Arcing

Detecting an arc is only part of the challenge.

The rest is avoiding nuisance trips once your product is in the field. That's where our engineers help.

Last updated

Why the field is harder than the lab

Certification tests prove a product can detect an arc. Real installations are harder, because normal operation can produce signals that look like arcing.

  • Changing operating conditions

    Loads, switching states and environments create signal changes during normal operation.

  • Arc signatures vary

    Sensor placement, wiring and power level influence the signal that reaches the detector.

  • False trips matter

    Protection must respond to genuine events while avoiding unnecessary trips during normal operation.

  • Every product is different

    Detection must fit your sensing, processor, firmware and protection design.

Lab certification and field use compared.
In the labIn the field
Arc sourceControlled and repeatableRandom and varied
SignalsClean and isolatedMixed with switching, motor loads and interference
What it provesAn arc can be detectedAn arc can be told apart from normal operation
Success meansPassing the testKeeping nuisance trips to a minimum

Arc detection grounded in physics

Data-driven AI learns from what it has seen. Physics-guided AI learns from why the system behaves that way. That understanding is designed to reduce the data you need to collect, by focusing on the operating conditions that matter for your product.

  1. Understand

    Understand your application

    We start from your equipment, wiring and environment, not a generic setup.

  2. Design

    Designed for the field

    Built to tell a genuine arc from switching and load changes in real installations.

  3. Validate

    Validated with you

    We check detection with data from normal, arc and edge-case conditions in your system.

Built in, with a GUI to check it

Both come with every use case, from your first evaluation to production.

  • AI arc detection

    Runs on the processor inside your product.

  • Desktop GUI

    A Windows app that shows your system's signal and marks each arc it finds.

  1. Your system: Application current

    From your DC system or AC circuit.

  2. Your system: Current sensing

    A current transformer or another sensor you choose.

  3. Our solution: Arc detection

    Embedded software that recognises arc behaviour.

  4. Our solution: Arc decision

    Arc or normal, passed on to your system.

  5. Your system: Protection

    Your relay, contactor or other response.

Where arc detection sits: between your current sensing and your protection.

Different standards, one approach

AFCI and AFDD both detect arcs and break the circuit, under different standards. We develop detection for each, using the same physics-guided approach.

Interested in this solution?

Get in touch with our engineering team to evaluate it for your system.

Request a demo

Evaluation solution. Detection performance depends on the target application, sensing architecture, operating conditions and system validation. Customer protection and safety functions remain subject to product-level validation and applicable requirements.

More from our engineers

We take the same approach to vision, audio and depth sensing.