Protection circuit for an electrical appliance

Abstract

A protection circuit for an electric appliance that is configured to control power supply to an associated electrical component of the appliance such as a heating device, lamp or motor in the event that unsafe conditions are detected. The protection circuit includes a first comparator module configured to compare an operating parameter input signal to a threshold value and to output a first control signal to a first switching circuit configured to control power flow to the associated electrical component. The first comparator module is configured to receive an enable/disable signal from a first state-change latching device, which is responsive to a state change of the first control signal from the first comparator module, in response to which the state-change latching device changes the enable/disable signal from an enable state to a disable state thereby to set the first control signal into an off state.