Maryland Patent of the Month – March 2022
According to the US Fire Administration National Fire Data Center, electrical arcing in residential electrical wiring accounts for over 70% of electrical fires. These arc faults are high-power, continuous electric discharges between two or more conductors. There are currently arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI) meant to detect early-stage electrical discharges including arc faults. However, they can be expensive and must be installed on each circuit in a building to be effective.
Whisker Labs, Inc. has designed a system that better detects early-stage electrical discharges without the intensive installation. Their system uses a single monitoring device which plugs into an existing electrical outlet. It detects early stage discharges when they begin to form. Over the long term, they gather data on the typical activity and trends in the building’s wiring system to provide deeper insight into the severity of a threat including searching for surges, sags, and brownouts.
If the sensor detects a potential electrical fire hazard, it warns the user immediately to allow for rapid action in fire prevention. Through the use of machine learning, signal processing, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics, this sensor is a more comprehensive and reliable fire prevention system. By making it easier for the average person to install, Whisker Labs has improved the ability to detect and prevent fires.
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