Company patents
General Electric Company
General Electric Company's patent strategy reveals a surprising and significant shift away from Wind Motors / Turbines, with a dramatic decline of 78.3% in 2025 and 80.0% so far in 2026, despite its historical association with renewable energy. While core aerospace categories like Steam / Gas Turbines (32.1% of portfolio) and Gas Turbine Plants (31.0% of portfolio) remain dominant, the company is also notably reducing its focus on Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), which saw a 32.9% decline in 2025.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
4,854 US filings (since 2023) · 9 categories · 33 themes
Support systems for gas turbine engines, including specialized pumps, cleaning methods for engine components, mobile power generation units, and specific structural components like joints and fasteners.
Systems and methods for real-time or periodic assessment of turbine engine health, including detection of wear, damage, unbalance, or deterioration, to enable predictive maintenance and extend operational life.
Techniques and structures within heat exchangers designed to enhance heat transfer efficiency by controlling and optimizing fluid flow, including baffle arrangements, jet impingement, and condensate management.
Integration of electric machines, energy storage, and power transfer systems with gas turbine engines to enable hybrid operation, electric starting, or auxiliary power generation, improving efficiency or operational flexibility.
Focuses on the development and application of novel materials, coatings, and manufacturing processes to improve the performance, durability, and cost-effectiveness of turbine engine components.
Combustor and fuel supply system designs that enable operation with multiple fuel types (e.g., conventional, ammonia, hydrogen) or optimize fuel-air mixing for improved efficiency, reduced emissions, or specific power cycles.
Focuses on optimizing the geometry, structure, and internal flow channels of impellers, blades, and housings to improve fluid dynamics, efficiency, or specific performance characteristics of centrifugal pumps and fans.
Techniques for building three-dimensional metal objects layer-by-layer using metal powders, including powder bed fusion, binder jetting, and directed energy deposition. This theme encompasses process mechanics, equipment design, and operational control for AM systems.
Integration of electric motors, power generation, and distribution systems for propelling aircraft, including components for coupling motors to propellers and managing electrical power.
Integration of additive manufacturing with subtractive manufacturing (e.g., machining, cutting) or other traditional processes within a single system or workflow to create parts with improved features, surface finish, or material properties, or to enable new manufacturing paradigms.
Systems and methods for real-time sensing, modeling, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing parameters to ensure part quality, consistency, and process efficiency. This includes thermal management, atmospheric regulation, and precise material deposition.
Designs for gear systems, particularly epicyclic configurations, to achieve high gear ratios for efficient power transfer between engine shafts and components like fans, often integrating with electric machines.
Innovations in the design, materials, and maintenance of seals, valves, and related components to improve durability, reduce leakage, and enable specific pump functions like high-pressure operation or automated seal replacement.
Design and control of electromechanical or hydraulic actuators for moving aircraft components like wing tips, control surfaces, or landing gear, often focusing on efficiency, redundancy, or specific operational profiles.
Focuses on novel wind turbine blade designs, including internal structural elements like shear webs and spar caps, external aerodynamic enhancements such as chord extensions or serrations, and advanced materials or integrated sensors for improved performance, durability, and load management.
Technologies for storing, managing pressure, and safely distributing hydrogen fuel within an aircraft, including tank integration, pressure control, and leak detection.
Methods and equipment for the efficient manufacturing, assembly, transport, installation, and maintenance of wind turbine components, particularly large structures like blades, towers, and generator modules.
Innovations in aircraft airframe design, material usage, and aerodynamic surfaces to improve performance characteristics such as weight, rigidity, short take-off/landing capabilities, or stall resistance.
Integration of additional functionalities or equipment with wind turbines, such as energy storage systems, hydrogen production (electrolysers), or hybrid energy harvesting combining wind with other renewable sources like hydrokinetic or wave power.
Systems designed to regulate the flow, pressure, and distribution of non-fuel gases and fluids within aircraft, such as cabin air, oxygen supply, or pneumatic actuation systems.
Methods and components for converting power into mechanical motion to drive pump mechanisms, encompassing electric motors, hydraulic actuators, and specialized motion converters like ball screws or solenoids.
Systems and methods for monitoring, regulating, and diagnosing the performance and health of pumps and fans, including speed control, flow rate management, abnormality detection, and safety mechanisms like overspeed safeguards.
Technologies for detecting operational parameters, monitoring component health, and diagnosing malfunctions in aircraft using various sensors and data analysis, often employing AI/ML.
Pumps and blowers specifically adapted or designed for unique fluid types, challenging environments, or particular industrial, medical, or consumer applications, often involving debris, specific gas mixtures, or precise delivery requirements.
Computational methods and design principles for generating optimized geometries, internal structures (e.g., lattices, minimal surfaces), or functional features that are specifically enabled or enhanced by the capabilities of additive manufacturing.
Systems and methods for ensuring robust and reliable aircraft control, often involving multiple control computers, adaptive control laws, or sophisticated pilot input interfaces, especially in the presence of failures or environmental disturbances.
Methods and tooling for forming structural components from fibrous materials impregnated with resin, involving processes like prepreg handling, resin infusion, and co-bonding during curing.
Production of materials where properties vary continuously or discontinuously through the volume, often achieved by combining different powders or applying specialized coatings like thermal sprays to enhance surface hardness, wear resistance, or thermal properties.
Techniques for combining multiple materials or layers, often with specialized surface treatments, coatings, or assembly methods, to create functional or aesthetically enhanced plastic articles, including consumer goods and encapsulated electronics.
Development and processing of metal powders with specific magnetic properties, including soft magnetic alloys, permanent magnet materials, and insulated powders for electronic components, often involving precise control of particle size, morphology, and composition.
Systems and methods for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing the movement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft, including real-time connectivity, flight planning, and route modification.
Innovations in aircraft cabin design, including reconfigurable spaces, passenger amenities, integrated displays, and automated control of cabin devices based on flight status.
Technologies related to the design, construction, and deployment of floating platforms, subsea foundations, mooring systems, and electrical architectures specifically for offshore wind turbines and multi-turbine farms.
Patents
Showing 41-50 of 1653
Internal Flow Path Optimization