High Lift Devices and Slat Design Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five most active filers hold 226 of 369 records in scope, or 61.2% — a field where a handful of aerospace primes have staked out most of the claim space.
- Filing has plateaued, not collapsed. Activity peaked at 35 records in 2020 and moved from 22 filings in 2021 to 21 in 2024, a -5% change — read the tail years as still filling in given an 18-month publication lag.
- Aeroplane structure dominates the classification. 87.3% of records sit in B64C (aeroplanes and helicopters), with aircraft equipment, wind turbine, drone and marine propulsion classes each present at single-digit shares — signalling where slat-derived mechanisms are migrating.
Filing growth compares 2021 (22 records) with 2024 (21) — 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 369 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
High lift devices sit at the mechanical core of a wing’s low-speed performance: slats, droop noses and their actuation kinematics govern how much lift a wing can generate on takeoff and landing without stalling. This landscape draws on 369 published patent records filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine high-lift device or slat-track language with a second layer of specificity — slat gap, droop nose, actuation kinematics, maximum lift coefficient, slat seal, or spanwise load distribution. That second layer filters out generic wing patents and leaves a corpus focused on the mechanics of how a slat deploys, seals and distributes load.
The scope spans mainline commercial aircraft OEMs, tier-one actuation and structures suppliers, and a smaller set of adjacent filers working in wind turbines, drones and marine propulsion where slat-like leading-edge devices are being adapted. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend understate real filing activity.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 369 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims fall into.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 35 in 2020, then settled into a narrower band — 22 in 2021 down to 21 in 2024, a -5% change over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted rather than declining; publication lag means recent filings are still arriving in the dataset.
IPC subclass composition
B64C (aeroplanes and helicopters) covers 87.3% of the 369 records, confirming this is fundamentally an airframe mechanism story. B64D (aircraft equipment) at 13.0% and smaller shares in F03D (wind motors, 4.1%), B64U (drones, 2.4%), F15D (fluid flow control, 1.9%), B63H (marine propulsion, 1.4%), B29C (plastics shaping, 1.1%) and B64F (ground installations, 1.1%) show where slat and high-lift concepts are being carried into adjacent domains. Records can carry multiple classes, so these shares sum to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 369 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on High Lift Devices and Slat Design with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about high lift devices and slat design and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Support arrangement for a leading-edge high lift device with integrated fluid channel
Filed by Airbus Operations GmbH and published 2023-12-20, this record describes a support arm for a leading-edge high lift device that doubles as a fluid conduit, feeding anti-ice fluid such as pressurised hot air to a droop nose device while it moves. The claim links mechanical support and thermal servicing into a single structural element rather than routing them separately.Filed under EP4292925A1
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5544847A | Leading edge slat/wing combination | 111 |
| 2 | US5839699A | Leading edge slat/wing combination | 106 |
| 3 | US5056741A | Apparatus and method for aircraft wing stall control | 104 |
| 4 | US20110038727A1 | Method and apparatus for pressure adaptive morphing structure | 100 |
| 5 | US20120111994A1 | Cross-flow fan propulsion system | 87 |
| 6 | US20170137116A1 | Efficiency improvements for flow control body and system shocks | 80 |
| 7 | US5348256A | Supersonic aircraft and method | 80 |
| 8 | US20100303634A1 | Fluid dynamic section having escapelet openings for reducing induced and interference drag, and energizing st… | 73 |
| 9 | US20090127861A1 | Fluid-dynamic renewable energy harvesting system | 71 |
| 10 | US3375998A | Leading edge flap and apparatus thereof | 71 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to be cited within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a ranking of current importance.
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Three findings that shape where to file next and where prior art risk is heaviest.
Claim space is held by a small group
The top five assignees account for 226 of the 369 records in scope, 61.2% of the total, and the top ten extend that to 71.8% (265 records). A long tail of single- or few-filing entrants fills the remainder, which is typical of a mature mechanical subsystem where the core kinematics are settled and incremental variants dominate new filing.
Activity has flattened, not fallen off
Filings moved from 22 in 2021 to 21 in 2024, a modest -5% change after a 2020 peak of 35. That is a plateau in a mature mechanism area, not a retreat — and any apparent drop-off in 2025-2026 reflects publication lag rather than reduced R&D.
Airframe structure, with adjacent spillover
Nearly nine in ten records sit in B64C, aeroplanes and helicopters, but small clusters in wind turbines (F03D, 4.1%), drones (B64U, 2.4%) and marine propulsion (B63H, 1.4%) show slat-like leading-edge mechanisms being re-applied outside fixed-wing aircraft.
