Patent ID: 7741742
Filing Date: 2010-06-22
Classification: H02K

Abstract:
1. An alternator comprising: a casing; a shaft that is rotatably supported by said casing; a rotor fixedly mounted on said shaft; a stator that is composed of a stator core which is fixedly secured to an inner wall surface of said casing, and a stator coil which is wound around said stator core; and a rectifier that is electrically connected to said stator coil for rectifying an alternating current generated in said stator coil into a direct current; wherein said rectifier has a plurality of rectifier elements that forms a full-wave rectifier circuit, a pair of negative and positive terminal side heat sinks that hold said rectifier elements, and a circuit board that electrically connects said rectifier elements and said stator coil to one another; wherein said negative terminal side heat sink, said positive terminal side heat sink and said circuit board are mounted on said casing at a plurality of mounting portions, which are superposed with one another in an axial direction of said shaft, by the use of mounting members; and wherein between adjacent ones of said mounting portions, there are formed abutment portions in which said circuit board is superposed on and placed in abutment with said negative terminal side heat sink or said positive terminal side heat sink, and said abutment portions are fixed to each other by means of a fixing device.