Internal Arc Protection Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five most active filers account for 57.8% of all 64 records in scope, and the ten most active for 78.1% — a short list controls most of the filed claim space.
- Filing has cooled since its 2018 peak. Activity peaked at 6 records in 2018; publication lag means the last year or two will always look thinner than it eventually turns out to be.
- Detection and switchboard claims dominate. H02B (power switchboards & substations) and H02H (protective circuit arrangements) each cover roughly a third of records, while adjacent branches like photovoltaic integration sit under 5%.
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 64 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Internal arc protection covers the sensing, switching and enclosure design used to detect and contain an arc fault inside switchgear before it damages equipment or injures an operator. The dataset behind this page spans 64 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search built around arc-resistant enclosure design, optical arc detection, pressure relief and the operator-safety and test-standard language that typically accompanies arc-fault claims. It is a narrow, well-defined slice of high-voltage switchgear patenting rather than a broad electrical-safety corpus.
Records were pulled from national and PCT filings across the United States, Europe, India, WIPO, Canada and China, then grouped into IPC subclasses so the technology composition can be read independently of who filed. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend line understate real activity and should be read as provisional.
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 64 records: how filing has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran at 3 in 2017, rose to a peak of 6 in 2018, and have tapered since; 2026 shows 0 because the year is only partially published. With fewer than four complete post-lag years to compare, no growth rate can be stated reliably from this window alone.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H02B (power switchboards & substations, 34.4% of records) and H02H (protective circuit arrangements, 32.8%) anchor the field, with H01H switches/relays (20.3%) and H01T spark-gap/arc devices (15.6%) forming a second tier. Semiconductor (H01L), fluid-heating (F24H), grid-supply (H02J) and photovoltaic (H02S) classes each sit at or below 7.8%, marking the field's thinner, more exploratory edges. Records can carry more than one class, so these shares sum to well over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 64 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Internal Arc Protection in Switchgear with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about internal arc protection in switchgear and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Apparatus and method for arc fault protection (US20240063628A1)
A vehicle, arc fault protection device of the vehicle and a method for mitigating an arc fault in an electrical system of the vehicle. The arc fault protection device includes a sensor, a switch, and a processor. The sensor is used for measuring a current in an electrical system. The processor is configured to determine a precursor phase of an arc fault from the current, wherein the precursor phase indicates an onset of an arc flash phase of the arc fault. The processor opens the switch to mitigate the arc fault during the arc flash phase.Filed by GM Global Technology Operations LLC, published 2024-02-22 — notable for framing arc-fault protection around a precursor-phase detection step ahead of the arc-flash event itself.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20120065561A1 | Device, system, and method for the treatment, prevention and diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, deep … | 211 |
| 2 | US20180090914A1 | Medium voltage switchgear enclosure | 89 |
| 3 | US20080239592A1 | Arc flash elimination system, apparatus, and method | 59 |
| 4 | US20140265573A1 | Micro-grid PV system | 56 |
| 5 | US20080239598A1 | Arc Flash Elimination Apparatus and Method | 44 |
| 6 | US7821749B2 | Arc flash elimination apparatus and method | 41 |
| 7 | US20180090913A1 | Medium voltage switchgear enclosure | 37 |
| 8 | US6561604B2 | Arc-resistant switchgear cabinet | 37 |
| 9 | US20140348493A1 | Micro-grid PV system hybrid hot water heater | 33 |
| 10 | US7929260B2 | Arc flash elimination system, apparatus, and method | 30 |
Citation counts reward older filings simply for having been in circulation longer; treat them as a measure of influence within this corpus, not as a signal of which claims matter most today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the concentration, trend and citation data above.
A short list controls most of the claim space
With the five most active assignees holding 57.8% of all 64 records and the top ten holding 78.1%, new entrants are filing into a field where a handful of players have already staked out the core detection and enclosure claims. A freedom-to-operate review should start with those leaders' families, not a broad prior-art sweep.
Activity has cooled from its 2018 high
Filing peaked at 6 records in 2018 and has not returned to that level since, though the 2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag. This looks like a field where the first wave of core claims has been filed and later entrants are working narrower angles.
