A conventional circuit breaker cannot account for an arc as a result of a spark in an electrical circuit and hence cannot trip the circuitry, which might lead to a fire. These fires often result in heavy losses of lives and property damage. Arc fault current interrupter is the device which is able to trip the circuit in case of a short circuit like a conventional circuit breaker as well as in case of a potentially dangerous electrical arc which would result in a fire. The main purpose of implementing the AFCI’s is to differentiate between a harmless arc which might be a result of a switching operation or any other load operation and a dangerous electric arc which can cause electrical fire. Experimental results show that the proposed AFCI is efficient and cost effective.

Keywords: Arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI), Arc, Over current, Electrical fires, Fast Fourier transform (FFT)