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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/hull-air-lubrication-systems-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Ship Propulsion & EfficiencyHull Air Lubrication System Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where Space Remains Open
- 70.9% of all 79 records in scope sit with the top five assignees, so most of the claim space near the core air-lubrication method is already occupied.
- Filings peaked in 2021 at 11 then fell to 4 by 2024, a -64% drop over that span — though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in as publication catches up with filing.
- F24F air-conditioning & ventilation classes cover 46.8% of records well ahead of B63B ships & marine vessels at 15.2%, showing how much of this field is claimed through adjacent air-handling art rather than marine-specific claims.
79
Published Records
71%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-64%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (11 records) with 2024 (4) — 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 79 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the hull air lubrication patent record actually shows
Hull air lubrication reduces frictional drag by injecting a layer of air, or an engineered air cavity, between the hull surface and the surrounding water. The 79 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off and cover everything from bow-vent air delivery to superaerophilic surface coatings that sustain the air layer once it forms. The search string ties the field's marine-specific vocabulary — hull opening, bubble coverage, seakeeping effect — to the operating metrics that determine whether a system pays for itself, chiefly compressor power and net fuel saving.
Because filing activity concentrates around a small number of assignees, the practical question for a new entrant is not whether the core method is claimed — it largely is — but which delivery mechanism, surface treatment, or control scheme still has room. The technology composition data below points to where that room sits.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 79 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 11 in 2021, then declined to 4 by 2024 — a -64% change over that three-year window. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete and should not be read as a continued decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
F24F (air conditioning & ventilation) appears on 46.8% of the 79 records, well ahead of G06Q business/data processing at 21.5% and B63B ships & marine vessels at 15.2%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as coverage, not as a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 79 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 Hull Air Lubrication Systems covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Hull Air Lubrication Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about hull air lubrication systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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Representative filing and most-cited prior art
Representative Filing
System and method for reducing drag on hulls of marine crafts thereby increasing fluid dynamic efficiencies
AIRGLIDE AI, INC.
The filing describes an air lubrication approach that creates and sustains a superaerophilic surface beneath the vessel, supplying air both through bow vents and through perforations in the treated surface itself. The perforated surface is designed to resist wetting of its microscopic structures, which keeps the superaerophilic properties intact and pulls bow-vent air closer to the hull within the boundary layer.Filed by Airglide AI in 2024, this record illustrates the shift from single-source air injection toward surface-treatment methods that sustain the air layer mechanically rather than through continuous compressor output alone.
Most-cited records in this dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140074730A1 | HVAC system remote monitoring and diagnosis | 352 |
| 2 | US20140266755A1 | HVAC system remote monitoring and diagnosis | 332 |
| 3 | US20140262134A1 | HVAC system remote monitoring and diagnosis | 163 |
| 4 | US20150267612A1 | Compressed air energy storage and recovery | 138 |
| 5 | US5187945A | Refrigerated container | 108 |
| 6 | US20150330650A1 | HVAC system air filter diagnostics and monitoring | 100 |
| 7 | US7875173B1 | Ozone generator retrofit apparatus for jetted tubs, spas, and other water circulation facilities | 88 |
| 8 | US20150330861A1 | Current based air filter diagnostics and monitoring | 60 |
| 9 | US9638436B2 | HVAC system remote monitoring and diagnosis | 59 |
| 10 | US20170167744A1 | Adaptive Control for Motor Fan with Multiple Speed Taps | 35 |
Citation counts favour older filings in any searched corpus and should be read as a signal of influence within the dataset, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
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 Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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 filing pattern means for a new entrant
Three findings from the dataset that shape where a design team or an IP team should look next.
Concentration
70.9% of 79 records
held by the top five assignees
Core claim space is largely occupied
With the top five assignees holding 70.9% of all 79 records in scope, and the top ten holding 89.9%, the foundational air-delivery and cavity-formation methods are well covered. New filings are more likely to succeed by claiming a specific mechanism — a surface treatment, a control loop, a retrofit method — than the general concept.
Ranked leaders, 19 companies
Momentum
11 → 4
peak-year filings vs. 2024
Activity has cooled from its 2021 peak, but the trend is incomplete
Filings dropped -64% between the 2021 peak of 11 and the 4 recorded in 2024. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the years closest to the data cut-off understate real activity, and the apparent slowdown should not yet be treated as a settled trend.
