Archive
CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Experimental CSP
Summary
The experimental options for concentrating and converting solar energy include a large number of technical solutions that both improve the operation of the main components of solar stations, for example, due to non-trivial configurations or the use of new materials, and expand the scope of the useful application of solar energy. Solar photobioreactor, hybrid solar systems, polymeric solar concentrator or liquid lenses are of particular interest. Many connect the serious commercial potential with the use of solar energy for enhanced oil recovery, for residential solar thermal power plant or for desalination of fresh water from solar radiation. Information on the latest patent publications is important for the timely determination of development trends in this technical field.
The proposed bulletin is dedicated to the subject of Experimental CSP technologies and includes patents published in 2014-2016. Research methodology is available at Advanced Energy Technologies website. The patent bulletin includes 112 patent documents. The patents were granted in 15 patent offices around the world. 104 applicants from 18 countries participated in the development of the inventions. 145 subgroups of the International Patent Classification were encountered in the patent documents.
Key Highlights
The bulletin provides general statistical figures, including the overall distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The most popular patent offices among the applicants were: CNIPA (CN), USPTO (US), IP Australia (AU), JPO (JP), EPO.
Based on the analysis of each of the patents, internal characteristics of unified indicators (technical problems, types of inventive solutions, belonging to one or other technological segment) were found, which allowed specific features for each of the indicators for the entire array of documents to be defined, for instance, to define the leading problems or technical solution types that were disclosed by the inventors the most. Document lists are provided for the ten most popular groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators, including their ID numbers and applicant names.
The following information can be found for the top 10 applicants: breakdown of patents by problems, IPC sections, patent offices, (technological indicators), as well as the estimation of their share in the established intellectual property market. The 10 leading applicants by the number of patent documents were: 3M Innovative Properties Company (United States of America), Italcementi Spa (Italy), CEWA Technologies, Inc. (United States of America), Docter Optics GmbH (Denmark), Yeda Research and Development Co., Ltd. (Israel), Yeomans Allan James (Australia), Zhao Wei (China), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), SunPower Corporation (United States of America), HelioFocus, Ltd. (Israel).
The bulletin contains lists of the top 10 prominent patents having the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, the shortest patent pending time.
A list of all of the documents reviewed, arranged by the top 10 groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators and by patent offices with the indication of the ID numbers of the granted patents are provided in the conclusive part of the bulletin.
Who needs this bulletin?
The statistics bulletin under examination serves as one of the variants to monitor advanced technical achievements in the specified industrial sector. The statistical data, rating evaluations and carefully selected patent documents provided in the bulletin can be of interest for inventors, students and educators, engineers, as well as for businessmen and investors, who in one way or another are concerned with the problems of the development of solar energy production technologies.
