Hydrogen Embrittlement Monitoring Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (2 records) with 2024 (8) — 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 108 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent landscape covers
Hydrogen embrittlement monitoring sits at the intersection of materials science and safety instrumentation: sensors, testing methods and monitoring systems built to catch hydrogen-induced degradation in metals before it causes structural failure. The scope spans 108 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off, covering pipeline transport, corrosion detection, electrolytic production, pressure-vessel storage and rolling-component monitoring. A representative filing, US20200256786A1 from IFP Energies Nouvelles, illustrates the core approach found across much of the corpus: a physical sensor structure paired with a specific measurement mechanism to flag embrittlement risk directly.
The technology composition is broad but uneven — material analysis and testing under G01N accounts for well over a third of all records, while newer branches like digital signal processing and pressure-vessel-specific instrumentation remain comparatively thin. Filing activity has accelerated sharply through the last complete year in the dataset, and the assignee base, while including a handful of repeat filers, remains open enough that leadership has not consolidated.
Filing trends and technology composition
The filing curve and technology mix below are drawn from the 108 records in scope, covering publications from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off.
Filings are accelerating, with the most recent year still incomplete
Annual filings rose from 1 in 2017 to a peak of 17 in 2025, with 8 already recorded in the partial 2026 year. Filing growth between 2021 (2) and 2024 (8) — the last year that can be treated as complete, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months — works out to +300% over that three-year span.
Material testing dominates; pipeline and corrosion monitoring follow
Material analysis and testing (G01N) appears in 38.0% of the 108 records in scope, well ahead of pipeline transport (F17D, 13.9%) and corrosion and metal removal (C23F, 11.1%). Smaller but notable clusters sit in hydrocarbon refining, electrolytic production, structural testing, digital data processing and pressure-vessel monitoring, each in the mid-single digits to 6.5% of records.
Shares are the percentage of the 108 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Hydrogen Safety & Detection: Hydrogen Embrittlement Monitoring Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about hydrogen safety & detection: hydrogen embrittlement monitoring patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim and the most-cited prior art
Sensor for measuring the embrittlement of steels by hydrogen in an aggressive environment
The present invention is a sensor device for assessing risk of hydrogen embrittlement for a given metal in an aggressive environment promoting the penetration of hydrogen into the metal. The sensor is constituted by a metal body comprising a closed cavity connected to a device for measuring pressure.Filed as US20200256786A1, this claim locks down a specific structural pairing: a sealed metal cavity read by a pressure-measuring device, used as the embrittlement-detection mechanism itself.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5863418A | Low-sulfur reforming process | 50 |
| 2 | JP2012181169A | Apparatus and method for monitoring state of rolling component | 48 |
| 3 | US20020179495A1 | Apparatus for hydrocarbon processing | 46 |
| 4 | US20150301010A1 | A device and a method for permeation hydrogen measurements | 33 |
| 5 | JP2012181168A | Apparatus and method for monitoring condition of rolling device | 28 |
| 6 | US5225058A | Control and automatic regulation device for cathodic protection systems in reinforced concrete structures | 26 |
| 7 | US20030146749A1 | Method for monitoring localized corrosion of a corrodible metal article in a corrosive environment | 24 |
| 8 | JP2012180921A | Oil lubrication type rolling device and method of setting threshold for monitoring abnormal concentration of … | 21 |
| 9 | CN109815595A | 油气田井下管柱及井口输气管线硫化氢腐蚀大数据分析方法 | 18 |
| 10 | DE3629704C1 | Corrosion protection for a tension member formed from steel ropes, parallel wire bundles or parallel strand b… | 15 |
Citation counts reflect a searched corpus and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence rather than current commercial relevance.
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.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the filing data signals for R&D and IP strategy
These figures translate the raw filing counts into decisions: where claim space is dense, where growth is real, and where a first mover still has room.
