Company patents
TRANE INTERNATIONAL INC.
TRANE INTERNATIONAL INC. maintains a strong focus on its core HVAC & Air Conditioning (41.3% of portfolio) and Refrigeration (37.2% of portfolio) technologies, despite a notable decline in patenting activity across most categories so far in 2026. While categories like Industrial Control Systems and Sterilization & Biocompatible Materials show significant year-over-year declines of -33.3% and -75.0% respectively in 2025, the company surprisingly saw a rapid emergence in Bearings & Shafts with a +75.0% YoY growth in 2025, indicating a potential shifting priority towards mechanical components before its sharp decline in 2026.
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.
395 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 32 themes
Systems and methods for intelligent control of HVAC equipment, often incorporating sensors, communication networks, and adaptive algorithms to optimize comfort, energy efficiency, and operational parameters.
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.
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.
Engineering and diagnostic aspects of individual heating, ventilation, and air conditioning components, such as PTC heaters, air ducts, flow control valves, and compressor monitoring.
Systems for precisely directing and controlling chilled air within a refrigerator, often creating distinct temperature zones or optimizing cooling efficiency for different compartments.
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.
Application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis techniques for tasks such as fault detection, predictive maintenance, learning-based control, and intelligent environmental monitoring in HVAC systems.
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.
Technologies focused on improving indoor air quality by removing pollutants, microorganisms, or excess humidity, often employing specialized materials, filtration, or air circulation strategies.
Bearings that utilize a pressurized gas or liquid film to create a non-contact support surface, reducing friction and wear, often incorporating specific flow restriction or airfoil designs.
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 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.
Methods and circuits for controlling the power electronic converters (inverters, bridges) that supply current and voltage to electric motors, including switching strategies, voltage command generation, and multi-phase configurations.
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.
Integration of power converters with energy storage devices (batteries, supercapacitors) or grid interfaces, often involving AC/DC conversion, power flow management, and fault handling for hybrid power systems or specific applications like EVs or PV.
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.
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.
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.
Strategies and circuits for optimizing the supply and consumption of electrical power for motors, including current limiting, regenerative energy handling, battery integration, and managing power quality.
Systems and methods enabling the monitoring, configuration, and operation of industrial equipment and processes from a distance, often utilizing wireless communication protocols and networked platforms for enhanced flexibility and access.
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.
Design and optimization of fin structures, baffles, and surface textures within heat exchangers to increase heat transfer area, promote turbulence, or manage fluid flow for improved thermal performance.
Design and control of power supply architectures that combine multiple power sources (e.g., AC grid, DC battery, generators) or modular battery units, often featuring switching, conversion, and redundancy for enhanced reliability and flexibility.
Components and designs focused on preventing ingress of contaminants (e.g., dirt, water) or egress of lubricants from bearing systems, often using elastic seals, shields, or labyrinth structures.
Design and integration of bearings within larger mechanical systems or devices, focusing on mounting structures, housing, endplay management, and overall assembly for specific applications.
Integrated systems within refrigerators for dispensing chilled water, ice, or preparing beverages, often including filtration, storage components, and user interface controls.
Technologies and systems for removing unwanted components or separating desired gases from a mixed gas stream, including adsorption, absorption, and membrane-based methods.
Systems and materials designed for purifying biological fluids (like blood) or capturing airborne particles (like respiratory droplets) using membranes, filters, or specialized coatings.
Sophisticated software or hardware-implemented control strategies that optimize motor performance, such as precise speed/torque regulation, vibration reduction, or efficiency, often using model-based, predictive, or adaptive techniques.
Design of refrigerator interiors with reconfigurable, detachable, or specialized compartments, bins, and accessories to optimize storage, organization, and accessibility of items.
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.
Development of novel materials or material compositions to enhance bearing performance, such as wear resistance, friction reduction, or load capacity, often involving composites, ceramics, or specialized coatings.
Patents
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