Enclosure and elimination-system claims anchor prior art
The most-cited switchgear-specific records in this set describe medium-voltage enclosure design and arc-flash elimination systems and methods, both from filings a decade or more old. Their continued citation weight signals foundational claim scope that later filings, including the 2024 vehicle-arc-fault application, still have to design around.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to internal arc protection in switchgear, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking below covers the 25 companies the data endpoint returns for this search — not a top-50 or top-100 list, just the full ranked set for this dataset.
One filer leads a field of 25 ranked companies
The leading assignee holds 11 of the 64 records in scope, well ahead of the field, with fifth place at 5 records and tenth place at just 2 — a steep drop-off that marks a genuine leader rather than a crowded plateau.
Past the top ten, filings thin out fast
Once the top ten assignees are accounted for at 78.1% of all 64 records, the remaining ranked companies are filing in single digits or as one-off entrants. That pattern suits opportunistic or defensive filers more than a sign of broad industry-wide R&D investment.
A small cluster of co-filed inventions
Seven co-assignee pairs appear in the data, with the same three individuals recurring across the strongest links. That points to a compact inventing team behind a cluster of related filings rather than a wide web of corporate partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Schneider Electric Industries SAS | 0 | — |
| POWELL ELECTRICAL SYST INC | 0 | — |
| KREUTZMAN DAVID | 0 | — |
| ABB (Switzerland) Ltd. | 0 | — |
| THRUE CARSTEN | 0 | — |
| LUNDIN LEIF | 0 | — |
| JOHNSON BETHEL IDICULLA | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a settled leadership group and a cooling filing rate — the next steps depend on whether you are clearing a design or scouting for open claim space.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the top filers
Start with the families held by the leading assignees identified in the ranking, since together they cover the large majority of filed claims in this space.
Explore assignee families in EurekaProbe the under-claimed IPC branches
Photovoltaic-integrated and semiconductor-based arc sensing sit well below 10% of records each — worth a targeted search before assuming the space is open.
Search white space in EurekaTrack the next publication window
With 2025-2026 filings still arriving, revisit the trend line in six to twelve months once the publication lag has largely cleared.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaCommon questions on internal arc protection patents
One assignee leads the ranked set of 25 companies with 11 of the 64 records in scope, a clear margin ahead of fifth place at 5 and tenth place at just 2. The top five filers together hold 57.8% of all records, and the top ten hold 78.1%, so most of the filed claim space sits with a small group rather than being spread evenly. Any competitive review of this space should treat that leading group's families as the first stop, not a footnote.
Filing peaked at 6 records in 2018 and has not matched that level since, based on the 2017-2026 trend in this dataset. The 2026 figure shows 0, but that reflects publication lag rather than a real stop in filing, since publication typically trails the underlying filing date by around 18 months. There are not enough complete years since the peak to state a reliable growth or decline rate, so treat the recent slowdown as directional rather than definitive.
The bulk of records sit in H02B (power switchboards and substations, 34.4% of the 64 records) and H02H (protective circuit arrangements, 32.8%), with switches and relays (H01H, 20.3%) and spark-gap or arc devices (H01T, 15.6%) forming a second tier. Smaller shares touch semiconductor devices, fluid heaters, grid-supply systems and photovoltaic integration, each under 8% of records. Because a single patent can carry several IPC classes, these percentages overlap and do not sum to 100%.
The IPC composition shows photovoltaic-integrated arc detection, fluid-heater arc interlocks, semiconductor-based arc sensing and grid-supply arc coordination all sitting under 8% of the 64 records, well behind the switchboard and protective-circuit core. That does not guarantee an easy filing, but it does mean fewer prior filings to design around in those branches compared with the crowded H02B and H02H classes. A workable first claim in one of these areas should tie the arc-detection mechanism explicitly to the adjacent system, such as a PV inverter or a semiconductor sensing element, rather than restating a generic switchgear claim.
US20240063628A1, filed by GM Global Technology Operations LLC and published in February 2024, claims a vehicle arc-fault protection device that identifies a precursor phase ahead of the arc-flash event and opens a switch during that phase. That precursor-detection framing narrows the available claim space for anyone building a similar early-warning arc-fault system in a vehicle electrical context. Companies working outside the vehicle-specific application, or on detection methods that do not rely on identifying a precursor phase before the arc flash, have more room to differentiate.
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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.