Patent ID: 8390410

Claim:
An electromagnetic relay that switches between conducting and interrupting currents flowing through the electromagnetic relay, the currents being two types of currents which are different in magnitude from each other and which flow through mutually opposite paths which are via the electromagnetic relay, comprising: a coil that generates a magnetic force by being energized; a pair of contact sections that open and close by the magnetic force, wherein the pair of contact sections comprises a pair of fixed contacts and a pair of movable contacts, the pair of fixed contacts being held by a pair of fixed holders made of conducting material and formed to be plate-shaped, each of the fixed holders presenting a longitudinal direction in which each of the fixed holders extend and having a tip section located in the longitudinal direction, each of the fixed contacts being held on a corresponding one of the fixed holders so as to be located near the tip section of the corresponding one of the fixed holders, the pair of movable contacts being fixed to a movable holder made of conducting material, disposed to be opposed to the pair of fixed contacts, and formed to move toward and away from the fixed holders in response to the magnetic force; and two arc-extinguishing magnet members that each spatially extend an arc generated by each of the two types of currents having mutually different magnitudes and passing in mutually opposite directions through the contact sections, the arc-extinguishing magnet members being located to be adjacent to the contact sections such that, the arc generated at each of the contact sections by interrupting, of the two types of currents, one current having a magnitude larger than the other current is extended outward from the tip section along the longitudinal direction in which each of the fixed holders extends.