Patent ID: 7107957

Claim:
A control apparatus for protected a switching of a load, comprising: a plurality of switch units connectable in series with the load in order to permit delivery of energy to the load when each switch unit is switched on, and to block delivery of energy to the load when the at least one of the switch units is shut off; an electronic control system for triggering each switch unit; and a delay element disposed on a first switching path between a first output terminal of the electronic control system and a first input terminal of each switch unit, wherein: the electronic control system includes an arrangement for monitoring a state of each switch unit, the electronic control system includes a second output terminal that is connected via a second switching path to a second input terminal of a respective one of the switch units, the switch units can be shut off both by way of a shutoff signal applied to the first input terminal thereof and by way of the shutoff signal applied to the second input terminal thereof, and the electronic control system is set up to perform, in a state in which one of the switch units is shut off and another one of the switch units is switched on, a test of the first switching path by outputting the shutoff signal at the first output terminal and ascertaining a malfunction of the first switching path if the other one of the switch units does not shut off within a predefined time window after output of the shutoff signal.