Melt-Pool Monitoring Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Melt-Pool Monitoring Patents in Laser Powder Bed Fusion
Top 5 hold 66.7% of the field. 226 of 339 records in scope sit with five assignees, and the top 10 combined reach 78.5% — this is a concentrated technology, not a fragmented one. Filings rose from 32 in 2017 to a peak of 59 in 2022, then settled back to 32 in both 2021 and 2024 — a flat three-year span with 0% net change. The 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates, so they should not be read as a slowdown yet.
- 1GENERAL ELECTRIC CO125
- 2CONCEPT LASER43
- 3NIKON SLM SOLUTIONS AG24
- 4LINDE AG21
- 5MONASH UNIV13
See the full metal additive manufacturing — laser-powder-bed melt-pool monitoring patent landscape analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Questions practitioners ask about this field
Who holds the most patents in melt-pool monitoring for metal additive manufacturing?
The ranked assignee list covers 56 companies, and one leader holds 125 of the 339 records in scope — well ahead of the field. The top 5 assignees combined hold 226 records, 66.7% of all records in scope, and the top 10 reach 78.5%. This is a concentrated field: a small number of established additive-manufacturing machine builders and industrial gas or materials firms account for most of the claim space, with a long tail of single-digit filers behind them.
Is patent filing in melt-pool monitoring still growing?
Filing peaked at 59 in 2022 and had returned to 32 by 2024, exactly matching the 2021 level for 0% net change over that three-year span. That reads as a plateau rather than growth or decline. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are understated because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so recent-looking dips should not be interpreted as the technology losing momentum.
What patent classes cover melt-pool and powder-bed monitoring?
The dominant classes are B33Y (additive manufacturing / 3D printing), present on 85.0% of the 339 records, and B22F (powder metallurgy), on 74.6%. B29C (shaping of plastics) appears on 49.3% and B23K (welding, soldering and brazing) on 25.4%. Sensing- and control-specific classes are comparatively thin: G01N material analysis at 10.6%, G02B optics at 8.6%, and G05B control systems at 7.4%. Because records often carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100%.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Metal Additive Manufacturing — Laser-Powder-Bed Melt-Pool Monitoring Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.