Company patents
Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.
Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc. maintains a strong focus on its core aerospace competencies, with Steam / Gas Turbines (44.1% of portfolio) and Gas Turbine Plants (36.4% of portfolio) dominating its patent strategy. Surprisingly, despite its traditional aerospace strength, the company shows an emerging focus on Electric Motors & Generators, which experienced a remarkable 216.7% year-over-year growth in 2025, indicating a potential shift towards electrification, while categories like Aircraft Equipment and Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) have seen significant declines in patenting activity so far in 2026, suggesting shifting priorities.
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.
376 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 29 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Integration of electric motors, power generation, and distribution systems for propelling aircraft, including components for coupling motors to propellers and managing electrical power.
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.
Novel designs and configurations for heat exchangers that improve heat transfer efficiency, compactness, or enable specific phase change or separation processes within refrigeration and heat pump cycles.
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.
Heat transfer devices that utilize the phase change of a working fluid (evaporation and condensation) to efficiently move heat, often incorporating capillary structures, heat pipes, or vapor chambers.
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.
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.
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.
Methods and systems for real-time monitoring and control of coating processes or chamber cleaning, utilizing sensor data (e.g., thermal, pressure, optical) and predictive models to ensure quality and optimize efficiency.
Systems and components designed to store thermal energy, often using sensible, latent (phase change material), or thermochemical reactions, for later release and utilization in various applications.
Development of novel motor architectures beyond traditional radial flux designs, including linear, axial, or multi-armature configurations, often to optimize for specific performance characteristics like torque density or form factor.
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.
Manufacturing processes and techniques for producing stator cores, windings, and coils, including lamination, impregnation, hairpin winding, and segment coil bending, to improve motor efficiency, power density, or reliability.
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.
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.
Methods and structures for integrating and enclosing electronic components into compact, multi-functional modules, often involving embedded components, multi-layer substrates, and electromagnetic shielding for performance and miniaturization.
Application of protective layers to improve the durability and longevity of components by enhancing resistance to wear, oxidation, or chemical degradation in demanding operational environments.
Methods and materials used to construct robust and protective enclosures for electronic devices, focusing on structural integrity, impact resistance, thermal dissipation, and specialized material properties for enhanced durability.
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.
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.
Technologies for storing, managing pressure, and safely distributing hydrogen fuel within an aircraft, including tank integration, pressure control, and leak detection.
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.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 705