Vapor Compression Two-Phase Flow Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
A data-backed look at who leads vapor compression system two-phase flow patents: filing trends since 2017, assignee concentration, IPC composition, and the white space still open in refrigeration and heat pump claim terr
Filing growth = 2021 (4 records) → 2024 (9); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 299 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Vapor compression system two-phase flow patents address how refrigerant transitions between liquid and vapor states across the evaporator and condenser legs of a compression cycle — the core mechanism behind residential, commercial and industrial cooling. This dataset spans 299 published records filed or published between 2015 and 2026, drawn from filings tagged under F24F, F25B and F28D, the IPC subclasses covering air conditioning, refrigeration/heat pumps and heat-exchange apparatus respectively.
The records concentrate heavily around refrigeration and heat pump cycle claims, with smaller but persistent activity in air conditioning, heat exchanger design, and a handful of adjacent classes such as separation processes and solid-state thermal devices. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart understate real filing activity.
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Filing trend, technology composition and jurisdictions
The figures below come directly from the 299 records in scope. They show a field with a defined leadership tier, a renewed filing climb after a 2018 peak, and claim density concentrated in one IPC subclass.
Filing trend: a 2018 peak, a lull, then renewed growth
Filings peaked at 33 in 2018, the highest point in the window. Activity from 2021 to 2024 grew from 4 to 9 records, a +125% increase over that three-year span — the clearest recent-growth signal in the dataset. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Technology composition: F25B dominates, adjacent classes are thin
F25B (refrigeration & heat pumps) appears in 91.3% of the 299 records, making it the default home for two-phase flow claims in this space. F24F (8.7%), F28D (8.0%) and F25D (6.7%) trail well behind, and classes like B01D, F01K and H10N each sit under 4% — evidence of how narrowly claim activity is drawn around the core refrigeration cycle rather than spread across adjacent thermal or separation technologies.
Shares are the percentage of the 299 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Chiller system with multiple compressors
A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and/or refrigeration (HVAC&R) system includes a first vapor compression flow path with a first condenser configured to place a working fluid in a heat exchange relationship with a cooling fluid, a second condenser, a first evaporator and a first compressor; a second vapor compression flow path including a second evaporator configured to place the working fluid in a heat exchange relationship with a conditioning fluid, a second compressor, the second condenser and the first evaporator; and a shared vapor compression flow path including the second condenser and the first evaporator.Filed by Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings, published 2021-01-21. The claim structure of dual, cross-linked vapor compression loops sharing a condenser and evaporator illustrates how multi-circuit chiller architecture gets claimed in this field.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5921092A | Fluid defrost system and method for secondary refrigeration systems | 126 |
| 2 | US9168315B1 | Cost-effective remote monitoring, diagnostic and system health prediction system and method for vapor compres… | 78 |
| 3 | US6892522B2 | Combined rankine and vapor compression cycles | 66 |
| 4 | US20150059373A1 | Superheat and sub-cooling control of refrigeration system | 64 |
| 5 | US4934155A | Refrigeration system | 60 |
| 6 | US4201065A | Variable capacity vapor compression refrigeration system | 50 |
| 7 | US4417451A | Vapor compression refrigerant system monitor and gas removal apparatus | 47 |
| 8 | US20130091867A1 | Contaminant separator for a vapor-compression refrigeration apparatus | 40 |
| 9 | US20100094434A1 | Optimization of air cooled chiller system operation | 37 |
| 10 | US4679411A | Stepped capacity constant volume building air conditioning system | 36 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four patterns stand out once the records are ranked, dated and classified — each has a direct bearing on where a new filer should and shouldn't spend claim-drafting effort.
A small leadership tier holds nearly half the field
The top five assignees combine for 133 of the 299 records in scope, 44.5% of the total, with the leading assignee alone holding 63. That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants competing for the remainder — a classic concentrated-top, thin-tail structure.
