Method for monitoring at least two switching paths and a switching circuit for safely connecting/disconnecting a load

摘要

A method for monitoring switching paths that can safely connect a load with a supply voltage and safely disconnect the load from the supply voltage, and a switching circuit using the method are described. The load can be connected via at least two switching paths with one or more supply voltages, wherein electric power is applied to the load only if the load is connected with the supply voltage(s) via the two or more switching paths. To monitor that the load properly disconnected from the supply voltage(s), a monitoring device measures for each of the switching paths a separate state signal and determines the functionality of the switching paths based on the measured state signals.