Patent ID: 7902701

Claim:
An automotive alternator comprising: a rotor that is fixed to a rotating shaft; a case that rotatably supports said rotating shaft and that envelops said rotor; a stator comprising: a cylindrical stator core that is held by said case and that surrounds said rotor; and a stator coil that is mounted to said stator core; a rectifier comprising: a positive-side heatsink that has a flat, arc-shaped positive-side base portion; a positive-side rectifying element that is mounted to a front surface of said positive-side base portion; a negative-side heatsink that has a flat, arc-shaped negative-side base portion; and a negative-side rectifying element that is mounted to a front surface of said negative-side base portion, said positive-side heat sink and said negative-side heat sink being disposed inside said case at a first end of said rotor so as to be separated axially such that said front surfaces of said positive-side base portion and said negative-side base portion face each other; and a cooling fan that is fixed to a first end surface of said rotor, said automotive alternator being characterized in that: an air intake aperture is disposed through said case so as to face whichever heatsink of said positive-side heatsink and said negative-side heatsink is disposed farther away from said rotor, and an air discharge aperture is disposed through said case so as to be positioned radially outside said cooling fan; a plurality of radiating fins are disposed so as to project from a rear surface of said base portion of whichever heatsink of said positive-side heatsink and said negative-side heatsink is disposed nearer to said rotor; and said heatsink that is disposed nearer to said rotor is disposed such that said plurality of radiating fins are positioned radially outside said cooling fan, and a cooling airflow that flows out from said cooling fan passes through said plurality of radiating fins.