Patent count for conversion devices

To test whether efficiency savings potential align with current innovation activity it is necessary to quantify innovation activity. In chapter 2 it was shown that patent counts offer an effective way to quantify the innovation taking place for different technologies at a high degree of granularity. This section describes how the patent counts are performed for each conversion device.

There are two databases that are used by the innovation science community to count patents.

• PATSTAT is maintained by the European Patent Office and contains all information on patent applications in Europe but also contains data on patents registered in most other countries. This database is also equipped with the Y02 classification [422] which was developed to track all patents that are related to technologies that have a potential to mitigate carbon emissions. This database is not easily accessible from third parties and requires a subscription

• The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database contains patents registered in the USA classified according to the US patent codes and the International Patent Classificaiton. This database is often used by scholars because it is considered the most representative national database as 50% of all included patents are registered by non-US inventors [237] and thus has an international dimension to it. Moreover, it is easily accessible through an Application Programming Interface called “PatentsView”

[423].

The USPTO database is chosen as it is deemed sufficiently representative of global innovation patterns as international comparisons are not needed for this study and because of its superior accessibility compared to PATSTAT. The “PatentsView” API enables to query the database with access though a Package in the R programming language.

The database was queried using International Patent Codes (IPC) which classify patents according to the type of technology in the patent. Table 5.2 is used to associate a patent to a conversion device. For light devices, heat pumps, coolers, and boilers, the association of codes to technologies follows the work of Noailly et al [240], which linked IPC codes to building efficiency technologies in conjunction with experts at the Netherlands Patent Office. For electric motors, the allocation follows Nabitz et al. [424], and in addition to the IPC codes, patents are selected only if they contain the terms “motor” or “machine”. For the remaining devices (reciprocating engines, and gas turbines), the allocation was made following indications of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s “IPC Green Inventory”

[236] which maps IPCs to the UNFCCC’s Environmentally sound technologies. Diesel and spark ignition engines are categorised as a single conversion device category: “Reciprocating Engines”.

Table 5.2 Contingency table linking International Patent Classification (IPC) codes to con-version devices. Different depths of IPCs are used for different devices. The official IPC descriptions of each code are shown on the rightmost column.

device IPC Description

Light device F21K 9/00 Light Sources Using Semiconductor Devices As Light-Generating Elements, E.G. Using Light-Emitting Diodes [Led] Or Lasers [2016.01]

H01L 33/00 Semiconductor Devices With At Least One Potential-Jump Barrier Or Sur-face Barrier Specially Adapted For Light Emission; Processes Or Apparatus specially Adapted For The Manufacture Or Treatment Thereof Or Of Parts Thereof

Gas turbine F02K Jet-Propulsion Plants

F02C 7/00 Features, Component Parts, Details Or Accessories, Not Provided For In, Or Of Interest Apart From, Groups F02C 1/00-F02C 6/00; Air Intakes For Jet-Propulsion Plants

F02C 9/00 Controlling Gas-Turbine Plants; Controlling Fuel Supply In Air-Breathing Jet-Propulsion Plants

Electric Mo-tor

H02K/1 Details Of The Magnetic Circuit H02K/3 Details Of Windings

H02K/9 Arrangements For Cooling Or Ventilating

H02K/15 Methods Or Apparatus Specially Adapted For Manufacturing, Assembling, Maintaining Or Repairing Of Dynamo-Electric Machines

H02K/17 Asynchronous Induction Motors; Asynchronous Induction Generators H02K/19 Synchronous Motors Or Generators

H02K/21 Synchronous Motors Having Permanent Magnets; Synchronous Generators Having Permanent Magnets

H02P Control Or Regulation Of Electric Motors, Electric Generators Or Dynamo-Electric Converters; Controlling Transformers, Reactors Or Choke Coils Reciprocating

Engines

F01B Machines Or Engines, In General Or Of Positive-Displacement Type F01L Cyclically Operating Valves For Machines Or Engines

F02B Internal-Combustion Piston Engines; Combustion Engines In General F02D Controlling Combustion Engines

Boiler F22B Methods Of Steam Generation; Steam Boilers

F23D 14/00 Burners For Combustion Of A Gas, E.G. Of A Gas Stored Under Pressure As A Liquid

F22G Superheating Of Steam

F24D 1/00 Steam Central Heating Systems F24D 3/00 Hot-Water Central Heating Systems F24D 17/00 Domestic Hot-Water Supply Systems

Cooler F25B 1/00 Compression Machines, Plant Or Systems With Non-Reversible Cycle

F25B 3/00 Self-Contained Rotary Compression Machines, I.E. With Compressor, Con-denser, And Evaporator Rotating As A Single Unit

F25B 5/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, With Several Evaporator Circuits, E.G. For Varying Refrigerating Capacity

F25B 6/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, With Several Condenser Circuits F25B 7/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, With Cascade Operation, I.E. With

Two Or More Circuits, The Heat From The Condenser Of One Circuit Being Absorbed By The Evaporator Of The Next Circuit

F25B 9/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, In Which The Refrigerant Is Air Or Other Gas Of Low Boiling Point

F25B 11/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, Using Turbines, E.G. Gas Turbines F25B 13/00 Compression Machines, Plant, Or Systems, With Reversible Cycle

F25B 15/00 Sorption Machines, Plant, Or Systems, Operating Continuously, E.G. Absorp-tion Type

F25B 17/00 Sorption Machines, Plant, Or Systems, Operating Intermittently, E.G. Absorp-tion Or AdsorpAbsorp-tion Type

Heat Pump F25B 30/00 Heat Pumps

F24D 3/18 Hot-Water Central Heating Systems - Using Heat Pumps

F24D 15/04 Other Domestic- Or Space-Heating Systems - Using Heat Pumps

The resulting patent counts provide and indication of the innovation effort for each device.

The patent abstract text is used to filter only patents which target efficiency, providing a metric of efficiency innovation. The following character vectors are used to filter the patents:

“ efficient”, “efficiency”, “fuel consumption”, “fuel economy”, “efficacy”, and “coefficient of performance”.

5.3 Results

This analysis models efficiencies for energy conversion devices, from 2014 to 2060, and uses this to calculate the energy and carbon emissions savings potentials for each device. Patents are used to contrast these savings potential with current innovation efforts, to test alignment.