The difference between a Shunt Trip and a Trip Coil

[majesus]

In Circuit Breaker applications, what is the difference between a Shunt Trip and a Trip Coil?

For instance in one 600V PDC drawing, I see that the relay which trips the 2000A secondary CB is labeled as "ST."

However, for the 4kV PDC drawing, I see that the relay coil that trips the 2000A secondary CB is labeled as "TC."

The intended purpose of both types is to trip the CB (that's easy! j/k)... But I'm curious, what is the difference between the two types?

Regards,
Maj

 

[alehman]

To my knowledge they are one and the same. Usually "shunt trip" is a term used in low voltage, e.g. molded case, circuit breakers where it is commonly and add-on component. For power breakers, it is a standard component and is more commonly called a "trip coil".

 

[bfuchs]

A "trip coil" can be either :
- shunt trip coils : were the application of voltage causes the coil to trip the breaker
- an undervoltage trip coil : where removing the voltage causes the coil to trip the circuit breaker (or application of voltage of voltage is required to close and maintain the breaker closed)

 

[waross]

A shunt trip is a voltage coil. Some trip coils may be current dependent.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[majesus]

Thank you guys... You know, I called the engineer who drew these drawings and asked him, because I am ALWAYS curious about these things and it will bug me until I learn why...

Like Aleham said, "shunt trip" is the term used in low voltage, e.g. molded case, circuit breakers where it is commonly an add-on component. The CB has thermal/magnetic trip capabilities, but it also has the ability to trip electronically say from a Feeder Protection Relay say like the GE SR750.

"Trip Coil" was used in reference to Power CB (in this case Medium CB.) The CB has no thermal/magnetic trip capabilities, it requires "brains" to tell it when to trip electronically from a monitoring relay such as the GE SR750

Cheers,
Maj