US and EPO carry the bulk of filing activity
The United States leads receiving offices with 133 records, followed by the EPO at 88 and WIPO PCT filings at 30; Germany, Austria and Canada each register in the twenties. That spread reflects where the leading OEMs and suppliers seek protection first, and where freedom-to-operate checks matter most.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to high lift devices and slat design, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and what is still open
The leader board is short; the tail is long. Momentum data shows most top filers quiet in the latest year, which is expected given publication lag rather than a sign of withdrawal.
A single OEM dominates the ranking
The leading assignee holds 84 records, well ahead of fifth place at 10 and tenth place at 7 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than a crowded, even field.
A cluster of aerospace primes and suppliers
Positions two through five span mainline airframers, an engine and systems supplier, and a specialist actuation-systems vendor, together adding 142 records to the leader's 84 to make up the 61.2% top-five share.
Universities and smaller entrants fill the tail
Beyond the top ten, which together hold 71.8% of records, the remaining assignees in the 85-company ranking file in small numbers — including at least one university and several newer aerospace ventures — pointing to niche mechanism variants rather than platform-scale programmes.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SHERPA AIRCRAFT GROUP INC | 1 | — |
| Airbus Operations GmbH | 0 | -100% |
| The Boeing Co | 0 | — |
| Airbus Operations Ltd | 0 | — |
| City University | 0 | — |
| Airbus UK Ltd | 0 | — |
| Bombardier Inc | 0 | — |
| Rolls Royce PLC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you are scouting freedom to operate or planning where to file.
Check the under-claimed branches first
Slat seal wear compensation, drone retrofits and wind-turbine adaptation carry far fewer records than core slat-track kinematics — a faster path to a defensible first claim than competing head-on with the top five.
Explore white space in EurekaMap the leader's claim boundaries
With 84 records from a single top assignee, any new actuation or droop-nose filing should be checked against that portfolio's independent claims before drafting.
Run a claims comparison in EurekaTrack the co-filing pairs
Repeated OEM-supplier co-assignee pairs signal where joint development agreements are shaping who owns what; watch these pairings for early signs of new platform programmes.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaFrequently asked questions
One assignee leads the field clearly, with 84 of the 369 records in scope — far ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 10 and the tenth-ranked filer at 7. The top five assignees combined hold 226 records, 61.2% of the total, and the top ten hold 265, or 71.8%. This is a leader-plus-long-tail structure: a dominant OEM, a cluster of aerospace primes and suppliers just behind, and 85 ranked companies in total filling out the rest with small counts each.
Filing peaked at 35 records in 2020 and has since settled into a narrower band, moving from 22 records in 2021 to 21 in 2024 — a -5% change over that span, essentially flat rather than declining. Numbers for 2025 and 2026 in any dataset will look lower, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than an actual drop in R&D activity. Treat any year within the last two years as incomplete when judging momentum.
EP4292925A1, filed by Airbus Operations GmbH and published 2023-12-20, claims a support arrangement for a leading-edge high lift device where the support arm itself is configured as a fluid conduit, feeding anti-ice fluid such as pressurised hot air to the device as it moves. It is specifically framed around a droop nose device embodiment. The novelty is the dual mechanical-and-fluid role of the support arm, so a design-around would need to route the fluid supply through a path that is not integral to the load-bearing support structure.
The IPC composition shows B64C, aeroplanes and helicopters, at 87.3% of the 369 records, confirming the core is fixed-wing airframe structure. But smaller shares appear in F03D wind motors (4.1%), B64U drones (2.4%), F15D fluid flow control (1.9%) and B63H marine propulsion (1.4%), showing slat-like leading-edge mechanisms being adapted into wind turbine blades, drone wings, and marine control surfaces. These adjacent classes are lower-density and worth checking before assuming an idea is aircraft-only prior art.
The clearest under-claimed branches sit in slat seal wear compensation, spanwise load redistribution sensing, drone-scale leading-edge slat retrofits, and adaptation of slat-track mechanisms to wind turbine blades — all far less dense than the core actuation-kinematics and droop-nose claims held by the top assignees. These areas combine low record counts with active adjacent-industry interest, based on the IPC spillover into F03D and B64U classes. A first claim there would typically pair a specific sensing or sealing mechanism with the target platform rather than trying to claim a generic slat variant.
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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.