Company patents
Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co., Ltd.
HEFEI MIDEA REFRIGERATOR CO., LTD's patent strategy is surprisingly diversified beyond its core refrigeration business, with 18.2% of its portfolio in Tables & Desks, despite a significant decline of 71.4% in 2025. While Refrigerators & Cold Storage remains dominant at 56.8%, its patenting activity in this area has seen a sharp decline of 56.2% so far in 2026, suggesting a potential shift in focus or a slowdown in new filings for its primary product line.
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.
88 US filings (since 2023) · 7 categories · 18 themes
Innovations in the mechanical design, aesthetic features, and integrated functionalities of refrigerator doors, including hinges, handles, internal wiring, and lighting.
Integrated systems within refrigerators for dispensing chilled water, ice, or preparing beverages, often including filtration, storage components, and user interface controls.
Integration of sensors, cameras, and processing units to monitor internal conditions, manage food inventory, or automate food preparation and preservation tasks within a refrigerator.
Furniture designs that incorporate specialized compartments, locking mechanisms, or automated retrieval systems to secure, organize, or control access to stored items within cabinets, desks, or appliances.
Design of refrigerator interiors with reconfigurable, detachable, or specialized compartments, bins, and accessories to optimize storage, organization, and accessibility of items.
Systems for precisely directing and controlling chilled air within a refrigerator, often creating distinct temperature zones or optimizing cooling efficiency for different compartments.
Guide rails and associated drive mechanisms, often electric, designed for smooth, controlled, and sometimes automated movement of drawers, shelves, or other movable furniture parts within cabinets or assemblies.
Design and control strategies for improving the efficiency, stability, and operational flexibility of refrigerant circuits, including component integration, flow management, phase separation, and pressure regulation.
Non-traditional refrigeration and heat pump systems that utilize principles other than vapor compression, such as magnetocaloric effects, thermoelectric effects, absorption cycles, or thermochemical reactions.
Systems and methods specifically engineered for removing pollutants and impurities from water sources, ranging from groundwater decontamination to point-of-use filtration, often employing adsorption, membrane, or distillation techniques.
Membrane-based separation for water purification, contaminant removal, desalination, and wastewater treatment, including reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and forward osmosis modules.
Self-contained or portable units designed for maintaining specific temperatures for food, beverages, or sensitive items during transport, often incorporating active cooling or smart monitoring features.
Methods and apparatus for disinfecting or sterilizing medical devices, waste, or environments, often employing radiation, chemical agents, or thermal processes, and including monitoring systems.
Techniques and equipment for transforming raw food materials into finished products, focusing on efficiency, quality, texture modification, or specific physical alterations like extrusion, drying, or selective material removal.
Devices and methods for the regulated delivery, preservation, and emission of volatile chemical agents, often for fragrance or therapeutic purposes, within various environments or containers.
Use of specialized materials and structures, such as vacuum insulation panels or phase change materials, to improve thermal efficiency and maintain stable temperatures within refrigeration appliances.
Methods and compositions for developing new protein sources (e.g., microbial, plant-based blends) or utilizing controlled fermentation processes to create novel food products, improve nutritional profiles, or enhance specific characteristics like texture or flavor.
Techniques and mechanisms to optimize the performance, energy consumption, and operational range of compressors in refrigeration and heat pump systems, often involving variable control of compression parameters like volume ratio or speed.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 119