Phase-Change Thermal Storage QC Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
- Filing has already peaked. Activity crested at 5 families in 2020 and has since declined, with the 2022 midpoint at just 2 — this is a shrinking rather than emerging field by the filing evidence.
- China dominates the receiving offices. 13 of 15 records were filed in China against 2 in Australia, meaning most enforceable rights sit inside one jurisdiction.
- No single assignee is compounding filings. Every tracked institution shows 0 filings in the latest year — this is a field of single-filing entrants, not a repeat-filer's game.
A small, concentrated and cooling field
Phase-change thermal storage quality control sits at the intersection of materials chemistry and process inspection: enthalpy measurement to verify latent-heat capacity, phase-change temperature control to hold a material inside its working window, and encapsulation inspection to catch leakage or shell defects before a unit ships. The corpus behind this page is small — 15 published families over more than a decade — which means every filing carries more weight in defining the state of the art than it would in a crowded field.
The IPC composition confirms where the actual engineering effort has gone: C09K (materials for miscellaneous applications) touches 14 of 15 records, with C08K, C08L and C08J close behind on polymer additive and processing claims. Shaping and inspection hardware — B29C, B29L — appear in only a couple of filings each, suggesting the quality-control apparatus itself is far less claimed than the phase-change material formulations it is meant to verify.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Publication data almost always lags filing by around 18 months, so any dip in the most recent year understates true activity. Even accounting for that lag, the trend here points down rather than up.
Filings peaked in 2020, then declined
From a starting point of 0 in 2017, filings rose to a peak of 5 in 2020, then fell back — the 2022 midpoint of 2 confirms a flat-to-declining pattern rather than a temporary dip.
Materials claims dominate; inspection hardware is thin
C09K covers 14 of 15 records, with C08K, C08L and C08J adding polymer-additive and processing coverage. B29C and B29L, the shaping and plastic-product classes tied to encapsulation hardware, appear in only 2 records each.
Shares are the percentage of the 15 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Phase-Change Thermal Storage Quality Control with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about phase-change thermal storage quality control and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records set the reference points
AU2020101808A4 — Phase-change temperature control material compounded from hybrid fibers
Filed by Qilu University of Technology, this family claims a phase-change temperature control material built from plant fibre pulp and inorganic fibre with a phase-change energy storage agent, a phase-change temperature regulator, a nucleating agent, a thickening stabiliser and a preservative, each specified by mass-percentage range. The stated benefit is a fibre network that relieves supercooling of the phase-change agent and improves cycle performance.Composition claims are defined by mass-percentage ranges across seven ingredient classes — a structure that is straightforward to search around with a different ingredient count or ratio, but harder to avoid if the same seven-component architecture is reused.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN103450531A | 一种相变控温防晒薄膜及其制备方法 | 27 |
| 2 | CN112126208A | 一种相变控温材料及其制备方法 | 13 |
| 3 | CN111394066A | 一种中低温复合相变温控材料及其制备方法 | 10 |
| 4 | CN109181173A | 一种相变控温材料载体的制备方法及其负载相变控温材料的方法 | 6 |
| 5 | CN111574965A | 电子器件相变温控组件相变材料的灌注方法 | 4 |
| 6 | CN215268186U | 一种太阳能电池背板的被动式控温装置 | 3 |
| 7 | AU2020101806A4 | Solid-state temperature control material and preparation method thereof | 3 |
| 8 | AU2020101808A4 | Phase-change temperature control material compounded from hybrid fibers and preparation method thereof | 3 |
| 9 | CN118667519A | 一种夹芯结构的柔性阻燃绝缘型相变材料及其制备方法和应用 | 1 |
| 10 | CN116640285A | 一种基于二硒键的柔性自愈合相变控温材料及其制备方法 | 1 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations inside a searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns matter more than the raw counts: where the claim density actually sits, how concentrated the applicant base is, and how little of the field is being renewed year over year.
Most rights are enforceable only in one jurisdiction
With Australia holding just 2 of 15 records, freedom-to-operate analysis outside China faces a much thinner prior-art wall — but so does enforcement, since most of the documented rights simply do not extend there.
Activity crested and has not recovered
The 2022 midpoint of 2 filings, against a 2020 peak of 5, shows the field cooling rather than consolidating around fewer, stronger filers. New entrants face less recent prior art to design around than the peak year would suggest.
