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CPC technology class · H02

H02S — Generation OF Electric Power BY Conversion OF Infrared Ra…

Generation of electric power by conversion of infrared radiation, visible light or ultraviolet light, e.g. using photovoltaic [pv] modules. 6,483 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

6,483
US patents granted
H02
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+51%
5-yr velocity
Top assignee: SUNPOWER CORPORATION (212 patents)

CPC subclass H02S — GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES — covers 6,483 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class H02 (GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like H02S give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.

The competitive landscape in H02S is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. SUNPOWER CORPORATION leads with 212 patents, followed by NEXTRACKER LLC at 150 grants and Solaredge Technologies Ltd. at 399. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.

Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in H02S is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is H02S innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in H02S, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 51% versus 2015–2019.

300400500600700800900 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 560

Who leads H02S?

The 12 most active assignees in GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES — wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Sunpower is the most active filer in H02S, holding 212 of the 6,483 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 H02S
Rank Company Patents in H02S
#1 SUNPOWER CORPORATION 601
#2 NEXTRACKER LLC 150
#3 Solaredge Technologies Ltd. 399
#4 SolarCity Corporation 217
#5 GAF Energy LLC 77
#6 Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. 373
#7 Unirac, Inc. 116
#8 SMA Solar Technology AG 231
#9 Tigo Energy, Inc. 80
#10 Tesla, Inc. 518
#11 Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd. 170
#12 OJJO, INC. 64
#13 Enphase Energy, Inc. 181
#14 Sunmodo Corporation 48
#15 CertainTeed LLC 307
#16 IronRidge, Inc. 42
#17 LAT Enterprises, Inc. 92
#18 ARRAY TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 43
#19 FTC Solar, Inc. 29
#20 Ouraring Inc. 42

About This Class

CPC subclass H02S belongs to class H02.

6,483 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class H02S?
CPC subclass H02S covers GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES. It belongs to CPC class H02 (GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER). The Cooperative Patent Classification is a hierarchical system used by the USPTO and European Patent Office to categorize patents by technology.
How many patents have been filed in H02S?
6,483 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass H02S between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in H02S?
SUNPOWER CORPORATION leads H02S with 212 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for H02S collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., H02) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like H02S provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

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How to Read Patent Data

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Patent Moat Analysis

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Sunpower

The leading filer in H02S — full patent portfolio
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Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView — official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial