UV Disinfection Systems Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 76.9% of all 39 records in scope sit with the top five filers, and one company alone accounts for 17 of them — this field has one dominant filer, not a competitive cluster.
- Filing peaked in 2021 at six records and has not exceeded that since; the 2022 midpoint of four suggests the field is flat or declining rather than accelerating.
- 94.9% of records carry an A61L classification (sterilizing and disinfecting) versus only 5.1% under C02F (water and wastewater treatment) — despite the search terms centering on water disinfection, the granted claims cluster in medical and device sterilization.
What this dataset covers and why the classification split matters
This landscape draws on 39 published records filed against UV dose validation, lamp fouling and sleeve cleaning, UV-C LED and photoreactivation terms, restricted to the C02F1, A61L2 and H01J65 classification families. The search string targets water disinfection language, but the records that actually publish under it skew toward medical device sterilization rather than bulk water treatment — a mismatch worth noting before assuming this is a water-treatment-dominated field.
Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent year in the trend chart understates real filing activity. Read the 2021 peak and the subsequent plateau as the more reliable signal, and treat the final year on the chart as provisional.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 39 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which classification families the claims actually sit in.
A flat trend after a 2021 peak
Filing rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of six records in 2021, then eased back — the 2022 midpoint of four records confirms this is a plateau, not a growth curve. The most recent year is partial and will revise upward as later publications land.
Sterilizing & disinfecting dominates the classification mix
A61L (sterilizing and disinfecting) covers 94.9% of the 39 records in scope, far ahead of A61M devices for body fluids (17.9%) and A23L foods and beverages (12.8%). C02F, the classic water-treatment class, appears in only 5.1% of records — a strong signal that most of the claimed subject matter is medical or device-level UV disinfection, not municipal or industrial water treatment.
Shares are the percentage of the 39 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on UV Disinfection Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about uv disinfection systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this field
Portable heating device for reshaping aligners with UV disinfection function
The invention is about a portable heating device with ultraviolet disinfection.Filed by KONI, BERK; published 2024-11-21 as WO2024237871A1. It illustrates how UV disinfection claims are increasingly bundled into adjacent consumer-device functions rather than filed as standalone disinfection systems.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20130323120A1 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 84 |
| 2 | US9056147B2 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 26 |
| 3 | WO2013181393A1 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 17 |
| 4 | US20150265735A1 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 10 |
| 5 | US20160339127A1 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 8 |
| 6 | US9408929B2 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 8 |
| 7 | CN104363928A | 无针连接器的UV消毒系统 | 8 |
| 8 | US10279057B2 | UV disinfection system for needleless connector | 7 |
| 9 | US20220031883A1 | Appliance disinfection | 5 |
| 10 | WO2021067809A1 | Point of care ultraviolet disinfection system | 2 |
Citation counts favor older records in any searched corpus — read these as markers of influence on later filings, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
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.
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Three findings that shape where a new filer should — and should not — try to claim space.
One company, not a competitive field
The leading assignee alone holds 17 of 39 records, and the top five combined reach 76.9% of all records in scope. A newcomer is not entering a fragmented field; they are entering a field with one entrenched filer and a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants.
Citation weight sits on one family of filings
The five most-cited records are all variants of the same needleless-connector UV disinfection system, with the lead record cited 84 times. This concentration of citation weight in one application area — rather than spread across water treatment or LED source patents — marks where prior-art risk is highest for device-level disinfection claims.
Water treatment is a minority share despite the search terms
Even though the underlying search string is built around UV water disinfection language, only 5.1% of the 39 records classify under C02F. The bulk of granted subject matter sits in A61L sterilizing and disinfecting — a reminder that claim language and IPC classification can diverge sharply from a search topic's framing.
