Patent ID: 7368892

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling power to be generated by a generator driven by an internal combustion engine, the apparatus comprising: excitation current control means for controlling an excitation current to be fed to the generator so that the generator produces the power whose voltage is set to a first predetermined voltage value; gradual excitation means for exciting current to increase gradually when the excitation current is controlled by the excitation current control means; gradual-excitation cancellation means for canceling the gradual excitation in cases where the voltage of the power generated by the generator becomes less than a second predetermined voltage value lower than the first predetermined voltage value during the gradual excitation performed by the gradual excitation means; start detecting means for detecting that the internal combustion engine has been started; and gradual-excitation cancellation inhibiting means for inhibiting the gradual-excitation cancellation to be performed by the gradual-excitation cancellation means, during the gradual excitation first performed by the gradual excitation means which comes after the start of the internal combustion engine to be detected by the start detecting means.