PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F24

F24S - Solar Heat Collectors

Solar heat collectors; solar heat systems. 3,307 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

3,307
US patents granted
#3/8
in F24
12.1%
F24 class share
-23%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Solar Heat Collectors ranks #304 of 670 CPC technology areas - 3,307 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 23% over five years.

#304
of 670 CPC technology areas
3,307
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Nextracker
leading assignee (112)
-23%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F24S's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F24S recorded 1,302 grants versus 1,682 in 2015–2019 (-23% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2015 at 389 grants and bottomed in 2022 at 220 (+77% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Nextracker LLC holds 3.4% of the class ; the top three share 8.6%.

Leaderboard read

F24S concentration, lead at 3.4%

Nextracker LLC leads this historical grant record at 3.4% of F24S - us corporation assignees hold 76% of class grants (1,162 of 1,538). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
3.4%

112 of 3,307 grants

Top three share
8.6%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
22

more grants than Sunpower Corporation

Where F24S sits inside F24

Among 8 subclasses in F24 (HEATING; RANGES; Ventilating), F24S ranks #3 and holds 12.1% of the parent class's 27,261 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F24F 14,049 F24C 3,868 F24H 2,950 F24D 2,041 F24T 436 F24B 409 F24V 201

Rising assignees active in F24S

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

  1. #1 GAF Energy LLC 55x 1 → 55 company-wide · 5 in F24S
  2. #2 Nevados Engineering, Inc. 11x 0 → 11 company-wide · 13 in F24S
  3. #3 Array Tech, Inc. 10x 0 → 10 company-wide · 18 in F24S
  4. #4 SUN AND Steel Solar LLC 8.00x 0 → 8 company-wide · 8 in F24S
  5. #5 Array Technologies, Inc. 6.80x 5 → 34 company-wide · 29 in F24S

F24S grants by year, peak 2015 (389)

US utility-patent grants per year in F24S, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 23% versus 2015–2019.

200250300350400 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 212

Who leads F24S?

The 12 most active assignees in Solar Heat COLLECTORS; Solar Heat Systems - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Nextracker is the most active filer in F24S, holding 112 of the 3,307 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass F24S
Rank Company Patents in F24S
#1 Nextracker LLC 112
#2 Sunpower Corporation 90
#3 SolarCity Corporation 81
#4 Unirac, Inc. 53
#5 Ojjo, Inc. 45
#6 IronRidge, Inc. 34
#7 Array Technologies, Inc. 29
#8 Sunmodo Corporation 28
#9 Abengoa Solar New Technologies, S.A. 24
#10 RMH Tech LLC 22
#11 EcoFasten Solar, LLC 22
#12 Sunrun South LLC 21
#13 FTC Solar, Inc. 19
#14 CertainTeed LLC 18
#15 Array Tech, Inc. 18
#16 Pegasus Solar Inc 17
#17 Sunrun Inc. 16
#18 McAlister Technologies, LLC 15
#19 GlassPoint Solar, Inc. 15
#20 Nevados Engineering, Inc. 13

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F24S assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 F24S assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F24S. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 050100150 Patents in F24S Avg claims / patent (company-wide) NextrackerSunpowerSolarcityUniracOjjoIronridgeArraySunmodoAbengoa Solar NewRmh TechEcofasten SolarSunrun SouthFtc SolarCertainteed
Top 14 F24S assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F24S. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F24S's 3,307-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F24S (#304 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.4%) - not the F24 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B28B 3,309 A23K 3,247 E02D 3,369 G01G 3,374

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B29C 3.4% C10L 3.4% A47B 3.4% E04G 3.3%

Questions about F24S

Which company holds the most patents in F24S?
Nextracker LLC leads F24S with 112 patents (3.4% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 76% of class grants.
Which F24S assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F24S, GAF Energy LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (55x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 55 in 2022–2024) while holding 5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does F24S compare inside parent class F24?
Inside F24 (HEATING; RANGES; Ventilating), F24S ranks #3 of 8 subclasses by grant volume and holds 12.1% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F24F (14,049 grants).

What to do with this data

F24S in context - here's where to go next.

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - F24S figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (3,307 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.