Metal powder production apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10328492-B2
Application number	US-201715424147-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 3, 2017
Priority date	Feb 19, 2016
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

A metal powder production apparatus includes a molten metal supply section which supplies a molten metal, a cylindrical body which includes an upper part placed on a lower side of the molten metal supply section and a lower part provided on a lower side of the upper part, a fluid jet section which jets a gas (fluid) toward the molten metal, and a cooling liquid outflow section which allows a cooling liquid to flow out along the inner circumferential surface of the upper part. In the metal powder production apparatus, an angle formed by the axial line of the upper part of the cylindrical body and the vertical line is 0° or more and 20° or less, and an angle formed by the axial line of the lower part of the cylindrical body and the vertical line is 0° or more and 20° or less.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A metal powder production apparatus comprising:
a molten metal supply configured to supply a molten metal;
a fluid jet member configured to receive the molten metal from the molten metal supply, a bottom surface of the fluid jet member having a molten metal port and a plurality of fluid jet ports, the plurality of fluid jet ports being arranged relative to one another so as to circularly surround the molten metal port on the bottom surface in a plan view, each of the plurality of fluid jet ports jetting a fluid toward the molten metal exiting from the molten metal port;
a cylindrical body that is provided to face the molten metal port and the plurality of fluid jet ports, the cylindrical body having an upper part and a lower part, the upper part being located closer to the fluid jet member than the lower part; and
a cooling liquid outflow member configured to flow a cooling liquid along an inner circumferential surface of the upper part of the cylindrical body,
wherein an angle formed by an axial line of the upper part of the cylindrical body and a vertical line is 0° or more and 20° or less, and an angle formed by an axial line of the lower part of the cylindrical body and the vertical line is 0° or more and 20° or less, and
a minimum inner diameter of the lower part of the cylindrical body is 15% or more and 85% or less of an inner diameter of the upper part.

2. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the cylindrical body includes a portion whose inner diameter continues to decrease downward.

3. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the upper part in the vertical direction is 1 time or more and 7 times or less of the inner diameter of the upper part.

4. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the lower part in the vertical direction is 2 times or more of the inner diameter of the upper part.

5. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the upper part of the cylindrical body has a space which is surrounded by a cooling liquid layer constituted by the cooling liquid on a lateral side and a lower side of the space.

6. A metal powder production apparatus comprising:
a molten metal supply configured to supply a molten metal;
a cylindrical body which is placed on a lower side of the molten metal supply and includes a portion in which a spiral groove is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical body;
a fluid jet member configured to jet a fluid toward the molten metal supplied from the molten metal supply; and
a cooling liquid outflow member configured to flow a cooling liquid along the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical body,
wherein an angle formed by an axial line of the cylindrical body and a vertical line is 0° or more and 20° or less, and
the spiral groove and the cooling liquid outflow member are configured such that a rotation direction of an arbitrary object when the object moves by gravity along the spiral groove and a state where the object moves is viewed from a vertically upper side, and a rotation direction of the cooling liquid when a state where the cooling liquid flows along the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical body is viewed from the vertically upper side are the same as each other.

7. The metal power production apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein an angle formed by a plane orthogonal to the axis line of the cylindrical body and the spiral groove is equal to an angle formed by the plane and an outflow direction of the cooling liquid.

8. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a width of the groove is 0.01% or more and 1% or less of an inner diameter of the cylindrical body.

9. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein a depth of the spiral groove is 10% or more and 500% or less of the width of the spiral groove.

10. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a transverse cross-sectional shape of the spiral groove is a triangle or a semicircle.

11. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
the cylindrical body includes an upper part and a lower part provided continuous with the upper part, the upper part is located closer to the molten metal supply than the lower part, and
the lower part is inclined with respect to the upper part so that an angle formed by an axial line of the lower part and the vertical line is larger than an angle formed by an axial line of the upper part and the vertical line.

12. The metal powder production apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the fluid is an inert gas.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Kaneta Yuki
• Akazawa Toshiki

Classifications

• B22F2009/086

  Cooling after atomisation · CPC title

• B22F2009/0892

  casting nozzle; controlling metal stream in or after the casting nozzle · CPC title

• B22F2009/0888

  casting construction of the melt process, apparatus, intermediate reservoir, e.g. tundish, devices for temperature control · CPC title

• B22F9/082 Primary

  atomising using a fluid (using centrifugal force B22F9/10) · CPC title

• B22F2009/0884

  Spiral fluid · CPC title