UV Germicidal Air Disinfection Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing spiked sharply then cooled. annual filings ran from 9 in 2021 down to 1 in 2024, an 89% drop over that span, after a 2022 peak of 10 records.
- The top of the field is concentrated. the five leading assignees account for 55.0% of all 40 records in scope, and the leading ten reach 77.5%.
- Disinfection claims dominate the classification mix. 75.0% of records carry an A61L sterilising/disinfecting class, while only 30.0% touch F24F air-conditioning and ventilation — the HVAC integration layer is comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (9 records) with 2024 (1) — 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 40 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This review covers 40 published patent families filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine ultraviolet germicidal irradiation or upper-room air disinfection with a second technical element — dose control, lamp lifetime, far-UV wavelength selection, eye safety, airflow residence time, or microbial inactivation testing. The scope is deliberately narrow: it captures records where UV disinfection is claimed alongside an engineering or safety constraint, not general UV-lamp patents.
Filing offices skew toward India and the United States, each with 13 receiving filings, followed by Europe and WIPO's PCT route with 6 each and Canada with 2. That spread suggests the technology is being protected primarily as a domestic appliance and healthcare-facility play, with international filing used selectively rather than as a default strategy.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Annual filing counts and IPC classification shares for the 40 records in scope, drawn directly from the underlying dataset.
A sharp rise and an equally sharp pullback
Filings were essentially absent before 2018, climbed to a peak of 10 records in 2022, then fell to 1 record in 2024 — an 89% decline over the 2021-2024 window. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete and should not yet be read as confirmation that interest has ended.
Disinfection claims outnumber system-integration claims
A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) appears in 75.0% of the 40 records, far ahead of F24F air conditioning and ventilation at 30.0% and C02F water treatment at 15.0%. Smaller shares in A23L/A23B food-related classes and A62B rescue equipment show the same core UV-inactivation claims being repurposed across adjacent product categories, including a modest 7.5% presence in A41D garments.
Shares are the percentage of the 40 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Ultraviolet Germicidal Air Disinfection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about ultraviolet germicidal air disinfection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this landscape
Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation Light and Bipolar Ionization Control by HVAC Thermostats
An air sanitization and purification system controlled by a thermostat in wired or wireless communication with an ultraviolet germicidal irradiation light or bipolar ionization appliance, with operation controlled according to a pre-defined HVAC operation schedule or by sensor data indicating occupant presence.Filed by J. Drew, Inc. d/b/a Network Thermostat, published 2022-11-10 as US20220357066A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100222852A1 | Apparatus and Method for Decolonizing Microbes on the Surfaces of the Skin and In Body Cavities | 101 |
| 2 | US20220413166A1 | Scattering fields in a medium to redirect wave energy onto surfaces in shadow | 37 |
| 3 | US20180305226A1 | Method and Apparatus for Water Purification | 15 |
| 4 | WO2019072205A1 | Asynchronous intermittent lighting for rapid surface disinfection | 14 |
| 5 | CA3216900A1 | Using scattering fields in a medium to redirect wave energy onto surfaces in shadow | 11 |
| 6 | US20210290814A1 | Methods and systems for sterilizing spaces or surfaces from stand-off distances | 9 |
| 7 | US20200230274A1 | Static and Mobile Disinfection Using High Intensity narrow Wavelength Illumination | 6 |
| 8 | US20220357066A1 | Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation Light and Bipolar Ionization Control by HVAC Thermostats | 3 |
| 9 | WO2022246335A1 | Using scattering fields in a medium to redirect wave energy onto surfaces in shadow | 2 |
| 10 | US20230248877A1 | Personal and mobile devices for providing biological protection by the ultraviolet irradiation of recirculate… | 2 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older records; treat these as a signal of influence within the field rather than a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once family counts, classification shares and the filing curve are read together.
A concentrated top, a long single-filer tail
The five leading assignees hold 55.0% of the 40 records in scope, and the leading ten reach 77.5%. Beyond that the ranking of 32 companies thins quickly into single-family filers, which means most of the field's protected claim space sits with a small group rather than being distributed broadly.
