CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER. Latest published applications 2017-2019. Solar Tower
Summary
Solar tower (ST) systems for concentrating solar energy employ a collection of individually-tracked mirrors (heliostats) to focus solar radiation on a receiver located at the top of a tower. A fluid heated in the receiver is used to generate steam, which drives a turbine generator to produce electricity. When combined with an energy storage system, solar towers can produce reliable on-demand energy 24 hours a day. CSP installations based on ST technology are operating successfully in different parts of the globe; one of the largest is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert, California, which provides up to 377 megawatts of net electricity. In recent years there has been great interest in solar tower systems around the world, particularly in Morocco, India, China, and South Africa. Current technology updates focus on increasing the conversion ratio of solar radiation to electricity, matching capacity with demand, developing new energy storage concepts, improving reliability and properties of plant components and transfer fluids.The proposed bulletin has accumulated recent patent applications containing statistical indicators to the recent technical solutions in this segment of solar energy.
The present bulletin reviews patent applications registered by patent offices around the globe in 2017-2019 in the field related to Solar Tower in Concentrated Solar Power. General research methodology can be found on the website Advanced Energy Technologies. 1009 patent documents from 30 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 407 applicants from 27 countries and 714 subgroups of the International Patent Classification are mentioned.
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), and data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The top three patent offices that registered the largest number of patent applications were CNIPA (CN), USPTO (US) and WIPO.
Based on the analysis of each of the patent applications, 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.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of patent documents includes Cockerill Maintenance & Ingenierie S.A. (BE), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) (DE), Magaldi Power S.P.A. (IT), General Electric Technology Gmbh (CH), Babcock & Wilcox Company (US), Zhejiang Supcon Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (CN), BASF, SE (DE), Fundación Tekniker (ES), Sulzer Management Ag (CH) and Alion Energy Inc (US). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators is provided in the form of tables and diagrams for them.
The bulletin contains lists of the top 10 prominent documents having the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and those not being part a of patent family.
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 registered patent applications.
Who needs this bulletin?
The data provided in the proposed bulletin is a timely reflection of the transformations that take place in the intellectual property sector of the industrial direction concerned. A thoroughly edited selection of patent documents can become a good complement to your library of available technical solutions. The bulletin is targeted at inventors, engineers, researchers, managers and business administrators involved in the development of solar energy production technologies.
