Liquid metal mechanical pump

Claim 1

In a liquid metal mechanical pump having a substantially cylindrical casing, a pump drive shaft vertically extending along the center of said casing, a hydrostatic bearing immersed in liquid metal rotatably supporting a lower portion of said drive shaft, and a diffuser disposed below said bearing, the improvement which comprises: a solid, imperforate partition wall extending upwardly from said diffuser and surrounding said bearing along the axial direction thereof with a clearance between said solid partition wall and said bearing, said solid partition wall being provided with an upper end positioned substantially above the hydrostatic bearing between areas inside and outside said solid partition wall at a position remote from said diffuser, said area outside the solid partition wall constituting a mixing chamber, whereby a part of liquid metal forced out of the diffuser is thoroughly mixed in said mixing chamber in order to eliminate any temperature differences in said liquid metal and then the mixed part of the liquid metal flows over the upper end of the solid partition wall before being supplied to said hydrostatic bearing so that thermal shocks to the hydrostatic bearing are reduced.