Patent ID: 7061252

Claim:
An electrical arcing protection circuit, configured to detect and suppress electrical pre-arcing and arcing conditions in a resistive heater wire circuit, wherein the heater wire is coupled to a voltage source, comprising: a voltage suppressor, coupled to the voltage source and configured to detect and suppress transient voltage spikes in a voltage signal supplied by the voltage source; a first sensing load, coupled to the voltage suppressor; detection and control circuitry, coupled to the sensing load and configured to determine whether a voltage level at the first sensing load exceeds a first predefined voltage level; and a switch, coupled to the control circuitry and the heater wire, wherein said detection and control circuitry is configured to open the switch upon determining that the voltage level at the first sensing load exceeds the first predefined voltage level; and a second sensing load coupled to the voltage source and the detection and control circuitry.