Patent ID: 7400070

Claim:
A rotating electric machine for vehicles comprising: a stator provided with an armature winding; a rotor including a rotary shaft, and which is located inside said stator; a cooling fan located at said rotor; a housing that supports and fixes said stator, as well as supports said rotary shaft in a rotatable manner; and a cover that is located outside of one wall surface of said housing in an axial direction of said rotary shaft so as to cover said one wall surface, and that forms a space with said one wall surface of said housing; wherein switching elements of an upper arm and a lower arm that are connected in series forming an inverter circuit to be connected to said armature winding are disposed adjacent to each other in the axial direction of said rotary shaft; a ventilation hole for sucking an outside air is formed in a radially outer circumferential portion of said cover; a suction port through which an air in said space is sucked into said housing is formed in said one wall of said housing; a discharge port through which the air in said housing is discharged is formed in the radially outer circumferential portion of said housing; and a guide for distributing an outside air having been sucked from said ventilation hole to said switching elements of the upper arm and the lower arm respectively is provided; and when said cooling fan is brought in rotation, said outside air flows in through said ventilation hole from the radially outer circumferential portion to the radially inner circumferential portion with respect to said switching elements of the upper arm and the lower arm, goes through said suction port, and then is discharged from said discharge port.