Low-GWP Refrigerants Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 60.4% of all filings sit with five companies. Top 5 combined account for 814 of the 1,348 records in scope — a concentration that leaves the remaining 82 ranked assignees fighting over a much smaller share.
- Filing growth continued through the last complete year. Annual filings rose from 70 in 2021 to 90 in 2024, a 29% increase, even after the 2019 peak of 247 records.
- Materials claims outnumber hardware claims by a wide margin. C09K (materials for misc. applications) covers 54.0% of records versus 37.5% for F25B (refrigeration & heat pumps), showing where the claim pressure actually sits.
Filing growth compares 2021 (70 records) with 2024 (90) — 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 1,348 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the low-GWP refrigerants patent record shows
Low-GWP refrigerants sit at the intersection of chemistry and mechanical system design: a compound claim only matters commercially once it is paired with a compressor, heat exchanger or control scheme that can use it. This dataset spans 1,348 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, drawn from search terms covering low-GWP and low-climate refrigerant compositions alongside working-fluid, thermal-cycle and vapor-compression hardware. Family-level counting is used throughout so that multi-jurisdiction filing strategy does not inflate any single assignee’s apparent output.
The record set skews toward composition and materials claims rather than pure hardware, and toward a small number of assignees who filed early and kept filing. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the final one or two years in any trend chart understate real activity rather than signal a slowdown.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,348 records: how filing volume moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings indexed from 100 in 2017 rose to a peak of 247 in 2019, then eased before recovering to 90 records in 2024 — up 29% from 70 in 2021. The 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under normal publication lag and should not be read as a decline.
IPC subclass composition
C09K (materials for misc. applications) appears on 54.0% of the 1,348 records, ahead of F25B (refrigeration & heat pumps) at 37.5% and C10M (lubricants) at 28.9%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add to more than 100% and should be read against the full record count, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,348 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaA recent filing that shows where hardware claims are heading
Vapor compression systems including liquid refrigerant atomizer, and methods of operating and controlling the same
A vapor compression system includes a compressor including a compression stage for compressing a working fluid, a first heat exchanger downstream from the compressor that receives and cools the working fluid, a second heat exchanger downstream from the first heat exchanger and upstream from the compressor that receives and heats the working fluid, and an accumulator positioned between the second heat exchanger and the compression stage. The accumulator defines an interior volume for containing a vapor phase and a liquid phase of the working fluid, with an inlet from the second heat exchanger and an outlet for the vapor phase.Filed by Copeland LP, published October 2024 — one of the more recent hardware-side filings in this set, focused on atomizer and accumulator geometry rather than refrigerant composition.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2009018117A1 | Compositions comprising fluoroolefins and uses thereof | 156 |
| 2 | WO2008027555A2 | Method for circulating selected heat transfer fluids through a closed loop cycle | 156 |
| 3 | US20060242985A1 | Refrigeration/air-conditioning apparatus powered by an engine exhaust gas driven turbine | 100 |
| 4 | US20160178229A1 | Leak detection unit for refrigerant system | 84 |
| 5 | US20060245944A1 | Cooling apparatus powered by a ratioed gear drive assembly | 77 |
| 6 | US20100193155A1 | Liquid circulation heating system | 75 |
| 7 | WO2019213004A1 | Stabilized fluoroolefin compositions and methods for their production, storage and usage | 73 |
| 8 | US20090314015A1 | Method for circulating selected heat transfer fluids through a closed loop cycle | 72 |
| 9 | US8133407B2 | Sesquiterpene stabilized compositions | 71 |
| 10 | WO2020222864A1 | Stabilized fluoroolefin compositions and methods for their production, storage and usage | 68 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate them inside this corpus — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and citation figures mean for filing strategy
Three figures matter more than the full ranking table: how tight the top of the field is, where citations cluster, and how co-filing pairs signal joint development work.
