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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/shell-and-tube-exchanger-vibration-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Heat ExchangersShell and Tube Exchanger Vibration Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Is Heading
- Concentrated at the top. the ranked leader holds 36 records and the top 5 combined account for 50.3% of all 181 records in scope.
- Filing accelerated sharply. from 1 record in 2021 to 14 in 2024, a +1300% rise over that three-year span, before the most recent two years understate activity due to publication lag.
- Two IPC classes dominate equally. F28D and F28F each cover 47.5% of the 181 records, with B01J process/catalysis claims a distant third at 18.2%.
181
Published Records
50%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+1300%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (14) — 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 181 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
Shell and tube exchanger vibration is a narrow but persistent filing area covering fluid elastic instability, vortex shedding, helical baffle geometry, tube support plate design and tube-to-tubesheet integrity. The 181 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off and cluster around mechanical countermeasures to flow-induced vibration rather than thermal performance alone. Filing behaviour here tracks refinery, petrochemical and steam-generation capacity cycles more closely than it tracks general heat-exchanger R&D, since tube bundle failure is a maintenance and safety cost, not just an efficiency one.
The dataset draws on a targeted search combining shell-and-tube and tube-bundle-vibration terms with the specific mechanisms — fluid elastic instability, vortex shedding, helical baffle, tube support plate, shell-side flow and tube-to-tubesheet — that separate genuine anti-vibration engineering from general exchanger claims.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 181 records: how filing volume moved year on year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Volume rose from 5 records in 2017 to a peak of 15 in 2018, dipped to a low of 1 in 2021, then climbed to 14 by 2024 — a +1300% swing across that three-year recovery. 2025 and 2026 read low because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months; treat the last two bars as incomplete, not as a slowdown.
IPC subclass composition
F28D (heat-exchange apparatus) and F28F (heat-exchanger details) each appear in 47.5% of the 181 records, confirming that most filings target exchanger hardware directly rather than downstream process integration. B01J, B01F, C02F and F24H each sit in the 6.6%-8.8% band, marking smaller but real footholds in catalysis, mixing, water treatment and fluid heating applications of the same anti-vibration mechanisms.
Shares are the percentage of the 181 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about shell and tube exchanger vibration and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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Representative and most-cited filings
Representative filing
Anti-vibration tube support plate arrangement for steam generators
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY LLC
A means of offsetting semi-circular tube support plates typically present in heat exchangers with cross flow baffles, such as axial flow economizers, utilizing the motive force of steam generator pressurization. The offset slightly flexes the tubes, thereby providing a preload which minimizes the potential for tube vibration and wear.Filed by Westinghouse Electric, this record targets steam-generator tube support plates specifically — a narrower mechanical claim than general shell-side baffle patents.
Most-cited records in this landscape
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7658891B1 | Air purification and decontamination for hazmat suits | 187 |
| 2 | US20110318237A1 | Ultraviolet reactor baffle design for advanced oxidation process and ultraviolet disinfection | 71 |
| 3 | US20010040024A1 | High performance heat exchangers | 66 |
| 4 | US20190101336A1 | Heat exchangers in a petrochemical plant or refinery | 48 |
| 5 | WO2009148822A2 | Vertical combined feed/effluent heat exchanger with variable baffle angle | 42 |
| 6 | US20180283812A1 | Detecting and correcting vibration in heat exchangers | 38 |
| 7 | US20090301699A1 | Vertical combined feed/effluent heat exchanger with variable baffle angle | 36 |
| 8 | US5933931A | Turbulence-induced hyrdroenhancing for improved enhancing efficiency | 35 |
| 9 | US7044711B2 | Helical device for conversion of fluid potential energy to mechanical energy | 33 |
| 10 | US6960333B2 | High performance heat exchangers | 32 |
Citation counts favour older records inside this corpus and should be read as a signal of influence, not current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the IPC composition are read together.
Concentration
50.3% of 181
top 5 combined share
A handful of filers hold half the field
The top 5 assignees account for 50.3% of all 181 records, with the leader alone holding 36. That leaves a long tail across the remaining ranked companies, most of them holding single-digit counts, which points to a field where a few established players set the mechanical baseline and everyone else files around specific niches.
Ranked leaders, not a top-50 or top-100 cut.
Momentum
+1300%
2021 → 2024 growth
Filing recovered fast after a 2021 trough
Volume fell to a single record in 2021 before climbing to 14 by 2024, a +1300% rise over three years. That is a sharper recovery than the 2018 peak of 15 might suggest was likely, and it signals renewed engineering attention to tube vibration failure modes rather than a one-off spike.
