Patent ID: 8855893

Claim:
A valve timing control apparatus for controlling valve timing of a valve that is opened or closed by a camshaft through torque transmitted from a crankshaft in an engine of a vehicle, the valve timing being controlled using working fluid supplied from a supply source in synchronization with a rotation of the engine, the valve timing control apparatus comprising: a housing that is rotatable with the crankshaft; a vane rotor that is rotatable with the camshaft, the vane rotor having vanes partitioning an inside of the housing into plural operation chambers in a rotating direction, the vane rotor having a rotation phase with respect to the housing, the rotation phase being changed by working fluid flowing into or out of the operation chambers; and a phase controller configured to determine whether the engine continuously has a low rotation state for a predetermined time period or more, to determine whether the engine shifts to a high rotation state from the low rotation state, and to compulsorily change the rotation phase alternately between an advance side and a retard-side with respect to the housing by controlling working fluid to flow into or out of the operation chambers when it is determined that the engine shifts to the high rotation state after it is determined that the engine continuously has the low rotation state for the predetermined time period or more, wherein the engine in the low rotation state has a rotation speed lower than a predetermined rotation speed, and the engine in the high rotation state has a rotation speed equal to or higher than the predetermined rotation speed.