Electrical Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter Apparatus and Method

Abstract

In all electrical circuits, various arcing conditions can arise, however, there are primary ones are series arcing (low current arcing), and, parallel arcing (high current arcing). An arc fault circuit interrupter (“AFCI”) that protects for both series and parallel arcing is called a combination type. An AFCI is a device that controls the effects of electrical arcing by opening a circuit through a tripping mechanism that isolates the load from the supply line upon detection of an arcing condition. In this invention, this arc fault is detected by a Hall-Effect sensor (“HES”), a HES integrated circuit, and microprocessor. When circuit fluctuation starts, the microprocessor logs this from its first occurrence then compares it to a pre-determined threshold time to determine an arcing condition. Continued fluctuation beyond this threshold time is considered an arcing condition for safety the microprocessor then executes a command to activate the tripping mechanism.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.