Should certain concepts be avoided/included when searching for fluid dynamics patents?

Question

I'm interested to find the range of patented art for apparatus / systems that control the shape/structure of fluid motion.

I'm interested in fluid separations, but dis-interested in

• screens
• media filters
• cooking frac-ers
• evaporation

I have a moderate interest in

• zeolite reactions
• electrochemical stimulation

But mostly I'm interested in mass-transfer based on pure fluid dynamics. Centrifuges are interesting, but no real patentable art is introduced along these lines.

Are certain keywords important for exclusion or inclusion, to ensure I head in the right direction?

Answer 1

I wouldn't consider myself a highly proficient patent-searcher, though I do have some experience. On some patent searches you can explicitly exclude results containing a certain keyword and this can be very useful. Another trick is to deliberately try some more general searches (which may well return 1000's of results) and just have a browse at the first 10 (or a handful of the first 100) and see if you can begin to spot patterns of keywords that start cropping up. This may give you clues to effectively narrow your search. Have you already exhausted searches based on the application you have in mind? I'm guessing you may be deliberately looking outside your immediate field?

Another line of attack (if you've got a bit of patience) may be to ask your question on an active internet discussion forum on the subject of fluid dynamics, and see if a specialist in the field can give you some hints.