Patent ID: 7847445

Claim:
An alternator comprising: a case; a rotor that is disposed inside said case, that is fixed to a shaft, and that has a fan that is disposed on an axial end portion; a stator that is disposed so as to surround said rotor and in which alternating current is generated due to a rotating magnetic field from said rotor; and a rectifier that is disposed near an end portion of said shaft and that rectifies said alternating current that is generated in said stator, said alternator being characterized in that: said rectifier includes: a first heat sink; first unidirectional conducting element bodies that are disposed on a front surface of said first heat sink so as to be spaced apart; a second heat sink that is disposed so as to be separated from said first heat sink; second unidirectional conducting element bodies that are disposed on a front surface of said second heat sink so as to be spaced apart; and a circuit board that has a circuit board terminal by which said first unidirectional conducting element bodies and said second unidirectional conducting element bodies are connected so as to constitute a bridge circuit; and a terminal connection portion is configured by respectively connecting first terminals of said first unidirectional conducting element bodies that have been led out and second terminals of said second unidirectional conducting element bodies that have been led out adjacently in a common plane with said circuit board terminal.