Wireless Power Transfer for Electric Aircraft Patent Landscape
The University of Alabama holds a commanding position in this nascent field, accounting for the single largest block of filings among the top-ranked applicants, with the top five filers together claiming 59% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. Annual volume has plateaued near its 2017 peak, signaling a field that has reached early maturity with only a small number of active institutional players and almost no documented co-filing activity.
University of Alabama leads a highly concentrated, institutionally dominated field
The University of Alabama sits at the top of the applicant ranking with 9 patent records, more than triple the next-ranked filer. Academic and government institutions make up the dominant tier, with the U. S. Government, Florida International University, and Oxford University Innovation each holding modest positions behind the leader.
The top five filers account for 59% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, a level of concentration that is unusually high for a topic with real aerospace-industry relevance. The tier gap between the University of Alabama and all other applicants is wide: no commercial aerospace prime or power-electronics supplier has yet built a comparable portfolio.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Alabama | 9 | |
| 2 | The Government of the United States as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force | 3 | |
| 3 | Florida International University | 2 | |
| 4 | Oxford University Innovation Ltd | 2 | |
| 5 | DR SUDHIR CHANDRA SUR INST OF TECH & SPORTS COMPLEX | 1 | |
| 6 | MR PATHKOTA SAI NIRANJAN KUMAR | 1 | |
| 7 | MRS UJWALA GAJULA | 1 | |
| 8 | DR GUNDLAPALLI SATHEESH | 1 | |
| 9 | DR K SHYAMALA DEVI | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | DR NOMULA MALLA REDDY | 1 | |
| 11 | MR M YASHWANTH KUMAR | 1 | |
| 12 | MRS SAGGURTHI BHULAKSHMI | 1 | |
| 13 | MS N HIRANMAI | 1 | |
| 14 | MR CHINTALAPUDI LEELA KRISHNA | 1 | |
| 15 | G NARAYANAMMA INST OF TECH & SCI FOR WOMEN | 1 | |
| 16 | The Boeing Company | 1 | |
| 17 | Francis Xavier Engineering College | 1 |
The leader’s concentration in inductive power-supply and transformer-related classes (H02J and H01F) suggests that foundational coil-coupling and charging-management architectures are already being staked out, leaving application-layer and aircraft-integration claims comparatively open.
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months should be treated as provisional due to standard patent-publication lag; the apparent low volume in 2025–2026 does not necessarily reflect a real reduction in inventive activity.
A 2017 filing surge has given way to plateau; power-management classes dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend reveals a sharp peak in 2017 followed by irregular, lower-volume activity, while the technology composition chart shows that power-supply and electric-vehicle propulsion classes together account for the majority of classified records.
Annual filing trend
A pronounced spike in 2017 (9 filings) was followed by near-zero activity in 2018–2020 and a modest secondary cluster in 2021. Subsequent years show single-digit counts. The 2025–2026 figures are subject to publication lag and should not be read as a structural decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H02J (power supply and grid systems) is the dominant branch, reflecting the primacy of charging-management and energy-transfer protocols. B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) appears as the second-largest branch, indicating that EV-derived wireless charging architectures are being adapted for aircraft contexts. H01F (magnets, inductors, and transformers) is the third-largest branch, pointing to coil-design work. Aircraft-specific class B64C holds only one record, confirming that airframe-integration patents remain sparse.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Systems and methods for providing inductive power …
Power controllers (e.g., inductive power transfer (IPT) power controllers) and methods of making and using the same are provided. An IPT power controller can be implemented on direct alternating current (AC)-AC converters and can use only current and voltage measurements to produce multi-power level IPT controller and design switching logic. Using Boolean… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wirelessly distributed and multi-directional power… | 22 |
| 2 | Wireless Power Transfer for Recharging Aircraft Ba… | 16 |
| 3 | Wirelessly distributed and multi-directional power… | 15 |
| 4 | High-bandwidth analog-controlled DC breaker on DC/… | 6 |
| 5 | Wireless power transfer system | 6 |
| 6 | High-bandwidth analog-controlled DC breaker on DC/… | 4 |
| 7 | Conductive line, transfer device, and space solar … | 3 |
| 8 | Wirelessly distributed and multi-directional power… | 3 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the portfolio structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of high concentration, academic leadership, and minimal cross-filer collaboration points to a field where the foundational IP is still being established, offering entry opportunities for industrial players willing to move into application-specific or integration-focused claims.
Early-maturity plateau: foundational filings peaked in 2017
The lifecycle evidence places this field at a maturity stage, with annual filings having plateaued near the 2017 peak. The 0% recent growth rate confirms that the initial burst of foundational activity has not been sustained at that pace. For an R&D team, this means core inductive-transfer architectures are increasingly claimed, but application-layer and aircraft-specific integration work remains open.
Lifecycle: MaturityOne academic institution holds the dominant position; no industrial prime has matched it
The top five filers hold 59% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, with the University of Alabama alone accounting for the largest single block. The Boeing Company appears in the ranking with only 1 patent record, suggesting that major aerospace manufacturers have not yet committed heavily to this IP area. This leaves a strategic gap for industrial entrants to build differentiated portfolios.
