Looking at Patent Law-The Impact of Electrochemical Science and Engineering on the Patent Literature

Abstract

In this installment of the “Looking at Patent Law” series, we illustrate a high-level perspective of the impact of electrochemical science and engineering on innovation and technology development, as evidenced by inclusion within the patent literature. We searched the USPTO patent data base for the past thirty-one years using commercially available software. The search was limited to U.S. patents and included the Boolean search string was “electrochem* OR electroly*” for U.S. patents issued within the date range of 01/01/1991 to 12/31/2021. Over the past ten years “electrochemical” patents represent nearly 5% of “all” issued patents. The top assignees of the “electrochemical” patents attend and/or present at biannual ECS meetings and publish in ECS journals. Notable top inventors of “electrochemical” patents include: 1) Dr. Shumpei Yamazaki with over 800 patents, 2) Dr. Adam Heller, the inventor of the electrochemical-based glucose monitor, and 3) Dr. Esther Takeuchi, inventor of the implantable cardiac defibrillator.

A Review on Sensor‐Integrating Machine Elements

“…Using electrodes embedded in an O-ring, researchers were able to detect crevice corrosion in seawater piping. [154][155][156]…”

Perspective–Opportunities for Industrial Applications of Pulse Electrolytic Processes Beyond Plating and Surface Finishing

“…The simpler PC deburring electrolyte enabled robust, high-volume, low-cost deburring of automotive gears. 14 DC electropolishing processes are based on high viscosity electrolytes such as concentrated sulfuric/phosphoric acid to achieve surface polishing based on tertiary current distribution effects. Due to the mass transport based polishing mechanism, DC electropolishing processes are slow and often follow a front-end mechanical surface finishing process such as abrasive flow media.…”

Iron Flow Battery with Slurry Electrode for Large Scale Energy Storage: Scale-Up, Intellectual Property, and Commercialization Challenges

“…15 This patent was analyzed as a case study by Taylor and Inman in a previous Interface article. 16 During the development of the slurry electrode concept, additional technology was developed for the battery system as a whole. A coated microporous separator 17 was invented that is not ionically selective but provides high ionic conductivity while preventing hydraulic crossover of liquids across the separator.…”