Renewed growth after the 2018 peak
After peaking at 33 records in 2018, annual filings dropped before climbing again: from 4 records in 2021 to 9 in 2024, a +125% increase. That three-year window is the most reliable recent growth signal, since 2025-26 data is still incomplete due to publication lag.
Refrigeration and heat pump claims dominate
F25B appears in 91.3% of records, making it by far the most contested classification. Adjacent classes — air conditioning, heat exchanger detail, separation processes — each cover a small single-digit share, pointing to where claim space is comparatively open.
US and Europe anchor filing strategy
The United States receives the most filings at 96, followed by the European Patent Office at 61 and WIPO/PCT routes at 35, with Canada, Austria and Germany trailing. This mirrors where the leading assignees manufacture and sell HVAC&R equipment.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to vapor compression system two-phase flow patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier Corporation | VERMA PARMESH | 4 |
| Carrier Corporation | GORBOUNOV MIKHAIL B | 4 |
| Johnson Controls Technology Company | Tyco Fire & Security GmbH | 4 |
| Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc. | PHAM HUNG M | 3 |
| Carrier Corporation | WINCH GARY D | 2 |
| Carrier Corporation | VAISMAN IGOR B | 2 |
| Carrier Corporation | TARAS MICHAEL F | 2 |
| Carrier Corporation | SYLVIA LISA P | 2 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, the strongest linking a major HVAC&R manufacturer with named inventors on the same filings, and one pairing two affiliated corporate entities — a sign of internal group filing rather than cross-company collaboration.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a defined leadership tier and specific under-claimed branches. The next step is testing a specific claim idea or design-around against the records that actually matter.
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Explore with Patsnap EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches
Adjacent classes with thin coverage — separation processes, solid-state thermal devices — may offer room for a first-mover claim rather than a design-around.
Explore with Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranking covers 100 assignees across the 299 records in scope, and it is concentrated rather than flat: the top five combined hold 133 records, 44.5% of the total, and the single leading assignee accounts for 63 records on its own. That leaves a long tail of entrants with only a handful of filings each. Anyone assessing competitive position should treat the leadership tier as the group to watch first, since freedom-to-operate risk clusters heavily around them.
Filings peaked at 33 records in 2018, the highest point in the 2015-2026 window, then dipped before climbing again. Between 2021 and 2024, annual filings grew from 4 to 9 records, a +125% increase — a clear renewed-growth signal. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months; they should not be read as an actual slowdown.
F25B, covering refrigeration and heat pumps, appears in 91.3% of the 299 records and is the dominant classification by a wide margin. F24F (air conditioning and ventilation) and F28D (heat-exchange apparatus) follow at 8.7% and 8.0% respectively, with several other classes — F25D, F28F, B01D, F01K, H10N — each under 7%. Since a single record can carry several classes, these figures do not sum to 100%, but the pattern shows claim activity heavily anchored in the core refrigeration cycle rather than spread across adjacent thermal technologies.
WO2021011562A1, filed by Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings and published 2021-01-21, describes a chiller system with two vapor compression flow paths that share a condenser and an evaporator between them — one path cooling a cooling fluid, the other conditioning a separate fluid, linked through a shared compression loop. It is a specific multi-circuit architecture claim, not a claim over two-phase flow control generally. A design that uses a single flow path, or that links circuits differently than through a shared condenser/evaporator pairing, would sit outside its literal scope, though a full claim chart against the granted family is the only reliable way to confirm that.
The clearest gaps sit in the adjacent IPC classes that carry only single-digit shares of the 299 records — B01D separation processes at 3.3%, F01K steam and thermal power plants at 3.0%, and H10N solid-state devices at 2.7%. These are branches where two-phase flow concepts from the dominant F25B cycle have not been heavily extended or claimed. A filer targeting hybrid systems — for example, combining vapor compression two-phase flow with solid-state thermal elements or separation-stage refrigerant handling — would be filing into comparatively open claim space rather than against the dense prior art in core F25B territory.
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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.