Patent ID: 8012408

Claim:
A metal powder manufacturing device for manufacturing a metal powder, comprising: a feed for supplying a molten metal; a fluid spout unit, including: a channel, provided below the feed, allowing passing of the molten metal supplied from the feed; and an orifice, opened at a bottom end of the channel, spouting a fluid into the channel that contacts the molten metal to form a dispersion liquid composed of multiple fine particles dispersed in the first fluid that result from a breakup caused by contact between the first fluid and the molten metal; and a cylinder having an axis located downstream from the fluid spout unit that encircles the dispersion liquid, the cylinder narrowing radially inwardly toward the axis around an entire circumference of the cylinder via a radius of curvature that extends in a longitudinal direction of the cylinder such that the cylinder has a smaller diameter in a middle of the longitudinal direction thereof that forcibly changes a traveling direction of a dispersion liquid so that every droplet is cooled and solidified in the dispersion liquid in order to manufacture the metal powder, wherein the orifice that spouts the first fluid into contact with the molten metal is operable to form a vapor layer disposed around each particle, and the cylinder that narrows radially inwardly toward the axis via the radius of curvature is operable to separate the vapor layer from each of the particles using a centrifugal force.