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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/solar-heating-and-cooling-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Solar EnergySolar heating and cooling patents: who is filing, what they claim, and where the field is still open
- Filing peaked in 2017 at 38 records and the 2021-to-2024 span (the last complete years) fell 59%, from 32 to 13 — a genuine pullback, not a publication-lag artifact.
- The top 5 assignees hold 25.7% of all 393 records while the top 10 hold 41.0%, leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants across the ranked leaders.
- F24S solar collectors and F25B refrigeration/heat pumps lead the IPC mix at 21.9% and 20.9% of records respectively, with photovoltaic-linked H02S trailing at just 9.7%.
393
Published Records
26%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-59%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (32 records) with 2024 (13) — 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 393 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
This landscape covers 393 published patent records filed against solar thermal heating, solar absorption cooling, and the supporting hardware layer — collectors, absorption chillers, heat transfer fluids, thermal storage, and collector-temperature control — across filings dated 2015 through the 2026-08-31 cut-off. The scope groups both direct thermal-loop hardware claims and the refrigeration and domestic-heating systems that sit downstream of a solar collector, which is why F24S, F25B, and F24D all register as major classes rather than one dominant bucket.
Records here span receiving offices in the United States, Europe, WIPO/PCT, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, giving a reasonably international read on where applicants seek protection rather than just where they are headquartered.
Filing activity by year, 2017–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 393-record dataset: activity over time, and where claims cluster across the IPC subclasses that make up a solar heating or cooling system.
A sharp pullback after the 2017 peak
Filings hit their peak in 2017 at 38 records. Using only the years that can be treated as complete, 2021-to-2024 activity dropped 59%, from 32 records to 13. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not yet be read as continuing that decline.
Collector and refrigeration hardware dominate the class mix
F24S (solar heat collectors) leads at 21.9% of the 393 records, closely followed by F25B (refrigeration and heat pumps) at 20.9% and F24D (domestic heating systems) at 20.1%. Photovoltaic-linked H02S appears in only 9.7% of records, underscoring that this corpus is predominantly thermal rather than PV-adjacent. Records can carry multiple IPC classes, so these shares sum to well over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 393 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 Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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A representative filing and the most-cited prior art
Representative Record
US10253991B2 — In-line heated solar thermal storage collector
TIGI LTD.
A system for solar-assisted water heating that combines a solar collector, heat exchanger, in-line heater and control system across primary and secondary loops. The system measures a transient heat profile in the primary loop while a flow generator is active, then uses that profile alongside current temperature readings to drive solar-assisted heating of water in the secondary loop.Filed by TIGI LTD., granted 2019-04-09.
Most-cited records in this dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100174643A1 | System and method for integrating billing information from alternate energy sources with traditional energy s… | 238 |
| 2 | US4420947A | Heat pump air conditioning system | 186 |
| 3 | US20080086946A1 | Rapid solar-thermal conversion of biomass to syngas | 146 |
| 4 | US20060188433A1 | Metal-oxide based process for the generation of hydrogen from water splitting utilizing a high temperature so… | 77 |
| 5 | US20180238563A1 | System, apparatus and method for efficient use of solar photovoltaic energy | 66 |
| 6 | WO2011150081A2 | Methods and systems using liquid desiccants for air-conditioning and other processes | 56 |
| 7 | US20030041608A1 | Compact solar-powered air conditioning systems | 54 |
| 8 | US9804607B1 | Fluid transfer systems, devices, components, and methods of manufacture | 49 |
| 9 | US20120186281A1 | Methods and systems for desiccant air conditioning using fluids heated or cooled by a solar thermal system | 47 |
| 10 | US6539738B2 | Compact solar-powered air conditioning systems | 46 |
Citation counts favour older records simply by virtue of having had longer to accumulate citations; treat this as a signal of influence within the searched corpus, not of current technical importance.
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 Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for filing decisions
Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are read against each other: where claim space is dense, where the field is genuinely quieter, and where influence in this corpus still traces back to decade-old filings.
Concentration
25.7% / 41.0%
top 5 / top 10 share of 393 records
Filing is concentrated but not locked up
The top 5 assignees account for 25.7% of all 393 records and the top 10 account for 41.0%. That leaves close to 60% of filings spread across a long tail of the remaining ranked leaders, which suggests room for a new entrant to build a defensible position rather than facing a single dominant blocker.
Based on the full 100-assignee ranking.
Momentum
32 → 13
records, 2021 to 2024
A real decline, not a lag artefact — but read the tail years carefully
Filing activity fell 59% between 2021 and 2024, the last span that can be treated as complete under the roughly 18-month publication lag. 2025 and 2026 counts will still rise as later filings publish, so any read of the field's current pace should anchor on 2024, not on the trailing two years.
