Archive
WIND ENERGY. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Blades and components thereof
Summary
Wind power has, in several countries, allowed for a significant reduction on foreign energy imports, while simultaneously providing significant ecological benefits. At the same time it should be noted that expensive equipment, maintenance and repair of windfarms can significantly impede the further development of the industry. This primarily relates to the blades, which are the most vulnerable part of the design of the wind turbine. Increasing efficiency by using new materials, such as carbon fiber, anti-icing with special coatings and the introduction of modern diagnostic methods are just a small list of priorities in the development of this component of wind turbine equipment. Access to structured patent information in this area of technical innovation can help identify industry leaders and track progressive technical ideas.
A selection of patents related to wind blades and published by patent offices around the globe in 2014-2016 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found at Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present bulletin includes 1129 patents, prepared by applicants from 25 countries and registered in 27 patent offices. The patent documents mention 499 applicants and 456 IPC subgroups.
Key Highlights
The bulletin contains statistical data on the 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 top three patent offices that granted the largest number of patents were CNIPA (CN), EPO and USPTO (US).
For each of the patent documents selected for the examination in the present bulletin the characteristics of unified indicators were preliminary defined, they include: technical problems, types of inventive solutions employed, belonging to one or other technological segment. This allows the internal content for each of the indicators in the aggregate array of documents to be visualized, for instance, to define the sequence and proportional correlation of technical problems the inventive solutions disclosed in the texts aim to solve. A list of the top 10 groups consisting of patent documents with identical unified indicators contains ID numbers and applicant names of respective documents; the groups are sorted by the number of patent documents.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of patent documents includes General Electric (USA), Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Denmark), Wobben Properties GmbH (Germany), Siemens AG (Germany), Lm Glasfiber A/S (Denmark), Senvion Deutschland GmbH (Germany), Wobben Aloys (Germany), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan), Gamesa Innovation & Technology S.L. (Spain), NORDEX ENERGY GMBH (Germany). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of documents by problems, IPC sections, patent offices is provided in the form of tables and diagrams for them.
The prominent documents pages contain the top 10 patents with the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and the shortest patent pending time.
The conclusive part of the bulletin represents the lists 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.
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 wind energy production technologies.
