PEMFC Durability Freeze/RH Cycling Patent Snapshot
The indexed corpus for PEMFC durability under freeze and relative-humidity cycling is highly concentrated, with Audi AG and UTC Power Corp together accounting for the majority of ranked patent records. Filing activity visible in this corpus is confined to a single year in the trend window, reflecting either a narrow search scope or severe publication lag in recent periods.
Audi AG leads a highly concentrated, specialist field
Audi AG ranks first among the top hundred filers with 5 patent records, followed by UTC Power Corp with 4 patent records. The top five filers collectively hold 63% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, signalling a field dominated by a small cluster of specialists rather than broad industry participation.
The tier gap between the top two entities and the remaining ranked applicants is sharp: the third through tenth positions each carry only 1–2 patent records, indicating that no mid-tier challenger has yet built a meaningful portfolio in this specific sub-domain.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audi AG | 5 | |
| 2 | UTC Power Corp | 4 | |
| 3 | CHEUNG MAN YIU | 2 | |
| 4 | JAYNE DAVID D | 2 | |
| 5 | HAGANS PATRICK L | 2 | |
| 6 | YI JUNG S | 2 | |
| 7 | POPOVICH NEIL A | 2 | |
| 8 | REISER CARL A | 2 | |
| 9 | United Technologies Corp | 2 | |
| 10 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 1 |
The leadership positions of Audi AG and UTC Power Corp imply that durability improvements under freeze and RH cycling conditions have been driven primarily by an OEM with direct vehicle-integration concerns and a specialist fuel-cell power-plant developer, rather than by academic or government laboratories.
The most recent approximately 18–24 months of filings are subject to publication lag and are likely under-represented; the apparent absence of filings after 2017 in this corpus should not be read as a cessation of activity.
Narrow filing window and single-class technology concentration
The annual trend and technology-composition charts together characterise this as a tightly scoped corpus: activity is recorded only in 2017 within the visible window, and all records map to a single IPC class.
Annual filing trend
Only 2017 registers activity in the trend window; all subsequent years show zero. This almost certainly reflects the narrow scope of the indexed corpus and the 18–24-month publication lag for recent filings rather than a genuine halt in research activity. Interpret the flat post-2017 line as a data artefact, not a market signal.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Every record in the corpus is classified under H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells), with no distribution across adjacent IPC classes. This uniform classification confirms that the indexed patents address fuel-cell stack and system performance directly, with no visible spillover into, for example, thermal management materials or control-system electronics.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Evaporatively cooled hybrid PEM fuel cell power pl…
A PEM fuel cell power plant includes fuel cells, each of which has a cathode reactant flow field plate which is substantially impermeable to fluids, a coolant source, and a fluid permeable anode reactant flow field plate adjacent to said coolant source. The anode reactant flow field plates pass coolant from the coolant sources into the cells where the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Non-circulating coolant PEM fuel cell power plant … | 10 |
| 2 | Non-circulating coolant PEM fuel cell power plant … | 9 |
| 3 | Maintaining and restoring PEM fuel cell performanc… | 8 |
| 4 | Evaporatively cooled hybrid PEM fuel cell power pl… | 4 |
| 5 | Evaporatively cooled hybrid PEM fuel cell power pl… | 2 |
| 6 | Evaporatively cooled hybrid PEM fuel cell power pl… | 2 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Audi AG
Audi AG holds 5 patent records, the highest count among ranked filers, with technology focus concentrated in H01M 8 (fuel cells). As a vehicle OEM, Audi’s position reflects integration-level durability concerns — ensuring stack survival through cold-start freeze cycles relevant to passenger-car deployment. Momentum data for Audi AG is not available in the current evidence set.
patent records: 5UTC Power Corp
UTC Power Corp holds 4 patent records and shows the broadest technology spread among top filers, with primary focus on H01M 8 (fuel cells) and secondary coverage of H01M 4 (electrodes). As the hub of all recorded co-filing collaborations, UTC Power Corp drove multi-inventor development programmes spanning evaporative cooling and non-circulating coolant architectures. Momentum data is not available in the current evidence set.
patent records: 4Frequently asked questions
Audi AG leads the ranked corpus with 5 patent records, followed by UTC Power Corp with 4. All other ranked applicants hold 2 or fewer records each.
The top five filers account for 63% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating a highly concentrated field with a steep drop-off after the top two applicants.
The United States leads with 6 patent records, followed by WIPO (PCT) with 4. No Asian or European national-office filings appear in the current corpus.
UTC Power Corp is the hub of all nine recorded co-filing pairs, each appearing twice, with co-inventors including Darling Robert, Perry Michael, Cheung Man Yiu, Hagans Patrick L, Jayne David D, Popovich Neil A, Reiser Carl A, Resnick Gennady, and Yi Jung S.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are typically under-counted due to publication lag, and the narrow scope of this corpus means only a single year registers activity in the visible window. The flat post-2017 line should not be interpreted as a genuine halt in research or commercial development.
All records in the corpus are classified under H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells), with H01M 8 (fuel cells) as the primary sub-class and H01M 4 (electrodes) appearing as a secondary focus for UTC Power Corp and associated inventors.
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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.
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