Wind-Turbine Blade LE Protection Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (8 records) with 2024 (3) — 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 60 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Leading-edge erosion is one of the few wind-blade failure modes with a direct line to patentable material science: rain and particle impact strip coatings and composite surfaces at the blade tip, and the fix is claimed as a coating chemistry, a tape or shield laminate, or a manufacturing process for applying either. This landscape covers 60 published records filed or published between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 data cut-off, searched across titles, abstracts, claims and IPC classification for leading-edge protection language tied to wind turbine blades.
The dataset skews toward chemistry and materials rather than pure aerodynamics: coatings (C09D) and condensation polymers (C08G) together outrank wind-motor mechanics (F03D) as classification categories, which tells a filer that the crowded ground is in the protective layer itself, not in blade geometry.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 60 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing activity peaked in 2020, then pulled back
Annual publications rose to a peak of 22 records in 2020, then declined to 8 in 2021 and 3 in 2024, a -63% drop across that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not yet be read as a continued decline.
Coatings and polymer chemistry outweigh mechanical claims
C09D coatings, paints and inks appear on 50.0% of the 60 records, C08G condensation polymers on 46.7%, and F03D wind-motor claims on 40.0%. Shares add to more than 100% because a single record can carry several IPC classes; smaller categories such as additive manufacturing (B33Y, 5.0%) and layered laminates (B32B, 3.3%) mark the thinner, more open branches of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 60 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Wind-Turbine Blades: Leading Edge Protection Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Leading edge protection with reduced noise impact
The present invention relates to a leading edge protection for a wind turbine blade, wherein a leading edge axis of the leading edge protection is configured to be fitted on at least part of a leading edge of a wind turbine blade and the leading edge protection is configured to extend between the leading edge and a first edge downstream a first side of the wind turbine blade as well as between the leading edge and a second edge downstream a second side of the wind turbine blade, wherein the leading edge protection comprises a first part and wherein the first edge is configured to be non-parallel with the leading edge of the wind turbine blade along the first part of the leading edge protection.Filed by LM Windpower A/S, published 2024-04-25.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140278151A1 | Nondestructive acoustic doppler testing of wind turbine blades from the ground during operation | 52 |
| 2 | WO2020260578A1 | Use of coating compositions for wind turbine blades | 16 |
| 3 | US9395337B2 | Nondestructive acoustic doppler testing of wind turbine blades from the ground during operation | 15 |
| 4 | WO2020264115A1 | Methods for manufacturing wind turbine blades and leading edge protection surfaces | 14 |
| 5 | CN112143367A | 一种风电叶片前缘防护材料及其制备方法和应用 | 8 |
| 6 | US20220250308A1 | Methods for manufacturing wind turbine blades and leading edge protection surfaces | 8 |
| 7 | WO2018142370A1 | Composition and method for prevention of leading edge errosion in wind turbines | 8 |
| 8 | EP3990553A1 | Use of coating compositions for wind turbine blades | 3 |
| 9 | EP2984337B1 | Nondestructive testing of wind turbine blades from the ground during operation | 3 |
| 10 | CN113924349A | 涂覆组合物用于风力涡轮机叶片的用途 | 2 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations; treat them as a signal of influence on the field's vocabulary, not of current commercial 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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Three findings a reader could not get from browsing the patent table alone.
The field is a small-group contest, not a fragmented one
With the top 5 assignees holding 75.0% of the 60 records in scope and the top 10 holding 91.7%, a new entrant is filing directly into ground that a handful of coatings and blade manufacturers already occupy densely. The ranked list itself covers only 18 companies total, so this is a genuinely concentrated field rather than a long unranked tail.
Coating chemistry is more contested than blade mechanics
Coatings, paints and inks (C09D) appear on half of all 60 records, ahead of wind-motor structural claims (F03D) at 40.0%. A filer aiming at material formulation is entering denser prior art than one aiming at mechanical shield design or attachment geometry.
Activity has cooled from its 2020 peak, but recent years are incomplete
Filings peaked at 22 in 2020 and dropped -63% from 8 records in 2021 to 3 in 2024, the last year with complete publication data. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 counts are not yet a reliable read on current-year activity.
Co-filing is rare and clusters around one group
Only 7 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairing links LM Windpower with Blade Dynamics, suggesting most protection is developed and filed in-house rather than through joint ventures.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to wind-turbine blades: leading edge protection patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated field with a specific open branch. These are the next questions worth running.
Map the coating chemistry claims in detail
C09D and C08G together cover the bulk of the field; a claim-by-claim breakdown of active polymer chemistries would show which formulations are still open.
Explore coatings claims in EurekaTrack the under-claimed manufacturing branch
Additive manufacturing (B33Y, 5.0%) and layered laminates (B32B, 3.3%) are thin relative to the coatings categories, worth a closer look for freedom to operate.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch the leading assignees' recent filings
With filings concentrated among a small group, monitoring their newest publications is more efficient than scanning the full field.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking for this landscape covers 18 companies, and it is heavily concentrated: the top 5 assignees together account for 75.0% of all 60 records in scope, and the top 10 account for 91.7%. This means a small group of coatings suppliers and blade manufacturers holds most of the documented claim space, rather than the field being spread across many independent filers. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should focus diligence on that concentrated group first rather than treating this as an open field with many small players.
Coating, paint and ink chemistry (IPC class C09D) appears on 50.0% of the 60 records in scope, condensation polymers (C08G) on 46.7%, and wind-motor structural claims (F03D) on 40.0%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, but the pattern is clear: material chemistry claims outnumber pure mechanical or aerodynamic claims. Smaller categories like additive manufacturing (B33Y, 5.0%) and layered laminates (B32B, 3.3%) mark thinner, less-claimed branches.
Filing activity peaked at 22 records in 2020 and then declined, falling -63% from 8 records in 2021 to 3 records in 2024, the most recent year with complete publication data. Publication typically lags actual filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of continued decline. Based on the complete years available, the honest read is that activity cooled from its 2020 peak rather than that it has stopped.
US20240133358A1, titled Leading edge protection with reduced noise impact, is a 2024-04-25 publication assigned to LM Windpower A/S. It claims a leading-edge protection element for a wind turbine blade in which the protection's edge is configured to be non-parallel with the blade's own leading edge along at least part of its length, a geometry aimed at reducing the aerodynamic noise that straight-edged leading-edge shields can introduce. For anyone designing a shield or tape product, the non-parallel edge geometry is the specific feature to check against before finalising a shape.
Relative to coatings and polymer chemistry, additive manufacturing approaches to leading-edge protection (B33Y, 5.0% of the 60 records) and layered laminate constructions (B32B, 3.3%) are thinly claimed. Co-filing is also rare, with only 7 co-assignee pairs identified across the dataset, suggesting most development happens in-house rather than through joint ventures that might otherwise crowd a niche. These thinner branches are worth a dedicated white-space search before committing to a coating-chemistry-first strategy in a field where the top 10 assignees already hold 91.7% of records.
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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.