Five companies hold most of the claim space
The leader alone accounts for 388 records, and the fifth-place assignee still holds 85 — a steep drop-off that continues through tenth place at 43. A new entrant filing composition claims is filing into ground the top five have already covered repeatedly.
Influence clusters in older composition filings
The two most-cited records in this set are both fluoroolefin composition and heat-transfer-fluid filings, cited 156 times each. Because citation counts accumulate over time, this says more about how foundational those early compositions were than about what is being filed today.
Joint filings are rare and concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairs repeat the same handful of organisations — a sign that most low-GWP refrigerant work is filed by a single owner rather than jointly developed.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to low-gwp refrigerants patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
The assignee landscape: a concentrated top and a long tail
The ranking covers 87 companies, counted in records. Filing activity drops sharply after the leading names, and recent-year momentum shows most of the largest historical filers pulling back rather than accelerating.
One filer sets the pace
The leading assignee's record count is more than four and a half times the tenth-place total of 43, making it the single most important name to track for freedom-to-operate work in this space.
The drop-off starts early
By fifth place, record counts have already fallen to 85 — less than a quarter of the leader's total — and the top 10 combined still only reach 80.5% of the full 1,348-record set, leaving real share for the tail.
Recent-year filing has cooled among the largest names
Several of the assignees with the deepest historical filing records show sharp latest-year drops or zero filings in the most recent year tracked. Read this alongside the 18-month publication lag rather than as a definitive retreat from the space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Chemours Co FC LLC | 1 | -94% |
| Honeywell International Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Daikin Industries Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corp | 0 | — |
| The Lubrizol Corp | 0 | — |
| Carrier Corp | 0 | — |
| E I du Pont de Nemours & Co | 0 | — |
| RPL Holdings Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe the shape of the field. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific assignees.
Map claims against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 388 of 1,348 records, any new composition or system filing benefits from a direct claim-by-claim comparison against that portfolio before drafting.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the thinner IPC branches
B60H (5.1% of records) and H02P (3.9%) carry far fewer filings than C09K or F25B, which may mean less prior art to design around in vehicle and motor-control integration.
Run a white-space search in EurekaWatch momentum, not just totals
Latest-year filing drops among several top historical assignees could mean a pause, a pivot to trade secret, or simply publication lag. Either way it is worth monitoring quarter to quarter.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about the low-GWP refrigerants patent landscape
One assignee leads this dataset with 388 of the 1,348 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 85 records and the tenth at 43. The top five companies combined hold 60.4% of all records, so the field is concentrated rather than evenly spread. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should start with that leader's portfolio before looking at the rest of the ranked list of 87 companies.
Filing activity peaked in 2019 at 247 records and eased afterward, but the most recent complete year shows renewed growth: 2024 filings reached 90, up 29% from 70 in 2021. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look low only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, not because activity has actually stopped. Read the last one to two years of any trend chart with that lag in mind.
The largest single IPC subclass is C09K, covering materials for miscellaneous applications, present on 54.0% of the 1,348 records, followed by F25B for refrigeration and heat pumps at 37.5% and C10M for lubricants at 28.9%. Smaller subclasses include F24F for air conditioning and ventilation, B60H for vehicle heating and A/C, and H02P for motor and generator control. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages sum to more than 100%.
The thinner IPC subclasses relative to the core materials and refrigeration classes include B60H (vehicle heating and A/C, 5.1% of records), H02P (motor and generator control, 3.9%) and F25D (refrigerators and cooling, 2.3%). These lower record counts suggest system-integration and control claims are less densely staked out than composition claims. Co-assignee filing is also rare, with only 10 pairs identified across the whole dataset, indicating limited joint development activity to date.
The United States receives the most filings in this dataset at 331 records, followed by the European Patent Office at 297 and WIPO's PCT route at 109. Germany, India and Australia follow at 73, 72 and 64 records respectively. This spread reflects the major markets where low-GWP refrigerant chemistry and hardware need regulatory and commercial clearance.
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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.