Patent-map Analysis of Gauge-changeable Systems

초록

Gauge-changeable systems can be used for the fast and safe transportation in the railways with different gauges instead of transshipment or bogie-changing. The system will be necessary to connect the trans-Korean railway with the trans-Siberian railway effectively. In this paper, searches of patent information about variable-gauge system are conducted and the patent maps are analyzed to seize the overall image and trend of the technology field. It can be found that the number of patents applied to Japan is the greatest and the number of applications by Spain and Germany increased remarkably from the mid-1980s. The technology field is still in the development stage in its life cycle, but seems to go to the mature period in near future. The possibility of successful entry of a new company can be relatively high and the most important technological issue seems to be the mechanism of gauge lock and changing. The results can be a reference for determining the development direction of the gauge-changeable system suitable in the north-east Asian railway networks.