Patent ID: 7872839

Claim:
A method of controlling a serial arc fault in an electrical circuit, said method comprising: a. measuring a current running through said electrical circuit; b. determining whether said current is below a predetermined average current for said electrical circuit by a predetermined amount; c. if said current is below ten percent of said predetermined average current for said electrical circuit, noting an interruption in said current and determining whether a countdown timer value in a data cell indicated by a cell pointer value is equal to zero; d. if said countdown timer value is equal to zero, starting a countdown timer in said data cell, advancing said cell pointer value by one, and restarting said method at step a.; e. if said countdown timer value is not equal to zero, determining whether said interruptions in said current are periodic; f. if said interruptions in said current are not periodic, noting occurrence of an arc event in said electrical circuit and checking whether an arc event countdown timer is running; and g. if said arc event countdown timer is running, noting occurrence of a serial arc fault in said electrical circuit and tripping a circuit breaker of said electrical circuit.