Technology trends related to Turbochargers of Japanese Automakers

Patent application trends of Toyota and Mazda

2021/03/09

Summary
Technological Trends in Turbochargers
Toyota: Examples of patent applications that contain words such as "electric” and “electric compressor”
Mazda: Examples of patent applications that contain words such as "electric”, “power output”, and “generator”

Summary

This report created by MarkLines focuses on a number of recent technical topics surrounding the automotive industry and is based on patent information from the “Technology Information Distribution Service - swimy” obtained by the Toyota Technical Development Corporation (TTDC). The two business areas of TTDC are in the fields of intellectual property and measurement control solutions. The intellectual property (IP) side of TTDC is involved in the collection and analysis of information on automotive technology developments globally, and provides services such as consulting for research planning, applying for patents in foreign languages, and technical translation.

With the recent tightening of regulations on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per kilometer driven in Japan, Europe, the U.S., and China, the use of turbocharged engines is expected to increase as measures to, for example, improve engine fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The percentage of engine vehicles with turbochargers is expected to reach 55-60% by 2025. This report shows the trend of patent applications related to turbochargers by automakers in Japan.

Among automakers, patent applications related to turbochargers once peaked in 2016 at over 250 applications, but this has since been trending downwards. Toyota Motor Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation, and Isuzu Motors Limited are the companies with the largest number of applications. Regarding the turbocharger technologies applied for by each company, the number of applications for turbocharger systems (patent classification: F02B37) tends to be larger than that for turbocharger units themselves (patent classification: F02B39). In the WordCloud graph showing the technical characteristics of the patents filed by the top two companies in terms of the number of applications, many words are related to electrification, such as "electric" and "electric compressor," as is the case for both companies.

Source: Technical information distribution service - swimy　URL: https://ip.toyota-td.jp/en/service6/
This source (TTDC) has extensive content related to automobiles. Graphs can be created for contents of interest with a single click. The database also supports the detailed display and download of intellectual property related information.