Weld NDT Phased Array Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 58.1% of records sit with five assignees. the top five combined hold 79 of 136 records in scope — a field concentrated at the top with a long tail below it.
- Filings jumped +800% from 2021 to 2024. growth went from 1 record in 2021 to 9 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete.
- G01S and G01B sit well under G01N. positioning and dimensional-measurement classes cover under a quarter of records each, next to material-analysis claims at 76.5%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (9) — 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 136 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks 136 published records filed against phased array ultrasonic testing, TOFD techniques, encoded scanning and related weld-inspection methods between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off. Records are drawn from filings that combine phased array or weld nondestructive testing language with practical qualifiers — probe wedge design, sizing accuracy, acceptance criteria, operator qualification — which narrows the set to inspection methods actually meant for deployment rather than general ultrasonics theory. The assignee ranking covers 50 companies, and family-level counting is used throughout so continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction copies of the same invention are not double counted.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart understate real filing activity for those years; treat 2024 as the most recent complete year.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 136-record set: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 6 records in 2017 to a peak of 20 in 2019, then fell before rebounding sharply — 1 record in 2021 to 9 in 2024, an +800% swing over that span. 2025 and 2026 show fewer records because publication has not caught up with filing, not because activity stopped.
IPC subclass composition
G01N (material analysis & testing) covers 76.5% of the 136 records, the anchor class for this field. G01S (radar, sonar & positioning) and G01B (length/dimension measurement) sit at 23.5% and 21.3% respectively, reflecting sizing-accuracy and scan-encoding claims layered on top of core inspection methods. Aerospace-specific claims (B64F) appear in 8.8% of records; nuclear (G21C), electrical measurement (G01R), welding process (B23K) and drilling (E21B) each sit under 4%, since a record can carry more than one class these shares add to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 136 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Weld Nondestructive Testing with Phased Array with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about weld nondestructive testing with phased array and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Non-destructive testing using phased arrays
The filing describes phased array ultrasonic scanning of an article containing multiple passageways, each associated with its own set of potential flaws, using a probe communicatively coupled through the article's surface. The method is built around inspecting passageway-adjacent flaw sets rather than a single flat weld face.Filed by BAE Systems, published 2021-06-24.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140238136A1 | Ultrasound matrix inspection | 81 |
| 2 | US20110083512A1 | Weld seam tracking system using phased array ultrasonic devices | 58 |
| 3 | US20140283612A1 | Phased array ultrasonic bolt inspection apparatus and method | 52 |
| 4 | US20070256862A1 | Rotary drill bits, methods of inspecting rotary drill bits, apparatuses and systems therefor | 44 |
| 5 | US20100329081A1 | Method for non-destructively evaluating rotary earth boring drill components and determining fitness-for-use … | 40 |
| 6 | WO2013044350A1 | Ultrasound matrix inspection | 32 |
| 7 | WO2012103628A1 | Method for ultrasonic inspection of welds | 21 |
| 8 | US7631560B2 | Methods of inspecting rotary drill bits | 20 |
| 9 | US10324066B1 | System and method for the improved analysis of ultrasonic weld data | 15 |
| 10 | CN111551632A | 带导轨和吸盘自动扫查装置、相控阵超声检测方法及系统 | 14 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current technical relevance.
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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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about this field
Three read-outs from the dataset that matter more for filing strategy than the raw counts alone.
Claim space is concentrated, not fragmented
The top five assignees combined hold 79 of the 136 records in scope, and the top ten reach 79.4% (108 records). That leaves a genuine long tail below rank ten — single-digit and single-filing entrants working narrower applications rather than broad method claims.
Recent filing growth is real, not a data artefact
After a 2019 peak of 20 records and a subsequent trough, filings rebuilt sharply into 2024. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the apparent drop-off in 2025-2026 is a reporting lag, not a slowdown — 2024 is the last year to read as complete.
Core inspection method claims dominate, positioning claims trail
Material analysis and testing (G01N) claims sit in three-quarters of records; radar/sonar/positioning (G01S) and dimensional measurement (G01B) each cover under a quarter. That gap suggests scan-encoding and positioning-accuracy claims are less crowded than the core testing method itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to weld nondestructive testing with phased array, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
A small group of assignees account for most of the record volume; below them the field opens into narrower, application-specific filers.
One assignee well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 34 records, more than four times the fifth-place holder's 8. That gap indicates a sustained, multi-year filing programme rather than opportunistic single filings.
A cluster forms around fifth to tenth place
Fifth place sits at 8 records and tenth at 4, a gradual taper rather than a cliff. This is where utility operators, inspection service firms and drilling-equipment makers compete for adjacent claim territory.
Utility-sector co-filing is concentrated in one relationship
Of 10 identified co-assignee pairs, the strongest links a state grid operator with its power research institute at 8 shared records — a pattern typical of in-house R&D institutes filing jointly with their parent utility.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario Power Generation Inc. | 0 | — |
| BAE Systems plc | 0 | — |
| Baker Hughes Co. | 0 | — |
| VERIPHASE INC | 0 | — |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 0 | — |
| North China Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| BWXT Canada Ltd. | 0 | — |
| YU YEONG INSPECTION | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The landscape shows where claim density sits today; the next step is testing a specific claim or application against it.
Check freedom-to-operate on a specific method
Run a candidate claim — a probe wedge design, an acceptance-criteria threshold, a scan-encoding approach — against the most-cited records in this set before drafting.
Explore in EurekaTrack the leading assignee's filing programme
A single assignee holds 34 of 136 records; watching its continuation filings and newest publications shows where its programme is heading next.
Explore in EurekaSize an under-claimed branch
Positioning and dimensional-measurement classes trail the core testing-method class by a wide margin — a candidate area for a narrower, defensible first filing.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
One assignee leads this landscape with 34 of the 136 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 8. The top five combined account for 58.1% of all records, and the top ten reach 79.4%. Below that the field has a long tail of companies with only a handful of filings each, typically utility operators, inspection service providers and drilling-equipment makers working narrower applications.
Filings peaked at 20 records in 2019, dipped, and then grew sharply again — from 1 record in 2021 to 9 in 2024, an +800% increase over that span. 2025 and 2026 show fewer published records, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than an actual slowdown. 2024 is the most recent year the data supports treating as complete.
The dominant class is G01N (material analysis and testing), present in 76.5% of the 136 records, covering the core inspection methods. G01S (radar, sonar and positioning) and G01B (length and dimension measurement) follow at 23.5% and 21.3%, reflecting scan-encoding and sizing-accuracy claims. Smaller shares appear in aerospace ground-installation, nuclear, electrical measurement, welding-process and drilling classes, since a single record can carry several classes at once.
Positioning and dimensional-measurement claims (G01S and G01B) sit at under a quarter of records each, next to a dominant core testing-method class covering three-quarters of the field — that gap points to scan-encoding accuracy, probe wedge geometry for non-flat welds, and operator qualification protocols as comparatively thin claim territory. These are narrower application areas rather than blank spaces, so a first filing there should target a specific calibration or geometry rather than a broad method claim.
US20210190729A1, filed by BAE Systems and published 2021-06-24, describes phased array ultrasonic scanning of an article containing multiple passageways, each with its own associated set of potential flaws, using a probe coupled through the article's surface. The claim structure is built around inspecting flaw sets tied to individual passageways rather than a single inspection surface, which is relevant to components like fastener holes or drilled channels rather than flat weld seams. Anyone designing an inspection method for multi-passageway components should check this filing's specific claim scope before proceeding.
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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.