Growth is real, not a publication artefact
Filings rose from 2 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, the last year in the dataset that can be treated as complete once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for. The peak year on record, 2025 at 17, confirms the trend is still climbing even before its own filings have fully published.
Material testing is the crowded core
Material analysis and testing claims sit on the densest prior art in this field, covering more than a third of all records. New sensor-hardware claims filed here need a tight novelty argument against an already-occupied structural design space.
Leadership is contested, not locked in
With 88 companies ranked and the single leader holding only 7 filings, no assignee has built a dominant blocking position. That leaves room for a well-drafted claim to compete even against the most active filers.
Filing activity is led by China, but not exclusively
China accounts for the largest share of receiving-office filings, ahead of the United States (15) and Japan (11), with Europe, India and the UK each contributing single-digit shares. Freedom-to-operate work needs to span at least these six jurisdictions.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to hydrogen safety & detection: hydrogen embrittlement monitoring patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis next
The filing trend and technology composition point to a field that is growing quickly but not yet consolidated. These are the practical follow-ups worth running before committing R&D or filing budget.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading claim structure
The representative record shows how narrow, structure-specific claims can block a sensing approach without covering the whole detection method. Before designing new hardware, map your sensing mechanism against the dominant cavity-and-pressure-device pattern.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches before they fill in
Digital data processing and pressure-vessel-specific instrumentation are thin today, but filing growth of +300% between 2021 and 2024 suggests the crowded classes were once this size too.
Monitor emerging filings in EurekaWatch the assignee base for consolidation
With the top 5 assignees holding just 24.1% of the 108 records, leadership is still open. A sudden jump in one company's filing rate would be an early signal worth tracking.
Set up assignee alerts in EurekaCommon questions about hydrogen embrittlement monitoring patents
Hydrogen embrittlement monitoring covers sensors, methods and systems that detect or measure the degradation hydrogen causes in metals, particularly in pipelines, pressure vessels, electrolyzers and rolling components. Because embrittlement failures are safety-critical and hard to detect visually, patent activity concentrates on instrumentation that can catch the problem before a structural failure occurs. The dataset shows material analysis and testing (G01N) as the largest single technology class, at 38.0% of the 108 records in scope, reflecting how much of this field is built around direct measurement techniques rather than downstream data processing.
The ranking covers 88 companies across the 108 records in scope, with the single leader holding 7 filings and the fifth-ranked assignee holding 4. The top 5 assignees combined account for 24.1% of all 108 records, and the top 10 combined account for 38.9%, which indicates a moderately concentrated field rather than one dominated by a single company. A long tail of single- or low-filing entrants files behind that leading group, spanning industrial, academic and energy-infrastructure organisations.
Yes. Annual filings grew from 1 in 2017 to a peak of 17 in 2025, and filings between 2021 (2) and 2024 (8) — the most recent year that can be treated as complete — grew by +300%. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a plateau or decline. The underlying trend through the last complete year points to sustained, accelerating filing activity rather than a maturing or slowing field.
China leads receiving offices with 40 filings among the 108 records in scope, followed by the United States with 15 and Japan with 11. Europe (EPO), India and the United Kingdom each account for a smaller but meaningful share, at 7, 7 and 6 filings respectively. This spread suggests the technology is being pursued across both established industrial patent offices and jurisdictions building out new hydrogen infrastructure.
The smaller technology classes in this dataset point to under-claimed branches: digital data processing applied to embrittlement detection (G06F, 5.6% of 108 records) and pressure-vessel and gas-storage monitoring (F17C, 4.6%) both sit well behind the dominant material-testing and pipeline classes. This suggests room for claims that combine established physical sensing methods with predictive analytics, or that target embrittlement-specific instrumentation fitted to hydrogen storage vessels rather than storage methods generally. Filers entering these branches face less crowded prior art than those filing directly into G01N or F17D.
Research Hydrogen Safety & Detection: Hydrogen Embrittlement Monitoring Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole hydrogen safety & detection: hydrogen embrittlement monitoring patent landscape corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.