A 2022 peak followed by a real pullback
Filings rose to a peak of 10 records in 2022, then fell to 1 record by 2024 — the last year that can be treated as complete given typical publication lag. The drop is real within that window, but 2025-2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as continued decline.
Disinfection chemistry is crowded; HVAC integration is not
Three in four records claim core sterilising/disinfecting subject matter under A61L, while only 30.0% extend into F24F air-conditioning and ventilation integration. Filing into the disinfection core competes with dense prior art; filing into the ventilation-system integration layer competes with far less.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to ultraviolet germicidal air disinfection, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is active, and where the field is still open
The ranking covers 32 companies across the 40 records in scope — not a top-50 or top-100 list, simply the full set the dataset returns.
A single leader, then a fast drop-off
The leading assignee holds 5 of the 40 records; by fifth place that figure has already fallen to 4, and by tenth place to 1. This is a field with a nominal leader rather than a dominant one — no single assignee holds a blocking position across the whole space.
Recent-year activity has nearly stopped across the board
Only one assignee in the ranking shows any filings in the latest year (2, flat year-on-year); every other tracked assignee, including several historically active names, shows zero. Given publication lag, this understates true recent activity but confirms no assignee is currently accelerating.
Almost no joint filing
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across the entire dataset, each linked once. Patenting in this space is overwhelmingly a single-assignee activity, with little evidence of joint-development filing strategies between companies or institutions.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SAVEETHA INST OF MEDICAL & TECH SCI | 2 | 0% |
| LUMINATED GLAZINGS LLC | 0 | — |
| LLC SIZAR | 0 | — |
| Alfa Laval Corporate AB | 0 | — |
| D-Orbit S.p.A. | 0 | — |
| The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | 0 | — |
| Alakai Defense Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
| JOHNSON HEATER CORP | 0 | — |
Using this landscape
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio building, or licensing scouting.
Check freedom-to-operate against the concentrated top
With 55.0% of records held by five assignees, any new filing in core UV-disinfection chemistry should be checked against those portfolios first, since that is where blocking claims are most likely to sit.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkExplore the HVAC-integration and eye-safety gaps
F24F ventilation integration sits at 30.0% of records versus 75.0% for core disinfection claims, and far-UV eye-safety limits appear only within a handful of filings — both are candidates for a first claim rather than a crowded one.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch for renewed filing once 2025-2026 data fills in
The 2021-2024 drop is real, but publication lag means the most recent two years are not yet representative. Re-check the trend once those years mature before concluding the field has cooled permanently.
Track filing trendsCommon questions about this landscape
This landscape covers 40 published patent families filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine ultraviolet germicidal irradiation or upper-room air disinfection with a second technical element such as dose control, lamp lifetime, far-UV wavelength selection, eye safety, airflow residence time, or microbial inactivation testing. It is a narrow, deliberately scoped search rather than a count of every UV-lamp patent in existence. The true figure for the broader UV-disinfection field, including general lamp and fixture patents, would be considerably larger.
The ranking includes 32 companies across the 40 records in scope, with the leading assignee holding 5 records and the field's top five combined accounting for 55.0% of all records. Beyond the top ten — which together reach 77.5% — the ranking thins into a long tail of assignees with only one or two filings each. No single company holds a dominant or blocking position across the whole field.
Filings rose sharply to a peak of 10 records in 2022, then declined to 1 record by 2024, an 89% drop over that three-year span. However, patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete. The honest reading is that the 2021-2024 pullback is real, but it is too early to call the field in long-term decline based on the most recent one or two years.
Core sterilising and disinfecting subject matter, classified under A61L, appears in 75.0% of the 40 records in scope, making it by far the most crowded claim area. Air conditioning and ventilation integration (F24F) appears in only 30.0% of records, and water treatment (C02F) in 15.0%, indicating that system-integration claims are comparatively less contested than the underlying disinfection chemistry and lamp claims themselves.
The classification data points to HVAC and ventilation-system integration, far-UV wavelength eye-safety limits, and airflow residence-time dosing for ductwork as comparatively under-claimed relative to core A61L disinfection subject matter. These branches show meaningfully lower classification shares than the disinfection core, suggesting less prior art density for a well-drafted first claim, though any filing decision should still include a direct freedom-to-operate check against the leading assignees' existing portfolios.
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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.