Patent ID: 8717746

Claim:
A cooling apparatus for a switchgear having at least one primary contact constructed and arranged to connect to a terminal of a circuit breaker, with a busbar joint being connected to the primary contact, the cooling apparatus comprising: an evaporator constructed and arranged to be associated with the primary contact, a condenser located at a higher elevation than the evaporator, heat pipe structure fluidly connecting the evaporator with the condenser, heat transfer structure coupled with the busbar joint for removing heat from the busbar joint, and working fluid in the evaporator so as to be heated to a vapor state, with the heat pipe structure being constructed and arranged to transfer the vapor to the condenser and to passively return condensed working fluid back to the evaporator for cooling the at least one primary contact, wherein heat transfer structure comprises: a plurality of fins, and a plurality of heat spreaders that pass through the fins to join the fins so that the fins are in spaced relation, wherein the heat transfer structure is constructed and arranged to be received in a space between a pair of first busbars of the busbar joint so that the heat spreaders distribute heat along the first busbars, with the fins transferring heat to surrounding air by natural convection.