Peak year 2021: 11 filings
Technology mix
46.8% F24F
vs. 15.2% B63B
Marine-specific classification is the minority, not the majority
Records classified under F24F air conditioning & ventilation (46.8%) outnumber those under B63B ships & marine vessels (15.2%) by a wide margin, with G06Q data processing at 21.5% also ahead of the marine class. Much of the claim activity in this field is being fought through air-handling and control-system art rather than marine-hull-specific claims.
8 IPC subclasses tracked
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 hull air lubrication systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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
Players
Who is filing, and where the gate sits for new entrants
A small group of assignees accounts for most of the record set, with recent-year activity thinning out even among that group.
Leader
20 records
held by the top-ranked assignee
One assignee holds a clear lead
The leading assignee's 20 records set it well apart from fifth place at 6 and tenth place at 2, indicating a single organisation has pursued this space more systematically than any other filer in the ranking.
Top of 19 ranked assignees
Mid-field
6 records
fifth-place assignee
A moderate mid-tier, then a steep drop
Filing counts fall from 20 at the top to 6 by fifth place and 2 by tenth, meaning most of the ranked assignees hold only a handful of records each — a long tail rather than a broad, even field of competitors.
Tenth place: 2 records
Recent activity
1 filing
in the latest year, across tracked assignees
Recent-year filing has gone quiet even among ranked players
Among the assignees tracked for recent-year momentum, only one recorded a filing in the latest year; the rest, including several established names, show none. That pattern is consistent with the broader post-2021 cooling, but the most recent years are still incomplete due to publication lag.
Latest tracked year
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Airglide AI, Inc. | 1 | — |
| Emerson Electric Co. | 0 | — |
| Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc. (US) | 0 | — |
| Corning Inc. | 0 | — |
| Kongsberg Maritime Finland Oy | 0 | — |
| SIGMA ENERGY STORAGE | 0 | — |
| Qube 4D Ventures Inc. | 0 | — |
| Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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
What's Next
Where to take this next
The dataset points to concentration at the top and thinner coverage in specific mechanical and control sub-areas. The next step is turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map a specific mechanism against the leader's portfolio
Before drafting new claims, check how the top-ranked assignee's 20 records treat air delivery and surface retention, since the general method is already well covered.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the 2024-2026 filings as they publish
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the real trend for the past two years is still forming; set up monitoring rather than relying on the visible count.
Set up filing alerts in EurekaSearch the under-claimed branches before scoping a new filing
Retrofit installation methods and control loops balancing compressor power against net fuel saving show thinner coverage than the core cavity-formation method.
Run a white-space search in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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
FAQ
Common questions on hull air lubrication patents
The dataset ranks 19 companies across the 79 records in scope. Filing is concentrated rather than evenly spread: the top five assignees together hold 70.9% of all records, and the top ten hold 89.9%. That leaves a long tail of assignees with only one or two records each, which is typical for a technology area with a dominant early mover.
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 11 in 2021, then fell to 4 by 2024, a -64% change over that span. However, patent publication typically lags the actual filing date by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete. It is more accurate to say activity cooled after 2021 than to say it is currently declining, since the most recent years have not finished publishing.
Just under half of the 79 records, 46.8%, are classified under F24F, air conditioning and ventilation, ahead of G06Q business and data processing at 21.5% and B63B ships and marine vessels at 15.2%. This shows that a large share of the relevant claim activity runs through general air-handling and control-system art rather than marine-specific hull classifications, which matters when running a freedom-to-operate search — searching B63B alone would miss most of the field.
US20240166305A1, filed by Airglide AI in 2024, describes supplying air through bow vents and through a perforated superaerophilic surface beneath the hull, where the surface resists wetting so it keeps attracting air close to the hull within the boundary layer. It is a representative example of how recent filings combine two air-supply mechanisms rather than relying on a single compressor-fed cavity. Anyone designing a similar dual-source system should review this filing's specific claim language on the surface treatment and vent placement.
The under-claimed areas in this dataset sit around surface-treatment durability, retrofit installation methods for existing hulls, and control logic that balances compressor power against net fuel saving under varying seakeeping conditions. These sub-areas carry meaningfully fewer records than the core air-delivery and cavity-formation methods, which are already well covered by the leading assignees. A new filing is more likely to clear prior art by claiming one of these specific mechanisms than the general air-lubrication concept.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hull Air Lubrication Systems 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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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.