverter behaves once connected to a utility grid.
No — filing peaked at eight families in 2017 and has since flattened, with the 2022 midpoint and the most recent year both at four. That is a flat-to-declining pattern rather than a growth curve. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the very latest year is always undercounted, but the multi-year trend line does not show renewed acceleration.
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and H02M (power conversion) carry the bulk of the records in this corpus, at 123 and 92 respectively, far ahead of H02S (photovoltaic-specific, 15 records). That split shows most protected ground sits in the grid-interface and conversion circuitry rather than in solar-specific hardware, which matters when scoping a freedom-to-operate search — a PV-only search would miss most of the relevant art.
China leads receiving-office volume in this corpus with 46 filings, ahead of the United States at 32 and India at 27, with the European Patent Office and PCT/WIPO routes adding further volume. No single office dominates outright, so a thorough freedom-to-operate check needs to cover at least these top jurisdictions rather than relying on a single-country search.
The two most-cited records in this corpus both describe methods for converting DC to AC using a photovoltaic inverter, with citation counts of 302 and 234 respectively — well ahead of the next tier. High citation counts in a searched corpus tend to favour older, foundational filings, so treat these as markers of influence on later work rather than as the current state of the art.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies 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 Grid-Tied Inverter Topologies in depth with Eureka
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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.