Patent ID: 7396391

Claim:
An electronic control apparatus in which an electronic control device is housed inside a sealed casing, said electronic control apparatus comprising: a venting aperture formed on said casing; a gas-permeable membrane supporting body mounted to an outer wall surface of said casing, said gas-permeable membrane supporting body having a communicating aperture communicating between said venting aperture and an external portion; a gas-permeable membrane shutting off passage of liquids and permitting passage of gases, said gas-permeable membrane being interposed between said outer wall surface of said casing and said gas-permeable membrane supporting body or installed inside said gas-permeable membrane supporting body, and being disposed so as to shut off a venting channel extending from said venting aperture through said communicating aperture to said external portion; and a protective wall disposed so as to protrude integrally from said outer wall surface of said casing so as to surround said gas-permeable membrane supporting body, wherein: at least a leading edge region of an external surface in a direction of projection of said protective wall is formed so as to have an inclined surface such that a wall thickness gradually decreases from a root end toward a leading edge, and a groove having a groove direction in said direction of projection of said protective wall is formed so as to extend from a root of said protective wall to said leading edge and so as to communicate between an internal portion and an external portion of said protective wall.