No leading assignee is currently active
Every one of the six assignees tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the plateau visible since the 2021 peak. This is not a field with an accelerating incumbent to watch — it is a field where the incumbent has gone quiet.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to uv disinfection systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims, and where the field is still open
The ranked leaders here span medical device makers, automotive OEMs and lighting manufacturers — a wider spread of industries than the water-treatment framing of the search suggests.
A single filer dominates the needleless-connector niche
The top-ranked assignee's filings cluster around UV disinfection for needleless connectors, the same application family that produces the most-cited prior art in this dataset. Their filing activity has since gone to zero in the latest tracked year, suggesting the core claim space here may already be settled rather than actively contested.
Collaboration is rare, not the norm
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across all 39 records, the strongest being a pairing between two automotive manufacturers. Most filings in this field are solo efforts, which is consistent with a plateaued market where firms are defending established positions rather than jointly developing new ones.
US and China lead receiving offices, Europe close behind
The United States receives the most filings (12), followed by China (9) and the EPO (7), with WIPO PCT filings (4) trailing. This spread suggests applicants are pursuing protection across major device markets rather than concentrating on a single jurisdiction.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Becton, Dickinson and Company | 0 | — |
| UV Partners, Inc. | 0 | — |
| PuraCath Medical, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Kia Motors Corporation | 0 | — |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 0 | — |
| Shinheung ENC Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Rayfil Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a plateaued, concentrated field with a classification mismatch worth investigating further.
Map the white space in water-treatment claims
With only 5.1% of records under C02F, run a deeper search focused specifically on municipal and industrial UV water treatment to see whether this dataset's device-sterilization skew is representative of the broader field or an artifact of the search terms.
Explore in EurekaWatch for a filing restart
Every tracked leading assignee shows zero filings in the latest year. A restart by any of them, or a new entrant filing against the same needleless-connector or UV-C LED claim space, would be the clearest signal this plateau is ending.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about UV disinfection systems patents
Within this 39-record dataset, one assignee holds 17 records — well ahead of every other filer — with the top five filers together accounting for 76.9% of all records in scope. The leading assignee's portfolio concentrates on UV disinfection for needleless connectors, the same application area behind the dataset's most-cited prior art. Beyond the top five, filing activity drops off quickly into a long tail of companies with one or two records each, including automotive OEMs and lighting manufacturers.
No — filing activity peaked at six records in 2021 and has not exceeded that since, with the 2022 midpoint sitting at four records. Every one of the six most-active assignees tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very latest year on the trend chart will revise upward, but the multi-year plateau pattern is unlikely to change with that revision alone.
In this dataset, 94.9% of the 39 records carry an A61L classification (sterilizing and disinfecting) while only 5.1% carry C02F (water and wastewater treatment), even though the search terms were built around UV water disinfection language. This suggests that most inventive activity captured by these search terms is actually aimed at medical devices, body-fluid handling and consumer products rather than municipal or industrial water systems. Anyone specifically targeting water-treatment claim space should treat this as a signal to broaden or refocus their search rather than assume the field is saturated.
The most-cited record in this dataset is US20130323120A1, a UV disinfection system for needleless connectors, cited 84 times, followed by a related patent in the same family cited 26 times. All five of the most-cited records belong to the same needleless-connector disinfection application, indicating that citation weight in this field is heavily concentrated rather than spread across water treatment, LED sources or other branches. Citation counts favor older records generally, so treat this as a marker of historical influence rather than current commercial significance.
The classification data points to several under-claimed branches: UV-C LED dose validation specifically for point-of-use taps, sleeve-fouling detection sensors for continuous-flow reactors, and energy-per-volume metering for compact cartridges all sit within the searched IPC families but carry comparatively few records. Dental and oral-hygiene UV housings and photoreactivation prevention for intermittent-use reactors also appear thinly claimed relative to the dominant needleless-connector niche. A first filer in any of these branches would face a shallower prior-art landscape than one filing directly against the dominant assignee's core claims.
Research UV Disinfection Systems in depth with Eureka
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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.