COOLING DEVICE FOR CIRCUIT BREAKERS USING PARASITIC MAGNETIC FIELDS BASED FORCED AIR FLOW GENERATOR

A cooling device for use with circuit interrupters includes a housing structured to be coupled to a terminal of the circuit interrupter and formed with several ventilation openings, as well as a permanent magnet, a torque converter and a fan blade all contained within the housing. When the cooling device is coupled to a terminal of a circuit interrupter and current flows through the terminals of the circuit interrupter, parasitic magnetic fields are generated and induce oscillatory motion of the permanent magnet. The torque converter is coupled to the permanent magnet and converts the oscillatory motion of the magnet to rotational motion that rotates the fan blade. The fan blade is disposed near the ventilation openings of the housing so that air flow produced by rotation of the fan blade travels across the surface of the circuit interrupter terminal nearest the ventilation openings to increase convection.