Patent ID: 8339080

Claim:
A motor control apparatus for controlling a motor, which has a winding set of a plurality of phase coils and is driven by electric power supplied from a power source, the motor control apparatus comprising: an electric power converter circuit for converting the electric power supplied to the motor, the electric power converter including a plurality of pairs of switching elements provided in correspondence to the plurality of phase coils, each pair of switching elements including a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element provided at a high potential side and a low potential side of the power source, respectively; a capacitor connected between the power source and the electric power converter circuit; a high-side resistor connected between a predetermined one of the phase coils and the high potential side of the power source; a power supply relay connected to permit and interrupt current flow from the power source to the capacitor and the motor; and a control circuit provided to control operation of the power supply relay and driving of the motor by turning on and off the switching elements, wherein the control circuit is configured to discharge electric charge stored in the capacitor to the low potential side of the power source through the high-side resistor before the motor is started to operate, by turning on the low-side switching element of the predetermined one of the phase coils under a condition that the power supply relay interrupts the current flow from the power source.