Peak year across the dataset: 2017 at 38 records.
Technology mix
21.9% F24S
share of 393 records
Collector hardware and refrigeration outweigh PV-linked claims
F24S (collectors), F25B (refrigeration/heat pumps) and F24D (domestic heating) each sit above 20% of records, while H02S (photovoltaic) sits at just 9.7%. Applicants are claiming thermal-loop and chiller mechanics far more than solar-electric integration, which is where the crowding actually is.
Shares sum above 100% because records carry multiple IPC classes.
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solar heating & cooling patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders span utilities-adjacent manufacturers, university research offices and individual inventors, with only a handful of co-assignee relationships suggesting most work here is filed independently rather than through joint ventures.
Leader
37 records
single leading assignee
One clear leader, then a fast drop-off
The leading assignee holds 37 records, well ahead of fifth place at 14 and tenth place at 10. The gap between first and fifth is steep enough that the leader's portfolio is worth checking first for any freedom-to-operate question in this space.
Ranking counted in patent families/records.
Collaboration
10 pairs
co-assignee pairings
Filing here is mostly solo, not joint
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest links involving repeat pairings around a single applicant and named individual inventors. That is a thin collaboration layer for a hardware-heavy field, implying most patenting is done in-house rather than through cross-licensed joint development.
Strongest pairs recur twice each.
Recent momentum
0 in latest year
several previously active assignees
Several formerly active filers have gone quiet
A number of assignees that were active earlier in the window show zero filings in the latest year, a -100% year-on-year swing for at least two of them. Combined with the 2021–2024 decline, this points to consolidation or strategic pause among some of the earlier entrants rather than an evenly distributed slowdown.
Momentum read from year-on-year assignee filing counts.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Rheem Australia Pty Limited | 0 | -100% |
| TRANS ASTRONAUTICA CORP | 0 | -100% |
| JACOBI ROBERT W | 0 | — |
| Intex Holdings Pty Ltd | 0 | — |
| King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | 0 | — |
| Kilfrost Group PLC | 0 | — |
| PLANET A ENERGY INC | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of Colorado | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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 field with a clear leader, a long tail, and specific under-claimed branches. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, whitespace filing, or monitoring.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 37 records against a fifth-place count of 14, any new filing in collector or chiller hardware should first be checked against that leader's claim scope before drafting.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaMap claim language in the under-claimed branches
Absorption chiller working-fluid chemistry and thermal storage phase-change media show lower filing density than core collector claims — a targeted claim-language search will confirm how open they actually are.
Search claim language in EurekaTrack the 2025–2026 publication tail
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true 2025 and 2026 filing counts will keep rising. Revisit the trend once those years are closer to complete before drawing conclusions about a continued slowdown.
Set an alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
This dataset covers 393 published patent records filed between 2015 and the 2026-08-31 cut-off, matched against solar thermal heating, solar absorption cooling, and related hardware terms like solar collector, absorption chiller, heat transfer fluid and thermal storage. The true figure for the field as a whole is larger since this is a defined search scope, not an exhaustive count of every filing worldwide. Patent families are the fairer unit to compare across companies because they neutralise duplicate filings across jurisdictions and continuations of the same invention.
The ranking covers 100 assignees, with the leading company holding 37 records against a fifth-place count of 14 and a tenth-place count of 10. The top 5 assignees combined hold 25.7% of all 393 records, and the top 10 combined hold 41.0%, meaning well over half of the field's filings are spread across a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants. This is a moderately concentrated field rather than one locked up by a single dominant player.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 38 records, and looking only at years that can be treated as complete, the count fell from 32 in 2021 to 13 in 2024 — a 59% decline over that span. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as continuing evidence of decline. The honest read is that the field cooled meaningfully through 2024, with the most recent trend still unresolved.
Solar heat collectors (IPC class F24S) lead at 21.9% of the 393 records, closely followed by refrigeration and heat pump systems (F25B) at 20.9% and domestic heating systems (F24D) at 20.1%. Air conditioning and ventilation (F24F) and fluid/water heaters (F24H) also carry meaningful shares, while photovoltaic-linked filings (H02S) sit at only 9.7%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should not be treated as a strict breakdown of the whole field.
The technology composition data shows collector hardware, refrigeration mechanics and domestic heating systems carrying the heaviest claim density, while branches like absorption chiller working-fluid chemistry, thermal storage phase-change media and collector-temperature adaptive control logic show comparatively lighter filing activity. A thin co-assignee network — only 10 pairings across the entire dataset — also suggests limited joint development activity, which can mean more room for an independent filer to stake out a defensible position in an adjacent branch rather than the crowded collector-and-chiller core.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solar Heating & Cooling Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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.