Patent ID: 7933110

Claim:
A power control device comprising: a first switching unit and a second switching unit connected in series to an electric power load; a voltage supply unit that is connected between the first switching unit and the second switching unit and that supplies a voltage to the second switching unit; a determining unit that determines an occurrence of a malfunction in at least one of the first switching unit and the second switching unit; and a third switching unit that is opened or closed based on a voltage between the first switching unit and the second switching unit, wherein in response to the first switching unit and the second switching unit being opened and the voltage supply unit supplying the voltage to the second switching unit, the determining unit determines whether an output of the third switching unit is a high logic level or a low logic level, and in response to a determination that the output of the third switching unit is the high logic level, the determining unit determines that a short-circuit failure occurred in the second switching unit.