Patent ID: 8847455

Claim:
A rotary electric machine comprising: a stator that includes a stator core on which a plurality of slots are formed and spaced apart from each other in a circumferential direction around a rotor rotational shaft, and stator windings of a plurality of phases that are provided in the slots and wound around the stator core by concentrated winding, in which a rotating magnetic field including harmonics components is formed when AC currents flow through the stator windings; and a rotor that includes a rotor core, rotor windings wound around the rotor core to generate an induced electromotive force when interlinked with the rotating magnetic field including the harmonics components formed by the stator, and a rectifying element that rectifies currents flowing through the rotor windings in response to generation of the induced electromotive force, wherein: the stator and the rotor are disposed in spaced confronting relationship, the rotor core includes a plurality of magnetic pole portions, around which the rotor windings are wound, which can function as magnets where the magnetic pole is fixed, the magnetic pole portions are magnetized when the currents rectified by the rectifying element flow through the rotor windings, the magnetic pole portions are disposed in spaced confronting relationship with the stator in a state where the magnetic pole portions are spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction, the rotor windings are wound around all of the magnetic pole portions by short-pitch winding, in the stator, the rotating magnetic field including the harmonics components caused by the arrangement of the stator windings is formed when AC currents having an electric frequency corresponding to a basic wave component of the rotating magnetic field flow through the stator windings, and the rotor windings generate an induced electromotive force when interlinked with the harmonics components contained in the rotating magnetic field formed by the stator.