HVDC Modular Multilevel Converter Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (314 records) with 2024 (285) — 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 4,483 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) technology underpins most modern high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission schemes, replacing the two-level and thyristor-based topologies of earlier HVDC generations with stacks of series-connected converter cells. This landscape covers 4,483 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, searched on modular multilevel converter terminology across titles, abstracts and claims. It maps who is filing, what parts of the converter stack they are claiming, and which jurisdictions are absorbing the volume.
The dataset spans grid operators, converter equipment manufacturers, and university research groups, with filings concentrated in China's receiving office by a wide margin over the US, European and PCT routes. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate actual filing activity.
Filing trends and technology composition
Filing volumes, IPC composition, and receiving-office distribution for the 4,483 records in scope. Because a single record can carry several IPC subclasses, composition shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filings rose to a 2020 peak, then settled into a lower plateau
Filings climbed from 376 in 2017 to a peak of 421 in 2020, then eased to 314 by 2021 and 285 by 2024 – a -9% move over that three-year span. 2024 is the last year in this dataset that can be treated as complete; 2025 and 2026 figures will continue to fill in as publication catches up with filing.
Power conversion claims dominate; grid integration is the clear second axis
H02M (power conversion) appears in 74.8% of the 4,483 records, confirming that converter-cell and topology claims are the primary battleground. H02J (power supply and grid systems) follows at 36.9%, while protective circuitry (H02H, 7.5%), measurement (G01R, 5.8%) and control software (G06F, 5.1%) are present but far less contested – control-side and protection-side claims occupy noticeably less filed space than the core power-conversion hardware.
Shares are the percentage of the 4,483 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on High-Voltage Direct Current: Modular Multilevel Converter Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Parallel modular multilevel converters and protection system (AU2014314061A1, ABB Technology)
The filing describes a converter arrangement combining at least two modular multilevel converters, each built from converter branches of series-connected cells with capacitors and semiconductor switches. Branches from separate converters connect via shared branch connection points, and the arrangement includes a protection scheme for the parallel configuration.Abstract text is reproduced from the published filing and may be truncated.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5933339A | Modular static power converter connected in a multi-level, multi-phase, multi-circuit configuration | 207 |
| 2 | US20130030239A1 | Magnetic stimulation having a freely selectable pulse shape | 153 |
| 3 | US20150124506A1 | Modular converter with multilevel submodules | 115 |
| 4 | JP2011182517A | Power converter | 109 |
| 5 | CN101795057A | 无需辅助直流电源的三相模块化多电平换流器启动方法 | 104 |
| 6 | US20140129195A1 | Real time dynamic physics simulation device of flexible DC transmission system | 93 |
| 7 | JP2012044839A | Power converter | 92 |
| 8 | US6798677B2 | Modular power converter | 90 |
| 9 | CN103197241A | 柔性直流输电MMC换流阀运行试验装置及试验方法 | 89 |
| 10 | CN101854061A | 一种三相模块化多电平换流器环流抑制方法 | 88 |
Citation counts favour older records that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence rather than of current technical importance.
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.
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Four read-throughs from the concentration, composition and geographic figures above, aimed at where to file, who to watch and what to leave alone.
Leadership is concentrated but not closed
The top 5 assignees account for 26.1% of all records and the top 10 for 39.8%, leaving roughly 60% of filings spread across the rest of a 100-company ranked field. That is a meaningful lead cluster, not a monopoly – new entrants are still filing at volume alongside the incumbents.
The converter-cell topology is the crowded zone
Three-quarters of records touch H02M power conversion, meaning core cell topology, switching arrangement and branch configuration claims sit on dense prior art. Adjacent classes – H02H protection at 7.5%, G06F control logic at 5.1%, B60L EV propulsion at 1.5% – carry far fewer filings relative to the same 4,483-record base.
Volume has plateaued after its 2020 peak
Filings peaked at 421 in 2020 and eased to 285 by 2024, a -9% move over that three-year window. That is a cooling from peak intensity, not a retreat from the technology – HVDC deployment continues, and 2025-2026 figures will rise as publication catches up with recent filing.
Filing volume is heavily weighted toward China
China's receiving office accounts for 2,109 records, well ahead of the United States (576), the EPO (552), WIPO/PCT (347), India (187) and Germany (153). Strategies built only around US and European filing will miss the bulk of where MMC claim activity is actually being staked out.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to high-voltage direct current: modular multilevel converter patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Go deeper on a specific question
The figures above describe the field as a whole. For a specific claim, competitor set or filing gap, Patsnap Eureka can trace the same dataset down to individual claims and citations.
Check freedom-to-operate before filing
Run a specific converter-cell or branch-connection design through the most-cited prior art and the leading assignees' active claims to see what is already blocked.
Explore in EurekaTrack a specific competitor's filing pattern
Follow how a named assignee's filings move across IPC classes and receiving offices year over year, rather than reading the aggregate trend.
Explore in EurekaIdentify under-claimed branches for a new filing
Compare thinly-filed IPC subclasses like control software or protection circuitry against the dense H02M core to find where a first claim has more room.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions about MMC patent activity
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies counted by patent family, and it is a long list rather than a two-player race. The leading assignee holds 287 records, with the fifth-ranked holder at 147 and the tenth at 104, and together the top 5 account for 26.1% of all 4,483 records in scope while the top 10 account for 39.8%. The field includes grid operators, converter equipment manufacturers and university research institutes, so no single company controls the technology outright – roughly 60% of filings sit outside the top 10.
Filings peaked at 421 records in 2020 and have since settled lower, with 314 filed in 2021 and 285 in 2024 – a -9% change over that three-year span. That is a real cooling from the 2020 peak, but it should not be read as the technology declining, since HVDC deployment using MMC topology continues worldwide. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as publication catches up with recent filing activity, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
Power conversion circuitry, classified under IPC H02M, appears in 74.8% of the 4,483 records in scope, making converter-cell topology and switching arrangements the most densely claimed territory. Grid-system integration, under H02J, follows at 36.9%. Protective circuit arrangements, measurement systems, and control software each appear in well under 10% of records, suggesting these adjacent functions carry comparatively less claim density relative to the core converter hardware.
China's receiving office accounts for 2,109 of the records in this dataset, far ahead of any other jurisdiction. The United States follows with 576, the European Patent Office with 552, WIPO's PCT route with 347, India with 187, and Germany with 153. Any competitive or freedom-to-operate review limited to US and European filings alone would be working from a small fraction of the total documented activity.
AU2014314061A1, assigned to ABB Technology and published in 2016, describes a converter arrangement built from at least two modular multilevel converters, each with branches of series-connected cells containing capacitors and semiconductor switches, where branches from separate converters connect through shared branch connection points with an associated protection scheme. It is a representative filing rather than the single most-cited record in this dataset, but its claim structure – parallel MMC branches sharing connection points – illustrates a common architectural pattern that later filings in the corpus build on or design around. Anyone filing a new parallel-converter or shared-branch protection scheme should check this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
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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.