No institution is compounding its position
Every assignee surfaced in the recent-momentum data shows zero filings in the latest year. This is a field built from single or occasional filings rather than a sustained portfolio strategy by any one player.
Materials claims crowd out apparatus claims
Almost every record sits in C09K materials-for-miscellaneous-applications, while the shaping and encapsulation-hardware classes (B29C, B29L) appear in only 2 records each — the inspection and QC apparatus itself is comparatively unclaimed.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to phase-change thermal storage quality control, with the prior art for and against each one.
A field of institutions, not incumbents
No assignee in this corpus shows repeat filing momentum. Chinese universities and research institutes account for most of the activity, alongside a small number of specialty materials companies and one energy-sector co-filing cluster.
Academic and state-institute filers lead by volume, not by pace
Names such as Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Qilu University of Technology appear among the assignees, but none shows any filing in the latest tracked year — activity here reads as episodic research output rather than a defended product line.
Small materials companies co-file rather than compete alone
Jiangsu Jinhe Energy Technology and Nanjing Jinhe Energy Materials appear as a co-assignee pair, pointing to a shared-development structure rather than independent competing filings.
A state oil-engineering group links two separate co-filings
Tianjin CNPC Bohai Engineering Technology appears in co-assignee pairs with both China National Petroleum Ocean Engineering and China National Petroleum Corporation, suggesting internal cross-division collaboration on phase-change thermal storage QC rather than open-market partnership.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 0 | — |
| Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) | 0 | — |
| Suzhou Advance New Materials Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Liaoning Petrochemical University | 0 | — |
| Southwest Jiaotong University | 0 | — |
| Jiangsu Jinhe Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Guilin University of Electronic Technology | 0 | — |
| Guangzhou University | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The filing counts here are small enough that a single new entrant or a single high-citation grant could shift the picture. Two follow-ups are worth prioritising before committing a filing budget.
Run a freedom-to-operate check outside China
With only 2 of 15 records filed in Australia and none flagged elsewhere, a targeted search of other major markets (US, EU, Japan, Korea) may surface additional prior art this corpus does not capture, or confirm the white space extends there too.
Explore Eureka for FTO analysisTrack the co-filing clusters for licensing signals
The Jiangsu Jinhe / Nanjing Jinhe pair and the Tianjin CNPC cluster both suggest internal group filing strategies. Watching whether these clusters expand or add new co-assignees can flag consolidation before it shows up in public deal news.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
This landscape tracks 15 published patent families covering enthalpy measurement QC, phase-change temperature control and encapsulation inspection between 2015 and mid-2026. That is a small corpus by patent-landscape standards, which means individual filings carry more weight in defining the technical baseline than they would in a crowded field. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent year is understated in any count taken today.
The evidence points to decline rather than growth. Filings rose from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 5 in 2020, then fell back to a midpoint of 2 by 2022. Combined with the fact that every tracked assignee shows zero filings in the latest year, this reads as a field that had a short burst of research activity around 2020 rather than one building sustained momentum.
The assignee base is dominated by Chinese universities and research institutes — including Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Qilu University of Technology, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Southwest Jiaotong University and others — alongside a small number of specialty materials firms and an energy-sector co-filing cluster around Tianjin CNPC Bohai Engineering Technology. No single assignee shows repeat, compounding filing activity, so there is no dominant incumbent to benchmark against; the field is better described by its many single-filing entrants than by a leader.
The IPC composition shows materials claims (C09K, C08K, C08L, C08J) heavily outweighing apparatus and inspection-hardware claims (B29C, B29L), which appear in only 2 records each. That imbalance points to under-claimed territory in the actual QC instrumentation — automated enthalpy measurement rigs, in-line encapsulation defect detection and non-destructive leak testing — rather than in the phase-change materials themselves, which are already densely claimed relative to the corpus size.
Yes. Of the 15 records in this corpus, 13 were filed through the Chinese receiving office and 2 through Australia's. That concentration means freedom-to-operate risk is heavily weighted toward Chinese jurisdiction, and any competitor considering the US, EU, Japan or Korea should treat this dataset as a partial view rather than global coverage — a separate jurisdiction-specific search is warranted before committing there.
Research Phase-Change Thermal Storage Quality Control in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole phase-change thermal storage quality control corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.