"Among 10 Cases, 3.7 Are Korean" Battery Fire Safety Leads Global Patent Applications

Domestic companies are leading global patent applications in the field of battery fire safety technology. Battery fire safety technology is gaining attention for its role in preventing, detecting, and extinguishing battery fires and explosions caused by thermal runaway.

Trends in Patent Applications by Country Related to Battery Fire Safety Technology. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the 3rd, a total of 13,559 patents related to battery fire safety technology were filed at major patent offices (Korea, US, China, Europe, Japan, hereafter IP5) from 2012 to 2021. Patent applications in this field, which numbered only 715 in 2012, increased to 2,518 in 2021. The average annual growth rate over the past 10 years was 15%.

In particular, Korea led the increase in global patent applications related to battery fire safety technology. For example, among the 13,559 global patent applications in the battery fire safety technology field from 2012 to 2021, those filed by Korean nationals accounted for 37.7% (5,122 applications), the highest proportion by a single country.

Following Korea, China (22.8%, 3,099 applications), Japan (21.0%, 2,855 applications), and the United States (11.2%, 1,518 applications) had high shares of battery fire safety technology patents.

By technology type, fire detection accounted for the largest number of patent applications with 9,866 (61.2%), followed by fire prevention with 5,292 (32.8%), and fire extinguishing with 967 (6.0%).

When examining the growth rate of patent applications, the fire extinguishing sector showed the steepest increase with an average annual growth rate of 37.7%. This is interpreted as a result of rising social interest and demand for battery fire extinguishing technology due to recent repeated secondary battery fire and explosion accidents.

It is also noteworthy that LG Energy Solution (1st), Samsung SDI (2nd), SK On (6th), and Hyundai Motor Company (9th) are ranked within the top 10 for the number of battery fire safety technology patent applications filed at IP5.

Among them, LG and Samsung ranked first and second respectively, indicating that domestic companies have an advantage in patent applications in the battery fire safety technology field. This can be seen as domestic companies actively securing related technologies to proactively respond to battery fire and explosion accidents.

Shin Sang-gon, Director of the Patent Examination Planning Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “Battery fire safety technology is a key technology that contributes to reducing damage caused by battery fire and explosion accidents,” adding, “The Patent Office will provide necessary patent information in a timely manner to protect the lives and safety of the public from battery fire and explosion accidents.”