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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/solid-state-circuit-protection-and-hybrid-breakers-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Low-Voltage SwitchgearSolid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breaker Patents
- 60.8% of filings sit with five assignees. 115 of 189 records in scope belong to the top five, a concentration that makes freedom-to-operate checks against a short list far more useful than a broad landscape scan.
- Filings peaked in 2019 at 52 records. activity has cooled since, with 2021's 21 records dropping to 6 by 2024 — a -71% swing over three years, though 2025-26 figures are still filling in under publication lag.
- H01H and H02H dominate, everything else trails. switches/relays and protective circuit arrangements each cover roughly half the corpus, while power conversion, grid systems and measurement classes sit in single digits — a sign of where claim space is still open.
189
Published Records
61%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-71%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (21 records) with 2024 (6) — 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 189 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 189 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine solid state or hybrid breaker terminology with specific technical elements: silicon carbide devices, commutation path design, on-state loss, DC breaking, snubber design and response time. The search string is deliberately narrow, so the field it maps is the intersection of fast semiconductor-assisted interruption with the circuit design problems that make it work in practice, not the broader switchgear category.
Filing activity is concentrated both technically and organizationally. A small number of assignees account for most of the volume, and two IPC subclasses — switches/relays and protective circuit arrangements — appear in a majority of records. The practical reading is that core interruption mechanics are well claimed, while adjacent integration problems (power conversion, grid-level supply, measurement and control) are comparatively open.
Filing trend and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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
The Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 189 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records fall into. Because a single record can carry several classes, the composition shares add up to more than 100%.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 52 records in 2019, then declined; 2021's 21 records fell to 6 by 2024, a -71% change over that span. 2025 and 2026 counts (down to 1 in 2026) are undercounts caused by publication lag rather than a real drop-off, since publication trails filing by roughly 18 months.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H01H (switches & relays) appears in 59.3% of the 189 records and H02H (protective circuit arrangements) in 51.3%, together forming the technical core. H02M power conversion, H02J grid systems, H03K pulse/logic circuits, and the measurement-related G01S, G05F and G01R classes each cover under 13% of records, marking the thinner, less-claimed periphery.
Shares are the percentage of the 189 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 Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about solid state circuit protection and hybrid breakers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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Most-cited records in the corpus
Representative Filing
EP3931851B1 — Hybrid protective switch, hybrid switching system and switching method
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Filed by Siemens Aktiengesellschaft and granted with a 2024-02-28 date, this record describes a hybrid switching arrangement combining mechanical and semiconductor switching elements with a defined switching method — the pairing of hardware architecture and method claims typical of the strongest filings in this space.Original title filed in German; translation shown for reference.
Highest-citation records
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20050012395A1 | Integrated closed loop control method and apparatus for combined uninterruptible power supply and generator s… | 228 |
| 2 | US5584619A | Method of and arrangement for preventing accidents during operation of a manually-operated machine tool with … | 147 |
| 3 | US20030183838A1 | Solid-state DC circuit breaker | 101 |
| 4 | US20080088183A1 | Integrated Closed Loop Control Method and Apparatus for Combined Uninterruptible Power Supply and Generator S… | 87 |
| 5 | US20120218676A1 | Hybrid Circuit Breaker | 75 |
| 6 | US5216352A | Solid state current controlled interruption system | 68 |
| 7 | US7701087B2 | Integrated closed loop control method and apparatus for combined uninterruptible power supply and generator s… | 61 |
| 8 | US9659721B1 | Circuit breakers with integrated safety, control, monitoring, and protection features | 46 |
| 9 | WO2004054065A1 | Uninterruptable power supply and generator system | 44 |
| 10 | US6952335B2 | Solid-state DC circuit breaker | 42 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations; treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current commercial 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 Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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 strategy
Three patterns stand out once concentration, timing and technology composition are read together.
Concentration
60.8%
of 189 records held by top 5
A short list, not a crowded field
With 115 of 189 records held by five assignees, and 142 (75.1%) held by ten, freedom-to-operate work in this space is a targeted exercise against a known set of portfolios rather than an open-ended search.
Top 10 = 75.1% of records in scope
Momentum
-71%
2021 to 2024 filing change
Volume has cooled from its 2019 peak
The 52-record peak in 2019 was not sustained; 2021's 21 filings fell to 6 by 2024. Recent-year figures across the leading assignees show flat or zero activity in the latest tracked year, though this partly reflects publication lag rather than abandonment of the space.
Peak year: 2019 at 52 records
Technology mix
59.3% / 12.2%
H01H vs H02M share of records
Core interruption mechanics are dense; conversion and grid integration are not
Switches/relays (H01H, 59.3%) and protective circuit arrangements (H02H, 51.3%) dominate the corpus. Power conversion (H02M, 12.2%), grid systems (H02J, 7.9%) and measurement classes (G01R, 4.2%) trail well behind, indicating where integration-level claims remain comparatively thin.
8 IPC subclasses tracked across 189 records
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solid state circuit protection and hybrid breakers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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 holds the claims
The ranking covers 49 companies as returned by the data endpoint — the whole ranked list, not a top-50 or top-100 cut. The leader holds 75 records; by fifth place that figure is 8, and by tenth place, 4, which is why the top-5 and top-10 concentration numbers matter more here than any single company's count.
Leader
75 records
leading assignee
One filer sets the pace by a wide margin
The top-ranked assignee holds 75 of the 189 records in scope, well ahead of fifth place at 8 — a gap that suggests the leader's portfolio is the first stop for any competitive or licensing review in this field.
Leader vs 5th place: 75 vs 8
Long tail
49 companies
ranked assignees
A steep drop after the top ten
Filings fall off quickly outside the top ten, which together hold 75.1% of records. The remaining 39 ranked assignees split the rest, typically with small, specific filings rather than broad platform claims.
Top 10 = 142 of 189 records
Co-filing
10 pairs
co-assignee relationships
Collaboration is limited and mostly internal
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairings linking a corporate assignee to a named inventor or linking two university research groups, rather than cross-company joint filings.
Strongest pairs recur at 3 shared records
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Eaton Intelligent Power Limited | 0 | -100% |
| Xi'an Jiaotong University | 0 | — |
| Square D Co | 0 | — |
| Drexel University | 0 | — |
| ABB Research Ltd | 0 | — |
| Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College | 0 | — |
| Electric Power Research Institute | 0 | — |
| ABB TECHNOLOGY LTD | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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 specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or identifying open filing space.
Run a focused FTO check against the top 10
Since 75.1% of records sit with ten assignees, a freedom-to-operate review can start narrow and expand only if needed, rather than screening the full 49-company ranking.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claim scope in the under-claimed branches
Power conversion, grid integration and measurement-related classes each cover well under 15% of records, which is where a new filing is less likely to collide with dense prior art.
Map white space with EurekaRead the 2025-26 dip with caution
The apparent drop in filings since 2021 is partly a publication-lag artifact; re-check this trend once later years have had time to fill in before drawing conclusions about market direction.
Track filing trends in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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 on this landscape
The ranking covers 49 assignees, and it is heavily concentrated at the top: the leading assignee alone holds 75 of the 189 records in scope, compared with 8 at fifth place and 4 at tenth. Together the top five hold 60.8% of all records and the top ten hold 75.1%, so a small number of portfolios account for most of the field. Anyone doing competitive analysis here should start with that short list rather than the full ranking.
Filings peaked in 2019 at 52 records, then declined; the 21 records filed in 2021 fell to 6 by 2024, a -71% change. That said, publication typically lags actual filing by roughly 18 months, so the low counts shown for 2025 and 2026 understate real activity and should not be read as a market slowdown on their own. The 2021-2024 window is the most reliable recent comparison because those years are close to fully published.
H01H (switches and relays) and H02H (protective circuit arrangements) dominate, appearing in 59.3% and 51.3% of the 189 records respectively. Power conversion (H02M), grid systems (H02J), pulse/logic circuits (H03K) and measurement-related classes each appear in well under 15% of records. That gap suggests the core switching and protection mechanics are densely claimed while integration with power conversion and grid control is comparatively open.
EP3931851B1, assigned to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft with a 2024-02-28 date, describes a hybrid protective switch, a hybrid switching system, and an associated switching method. It is representative of the strongest filings in this dataset because it pairs hardware architecture claims with a method claim, which tends to cover both the device and how it's operated. Anyone designing a hybrid breaker with mechanical and semiconductor switching elements working together should review this family closely before finalizing an architecture.
The clearest gaps sit in the branches adjacent to the core interruption claims: DC breaking coordination with power conversion stages, snubber design for multi-device commutation paths, and grid-integrated hybrid breaker control each show low filing density relative to the switches-and-relays core. Response-time measurement and diagnostics, and radar or positioning-assisted fault detection, also register only in single-digit percentages of records. These are the areas where a new, specific claim is less likely to run into dense prior art than a general hybrid-breaker architecture claim would.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers 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
Research Solid State Circuit Protection and Hybrid Breakers in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole solid state circuit protection and hybrid breakers corpus yourself, in your own scope.
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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.