2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
Composition
47.5% / 47.5%
F28D and F28F share
Hardware claims outweigh process claims
F28D and F28F each cover 47.5% of the 181 records, meaning the bulk of filing effort goes into exchanger and baffle hardware itself. B01J process and catalysis claims trail at 18.2%, and water treatment, mixing and boiler-specific applications each sit near 8.8%, marking smaller footholds rather than crowded territory.
Shares exceed 100% because records can carry multiple IPC classes.
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Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to shell and tube exchanger vibration, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing and where the gates sit
The ranking spans 46 companies; the top 10 combined hold 74.0% of the 181 records, leaving a long tail of single-digit filers working narrower mechanical variations.
Leader
36 records
top-ranked assignee
One filer sets the pace
The top-ranked assignee holds 36 of the 181 records, well ahead of fifth place at 12 and tenth place at 6. That gap suggests a company with an established anti-vibration baffle or tube-support platform that others are filing incrementally around rather than displacing outright.
Counted in records, not families beyond the 181 in scope.
Depth
74.0% of 181
top 10 combined share
Ten companies cover three-quarters of the field
The top 10 combined account for 74.0% of all 181 records, meaning the remaining 36 ranked companies split the last quarter between them. New entrants are more likely to find open ground in application-specific niches than in core baffle or tube-support geometry.
Ranked assignees only; this is the full ranking returned, not a top-50 cut.
Collaboration
7 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Co-filing is limited and inventor-anchored
Only 7 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest repeated pairings link a single corporate assignee with named individual inventors rather than joint ventures between companies. That points to filing being handled largely in-house rather than through cross-company R&D agreements.
Pair counts reflect shared filings, not licensing or citation links.
Recent-year filing momentum by leading assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Lummus Technology | 0 | — |
| Cockerill Maintenance & Ingenierie (CMI) | 0 | — |
| Fluid Quip Inc | 0 | — |
| Rohm and Haas Company | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | 0 | — |
| Westinghouse Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| DIMENSIONAL ENERGY INC | 0 | — |
| John Cockerill SA | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated but still-moving field. Two follow-ups matter most for a team deciding where to file next.
Check the white space chips against your own claim drafts
The under-claimed sub-areas listed above are lighter in this 181-record set relative to core baffle and tube-support filings, not empty. Run a targeted search on the specific mechanism before assuming open ground.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the top-ranked assignee's recent filings
With 36 records and the largest share of the top 5's 50.3%, the leader's next filings will likely define where the mechanical baseline moves. Recent-year momentum for the leading names currently reads at zero, which is consistent with publication lag rather than a stop in filing.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads with 36 of the 181 records in this landscape, and the top 5 assignees combined hold 50.3% of all records. The remaining 41 ranked companies split the rest, with fifth place at 12 records and tenth place at 6, showing a steep drop-off after the leading handful. This concentration suggests the leader has built a broad anti-vibration platform that smaller filers work around rather than compete with directly.
Filing grew sharply, rising from 1 record in 2021 to 14 in 2024, a +1300% increase over three years, after an earlier peak of 15 in 2018. The 2025 and 2026 figures look low but should not be read as a slowdown: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so recent years are still filling in. Based on the 2021-2024 trajectory, activity was accelerating heading into the most recent complete filing year.
Fluid elastic instability is a flow-induced vibration mechanism where cross-flow velocity past a tube bundle exceeds a critical threshold, causing self-sustaining tube oscillation that can lead to fatigue failure or tube-to-tube collision. It is one of the core search terms behind this landscape alongside vortex shedding, helical baffle design and tube support plate geometry. Claims addressing it typically cover baffle spacing, support plate offset or bundle geometry changes that raise the critical velocity threshold.
F28D (heat-exchange apparatus) and F28F (heat-exchanger details) each appear in 47.5% of the 181 records, making them the dominant classes by a wide margin. B01J, covering chemical and physical processes including catalysis, follows at 18.2%. Smaller classes such as B01F, C02F and F24H each sit around 8.8%, showing where the same vibration-control mechanisms get applied to mixing, water treatment and fluid heating equipment respectively.
Relative to the dense core of baffle and tube-support-plate claims, lighter-filed branches include helical baffle angle optimisation, tube-to-tubesheet joint integrity under cyclic load, and shell-side flow-induced fatigue monitoring. These are not empty categories but they show less density than the core mechanical countermeasures in this 181-record set. Anyone considering filing there should still run a targeted search on the specific mechanism, since low visibility in this dataset does not guarantee no prior art exists elsewhere.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Shell and Tube Exchanger Vibration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.