High concentrationNo co-filing activity detected in this corpus
The collaboration evidence shows no documented co-applicant filings in this topic. The absence of consortium or industry-university joint filings is notable given the cross-disciplinary nature of wireless power transfer for aircraft, which spans power electronics, magnetics, and airframe integration. This gap may represent either a very early stage of ecosystem formation or siloed development by individual institutions.
No co-filers detectedU.S.-centric filing base; Europe and India hold minor positions
The United States is the lead jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and India, each with 3 patent records. Germany and WIPO (PCT) each account for 1 record. The limited PCT and EPO coverage relative to the U.S. total suggests that most filers have not yet pursued broad international protection, leaving freedom-to-operate potentially wider outside the United States than the raw family count implies.
U.S.-dominantGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
University of Alabama leads on inductive fundamentals; new individual entrants emerge in power conversion
The top two ranked entities by patent records are both institutional — one academic, one governmental — while recent momentum is carried by individual academic inventors rather than established corporations.
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama holds 9 patent records, the largest position in the ranking by a wide margin. Their technology emphasis is concentrated in H02J 7 (battery charging management), H01F 38 (inductive transformers and coils), and H02J 50 (wireless power transmission systems) — a coherent focus on the core physics and control architecture of wireless energy transfer. No momentum trend is reported for the university itself in the recent window, consistent with the field-wide plateau.
patent records: 9Florida International University (Sarwat / Jafari team)
Florida International University holds 2 patent records in the ranking, with associated inventors Sarwat Arif I and Jafari Hassan each flagged as new entrants in the recent filing window with 2 recent patent records apiece. Their technology focus spans H02J 50, H02J 7, and H02M 1 (AC/DC power conversion), indicating an interest in both the wireless transmission layer and the power-electronics interface — a slightly broader scope than the Alabama leader’s coil-centric emphasis.
patent records: 2| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| MS N HIRANMAI | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| MRS UJWALA GAJULA | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
Aircraft-integration and measurement branches are under-served relative to core power-transfer classes
Four IPC branches appear at the periphery of the current portfolio, each with only one or two patent records; two of these — B64C and G01R — have plausible technical value and realistic entry paths for teams combining power-electronics expertise with aerospace-systems knowledge.
B64C · Aeroplanes & helicopters (airframe integration)
Only 1 patent record in this corpus addresses the B64C class directly, meaning that wireless-power hardware as it relates to aircraft structural integration, landing-gear geometry, or UAV-specific form factors is almost entirely unclaimed in this topic. For a team with both power-electronics and airframe-design capability, filing in this branch would complement the dense H02J/H01F core without directly competing with existing leaders. The Boeing Company’s single record in B64C 3 is the only current marker in this space.
Search this in Eureka →G01R · Electric & magnetic measurement (coil characterization and alignment sensing)
With only 2 patent records, G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) is sparsely covered despite being technically essential for reliable wireless power transfer: coil alignment detection, foreign-object detection, and field-strength monitoring all fall within this branch. Oxford University Innovation holds both current records here, focusing on G01R 33. An entrant developing sensor-based alignment or safety-monitoring systems for airborne WPT would find this branch largely open and could build a differentiated position distinct from the charging-protocol and coil-design clusters held by Alabama.
Search this in Eureka →Leaders diverge on power-conversion depth versus aircraft-system breadth
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H02J 7 · Power supply & grid systems | H02J 50 · Power supply & grid systems | H01F 38 · Magnets, inductors & transformers | B60L 53 · Electric vehicle propulsion | B60L 50 · Electric vehicle propulsion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Alabama | Strong · 9 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 8 | Moderate · 4 | Strong · 5 |
| Oxford University Innovation Ltd | Strong · 2 | Strong · 2 | Absent | Strong · 2 | Absent |
| DR GUNDLAPALLI SATHEESH | Strong · 1 | Strong · 1 | Absent | Strong · 1 | Absent |
| DR K SHYAMALA DEVI | Strong · 1 | Strong · 1 | Absent | Strong · 1 | Absent |
| DR NOMULA MALLA REDDY | Strong · 1 | Strong · 1 | Absent | Strong · 1 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The current corpus covers 21 patent families in scope. This is a small corpus relative to adjacent wireless charging fields, reflecting the early-maturity stage of this specific aerospace application.
The University of Alabama is the top filer with 9 patent records, focused on battery charging management (H02J 7), inductive transformer design (H01F 38), and wireless power transmission systems (H02J 50).
The Boeing Company appears in the ranking with 1 patent record, making it the only major aerospace prime currently visible in this corpus. No large power-electronics manufacturer appears in the ranking, leaving the field dominated by academic and government institutions.
Annual filings peaked at 9 in 2017 and have since plateaued, with the lifecycle evidence placing the field at a maturity stage. Recent-window growth is 0%. Counts for 2025–2026 are subject to publication lag and should be treated as provisional.
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction with 13 patent records. Europe (EPO) and India each have 3 records. The limited PCT and EPO coverage suggests that freedom to operate may be wider outside the United States than the overall family count implies.
The B64C (aeroplanes and helicopters) and G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) branches each have very few patent records — 1 and 2 respectively — despite being technically relevant to airframe integration and coil alignment sensing. These represent under-served areas relative to the dominant H02J and H01F clusters.
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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.
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