Patent ID: 7859205

Claim:
A motor drive apparatus comprising: power supply means having a half-bridge circuit in which multiple-phase high-side drive transistors are connected in series with multiple-phase low-side drive transistors, respectively, and the respective connection points are used as the respective phase coil drive terminals of a motor, switching control means for pulse width modulation driving said power supply means using pulse width modulation signals, current detection means for detecting the current flowing through said power supply means, and current control means for outputting a current control signal for controlling the peak value of the detection current of said current detection means to a predetermined value or less, wherein said switching control means turns ON all of one-side drive transistors selected from said high-side drive transistors and said low-side drive transistors of said power supply means, and turns OFF all of the other-side drive transistors in response to said current control signal, and wherein a first period in synchronization with the edges of said pulse width modulation signals is used as a current detection prohibition period, and said current control means outputs said current control signal for controlling the peak value in periods other than said current detection prohibition period in which current detection using said current detection means is prohibited, to a predetermined value or less.