Organic Rankine Cycle Patents: Filing Trends and Where the Claim Space Is Still Open
One assignee holds 11 of the 42 records in scope while the fifth-ranked and tenth-ranked entrants sit at just 4 and 2 — a steep drop-off after the leader rather than a broad, even field. Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 10 in 2022, then declined; the evidence records a -100% swing from 2021 (1 record) to 2024 (0 records) over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounted because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so the apparent drop after 2022 should not be read as the field cooling off.
- 1DOTY SCIENTIFIC INC11
- 2VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK NV (VITO)9
- 3PINTAIL POWER LLC6
- 4CUMMINS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INC4
- 5LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NAT SECURITY LLC4
See the full organic rankine cycle systems 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
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most organic Rankine cycle patents?
Within this 42-record dataset, one assignee leads with 11 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 4 and the tenth-ranked filer at 2. That gap means a single company's portfolio is the natural starting point for any competitive or freedom-to-operate review in this space. The ranking covers 15 companies total, so it is a focused list rather than an exhaustive market census.
Is organic Rankine cycle patent filing activity growing or shrinking?
Filing activity rose to a peak of 10 records in 2022, then declined toward the 2026 data cut-off, with the evidence showing a -100% swing between 2021 (1 record) and 2024 (0 records). However, publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete. Treat 2024 as the most recent year with a reliable count, and be cautious about calling the field slower based on the last one to two years alone.
What technology areas dominate organic Rankine cycle patents?
Steam and thermal power plant classifications (F01K) dominate at 40.5% of the 42 records, followed by gas-turbine plants (F02C) at 23.8% and steam generation and boilers (F22B) at 19.0%. Internal-combustion engine integration and gas liquefaction each appear in smaller but consistent shares. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to a whole.
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 Organic Rankine Cycle Systems 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.